"The Leopard Man" - Val Lewton (directed by Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

Val Lewton produced a string of low-budget “horror” films in the 1940s that have since attracted a large following and become cult classics. Of these under-appreciated films, the most overlooked of them all, even today, is probably The Leopard Man (1943), directed by Jacques Tourneur. This was the third and final collaboration between Tourneur and Lewton, after Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943), and while the first two are widely celebrated, The Leopard Man is often dismissed, incorrectly in my opinion, as a failure. On the contrary, I would rate it perhaps the second best, after I Walked with a Zombie, among the films that Lewton produced. It is a surprisingly complex and fascinating work, but like all of Lewton’s films, it suffers from some minor deficiencies, perhaps due in part to resource constraints. On the surface it is a murder story and a film noir, but as with Lewton’s other works, there is a dark undercurrent that conjures up feelings of primitive, supernatural powers that go beyond our “modern” understanding. In fact, like Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and Isle of the Dead, the film suggests an underlying confrontation between a traditional, pre-scientific cultural mode and our own modernist Western culture, which is dominated by positivist and materialistic thinking. In this film, the setting is New Mexico, where the native ethnic Mexican inhabitants sometimes have superstitious fears of dark forces and the mysteries of fatal destinies. This presentation of this confrontation raises the film above the level of an ordinary murder mystery and propels it into the murky regions of our inexpressible fears

The story, based on the novel The Black Alibi, by Cornell Woolrich, begins at a local nightclub in a New Mexican town. A woman entertainer, Kiki Walker, along with her press agent boyfriend, Jerry Manning, have arrived from out of town and hope to win the favour of the local audience. In an effort to outshine a competing local Mexican performer, the dancer Clo-Clo, Jerry arranges for Kiki to enter the nightclub with a semi-tame black jaguar (the leopard) on a leash while Clo-Clo is performing. But Clo-Clo, upset by the upstaging, intentionally antagonises the leopard, and it breaks from its leash and escapes into the night. In the next few days there are a series of grisly murders presented, all attributed to the leopard. As Jerry observes the ongoing police investigation, though, he begins to suspect that the leopard may not be responsible for all of the deaths. His suspicions are quickly directed towards the local museum curator, the urbane pipe-smoking Dr. Galbraith, who is an expert on natural history and local wildlife. Jerry and Kiki attempt to bait the curator into engaging in another attack, and when they are successful, the murderer is finally captured.

The acting in The Leopard Man is generally satisfactory, but Dennis O’Keefe’s performance as Jerry is unfortunately wooden and unconvincing. Another deficiency is the absence of any real “chemistry” between Jerry and Kiki (played by Jean Brooks) as a romantic duo. This was not the only time that a Lewton-produced film was undermined by an unconvincing male character actor. Curiously, the actresses in Lewton’s films were almost always uniformly good. Also, as a whodunit murder mystery, The Leopard Man is not very puzzling and fails to live up to the usual demands of that genre. Halfway into the piece there is enough evidence available for the audience to suspect Dr. Galbraith, and this failure to keep the audience puzzled concerning who perpetrated the crime has led some people to dismiss the entire film as uninteresting. But we shouldn't really look at the film as a just an ordinary whodunit mystery (although that may have been Woolrich's original intention in the novel), because the filmmakers have pursued some more subterranean currents that make the film an interesting cinematic experience. Of particular interest is the portrayal of the circumstances leading up to the three grisly murders, which take up more than half the film's running time.

In connection with the fates of the three doomed women, there is an early portentous, iconic shot of the garden fountain at the nightclub, which constantly shoots a stream of water into the air and maintains a rubber ball aloft at the top of its stream. Dr. Galbraith remarks later on in the story that all people and animals are similar to that fountain ball – they may appear to be in a stable situation, but they are actually driven by powerful and turbulent forces that are beyond their understanding. Our ignorance concerning the dark forces of our destiny is a major theme of the film. In addition to that recurrent visual icon, there is a relentless audio motif associated with the driving, rhythmic sound of castanets, and this haunting background sound similarly conveys a feeling of hidden forces stirring up the passions. While the sound of the castanets is the specific sonic signature of the vivacious Clo-Clo, the pulsating sounds also evoke the passions underlying flamenco music in general. With these symbols and sounds recurring in the background, the film obsessively tracks the fatal narratives of three different Mexican girls, each of whom has the youthful passion for life to try to overcome her fears of the unknown -- that unknown danger that lies just outside and beyond the comforting light of the community and lurks out there in the darkness. Each of these mini-narratives follows one of the girls and quickly establishes its own social context and circumstances filled with both hopes and apprehensions. Each of the girls in her own way resolves to push back her instinctive feelings of fear of the dark in order to follow her own pursuits. And each girl is ultimately subjected to a violent death, apparently by the leopard, and forthwith her story, along with all of it social context and personages, is abandoned. This is an unusual narrative format for a film, but it goes with the themes of fatal destiny and the terminal fears of darkness and death. We follow the story of each girl, becoming involved in her concerns, until she encounters a fearful situation in the darkness. But unlike most stories, where the protagonist survives the scary test and the story continues, here each of these stories ends in the brutal death of the female protagonist, with whom we have come to sympathise. Each of the endings of these mini-narratives is brilliantly filmed and manages to convey a graphic sense of mounting tension and alarm. Particularly noteworthy is the first sequence, involving the teenage girl Teresa, who must go out at night to purchase some cornmeal for her mother. To carry out this task, she must walk across some dark fields and under a railroad bridge in order to get to the store, and this frightening walk in the darkness is truly a cinematic tour de force and a credit to Trouneur and cinematrographer Robert De Grasse. In fact this early sequence is so extraordinarily gripping that the viewer may doubt that the remainder of the film can possibly live up to it. But the second murder sequence, involving an upperclass girl (played by the beautiful Tuulikki Paananen) who goes out at night to a cemetery for a lovers’ tryst, is also haunting and enthralling, in a different way. These two sequences alone make the film a memorable and worthwhile experience.

The three mini-stories are part of the larger themes of the film. Jerry and Kiki, the modernist characters in the larger narrative, are gradually made aware that their own self-images are merely artificial masks that they have adopted from their own cultural backgrounds. They have always been trying to act cool, cynical, and sophisticated, but they come to realize in this film that they are only fooling themselves. They are perpetually hiding their real emotional feelings and sympathies, not only from others, but also from themselves. This contrast between the modernist culture and the more authentically in-touch-with-their-feelings Mexican people is picked up later on in the film during a nightclub encounter between the Hispanic Clo-Clo and a middle-aged gray-haired "European" (i.e. non-Hispanic) gentleman patron. The gentleman’s adult daughter and her husband, who have accompanied him to the nightclub, are also cut off from genuine feelings and bored with their surroundings. When the man's daughter sees him socialising with the Clo-Clo at a separate table, she expresses disgust and embarrassment with his, to her, unseemly behaviour. Meanwhile the gentleman and Clo-Clo, alone at their own table, engage in a spontaneous and cordially innocent discussion about what interests them. We are led to the feeling that this business of being cut off from one's inner feelings is common to our modernist Western culture, whereas the traditionallyl-oriented Mexican people in the film are more natural and emotionally spontaneous.

This brings us to the consideration of Doctor Galbraith, the curator of the museum. He exhibits the behaviour of an academic, familiar with scientific understanding about the natural world. But inside of him is a boiling cauldron of twisted passion that, we ultimately learn, drives him to commit savage, animal attacks on innocent people. It is as though the conflict between his inner self and his outer persona is so great that it leads to violent, uncontrollable eruptions.

The overall outcome of The Leopard Man, with its individual mini-narratives each dead-ended by the cruel turbulence of dark forces, is ultimately a matter of interpretation. Jerry and Kiki resolve to be more authentic and responsive to their true feelings in the future. Perhaps, in the face of the mysterious and turbulent forces that perpetually surround us, just out of sight and in the darkness, this is our only option. Yes, the film seems to suggest, we should all have the courage to walk straight towards our dreams . . . . but don’t go out alone when darkness falls.
★★★½

"Cat People" - Val Lewton (directed by Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

Cat People was the first of a series of horror films produced by Val Lewton during the early 1940s. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur, who would next team up with Lewton to make the sublime I Walked With a Zombie (1943) and would later direct the classic film noir, Out of the Past (1947). The film was a great commercial success on its release, but only gained critical acceptance much later. The enduring qualities of the film lie in its superb black-and-white production values that were used by Tourneur and Lewton to evoke fear of something unknown lurking in the darkness. In fact, the film relies entirely on our imaginative dread of the unknown.

The film opens with a quotation from the fictitious Dr. Louis Judd, who is actually a character in this film – a psychiatrist whose later romantic interest in the main character proves to be his undoing. The same character, played by the brother of George Sanders, Tom Conway, also appears in Lewton’s later film, The Seventh Victim. For reasons that become clear as the story evolves, Cat People can then be considered a sequel to The Seventh Victim, but the two films have no other linkages beyo0nd the commonality of the Dr. Judd character. In addition, Cat People is also a prequel to the later The Curse of the Cat People (1944), although the plot connection between those two is also not very strong.

The opening scene in a city zoo shows a pretty young woman, Irena (played by Simone Simon), making sketches of the black panther in the cage before her. She meets there a young marine architect, Oliver, who is eager to strike up a romantic acquaintanceship with her, and in no time at all he manages to get himself invited back to her apartment. The dimly lit apartment is visually spooky, bedecked with numerous cat images. Oliver’s fascination with a small sculpture in the apartment, depicting a knight who has impaled a cat with his sword, leads Irena to reveal a little about the legends of her Serbian background. It seems that at one time the country was victimised by evil “cat people” who were eventually routed from the country by “King John”, the subject of the table sculpture in her apartment. But Irena says, menacingly, that some of the cat people escaped to the mountains and continued their evil ways. It will soon become clear that Irena fears that she is descendent from the cat people. Subsequent scenes showing animals (“Mother Nature”) becoming agitated in her presence suggest further that there is some disturbing element inside Irena.

Nevertheless, their relationship deepens and Oliver proposes marriage, but Irena still refuses to kiss Oliver. She is fearful that her suspected evil nature will turn her into a vicious cat, a black panther, if something arouses her passions, whether love or jealousy. Although they go ahead and marry, Irena’s inhibition prevent any physical contact with Oliver, and so the marriage remains unconsummated. Oliver recommends that Irena visit a psychiatrist (Dr. Judd), who assures her that her superstitious fears are all in her mind. Meanwhile the frustrated Oliver is spending more and more time with his office friend, Alice. Irena soon becomes mindful of this budding romance, and becomes jealous. One evening she sneaks out to see what Oliver is doing so late at the office, and observes through a nearby restaurant window a chance meeting between him and Alice. When Alice sets out to walk home alone in the dark, Irena follows her. This sets up a celebrated scene, lasting only about minute and a half, in which Alice becomes increasingly fearful of being stalked by someone out of view. The tension builds to a fever pitch, as Alice becomes terrified. Finally, what sounds like the terrifying growl of a panther (to us, anyway), turns out to be the screeching brakes of a stopping bus, which Alice boards in relief. Nothing happened, and our fears are quickly dissipated. Lewton was to repeat this kind of ominous, nighttime stalking scene with equally chilling effect in The Seventh Victim.

The streetwalking scene is followed by another celebrated scene, in which Alice goes for a lone, nighttime swim at her hotel and fears that some fearful beast is lurking in the shadows. This scene, too, is quite short, and there is nothing threatening clearly identifiable, other than suggestive shadows reflected off the rippling waters of the swimming pool. Alice screams, and when the lights come on, Irena is seen standing in the corner with a benign smile on her face. Once again, it was only a false alarm, and our fears could be interpreted as simply overwrought imagination.

The plot now quickly moves towards its conclusion. Irena, having become convinced by Dr. Judd that her fears are only delusions, resolves to consummate her marriage. But Oliver reveals to her that it is too late; he now loves Alice. Irena sinks into a dark despair, and Oliver goes off to consult with Alice. Dr. Judd, now romantically attracted to Irena, sneaks into their apartment in hopes of catching Irena alone. But when Irena comes home and he tries to seduce her, he is attacked by a shadowy beast and mauled to death. Irena then runs off to the zoo and sets the caged black panther free, but she is killed in the act.

This film has some truly outstanding cinematography, wonderful set design, skilful editing, and good acting performances by all concerned. Simone Simon is particularly attractive as the kittenish Irena who descends into the depths of feline mystery. There is something eternally fascinating about cats. Whenever I see one, I am always amazed how it can often be so cute and, at the same time, so capable of disconcertingly vicious behaviour. This is something apparently intrinsic to our eternal fascination with the mystery of cats, and the filmmakers have manage to summon up that fascination in the personage of Irena. So from these production values, alone, the film is worth seeing. But the film also suffers from serious flaws.

In subsequent Lewton films, there is always a “rational” explanation of the events, and a supernatural exposition is not absolutely required. That is one of the attractive features about these productions, because they establish an atmosphere of believable realism and, at the same time, manage to maintain a sense of doubt in our minds. In Cat People a realistic interpretation of the story would suggest that Irena suffered from a mental ailment and occasionally attacked people viciously. This would not require us to believe that Irena actually turned into a real panther. But in Cat People, there are three situations that demand the supernatural interpretation, and these defeat the moody effects of the story:

1. After Irena stalks Alice on the streets, we are shown some sheep that have been slaughtered by a beast. Pawprints leading away from the slaughter are shown to gradually turn into footprints from a lady’s shoes. The only interpretation here is that a panther transformed itself back into Irena.
2. When Dr. Judd is attacked and killed, we actually see a panther attacking him, in one fleeting shot. Again, the only interpretation here is that Irena transformed into a real panther.
3. At the end of the film, when Irena is shown to have died in front of the panther’s zoo cage, there is a momentary final shot of a panther wearing Irena’s coat and lying dead on the sidewalk.

These three scenes, which destroy our suspension of disbelief, were forced upon Lewton by the RKO studio over his objections. He managed to have enough artistic control in his later productions to resist this kind of pressure for cheap shock effects.

There are a few other odd things about this story.

• Simone Simon’s character is so innocent and sweet most of the time, perhaps too sweet, that there doesn’t seem to be any ominous potential of something dark lurking inside of her. This is perhaps a weakness. We need a bit more foreshadowing of the evil that is to overtake her.
• Cigarette smoking is almost obsessively displayed by Oliver, Alice, and several others in the film. These are supposed to be the “normal” people, but the cigarette-smoking behaviour on display suggests a fetish and its own kind of dysfunctional personality.
• The assumption (discussed towards that latter stages of the film) that Oliver and Alice can have Dr. Judd put Irena away permanently in a mental institution reveals a certain sickness of its own about the mental health community that exists in society, even to this day. In fact the serpentine and slimy Dr. Judd is such a caricature of an intellectually dubious profession that one suspects Lewton and Tourneur were having their own private joke at the expense of psychiatry (then in its Freudian heyday).
• There is a kind of negative, anti-feminine tone to this tale. “Normal” women are shown to be sunny, down-to-earth characters – good chums, so to speak. The mysterious, alluring aspect of femininity, even sexual desire, is seen as cat-like – dangerous, unpredictable, psychotic. This is a view that I reject.

These elements are interesting, but they prevent Cat People from being a masterpiece. The true masterpiece was soon to come, though: I Walked With a Zombie.
★★★

"I Walked with a Zombie" - Val Lewton (directed by Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

I Walked with a Zombie, one of a series of memorable films produced by Val Lewton in the 1940s, is now something of a cult horror classic. The film was directed by Jacques Tourneur and edited by Mark Robson, who would soon be the director for the Lewton-produced The Seventh Victim. To many people (including me), it’s not typical of the horror genre, but however it’s classified, I think it’s one of the all-time great films and certainly Lewton’s best. What makes the film profound (and demonstrates why cinematic expression can be more powerful than textual) is the way it directly evokes and prods us about our most unspeakable fears.

All the production values of the film go in to making it a superb example of Expressionism in Film, including atmospheric settings, dramatically-lit black-and-white cinematography, and some emphatic (though still realistic) acting performances. Such features are hallmarks of another Expressionistic master, Josef von Sternberg, but there is also a distinction between von Sternberg’s style and this film, too. Whereas Sternberg’s films have slow, dreamy plots without a lot of complicated actions, I Walked with a Zombie, has a complicated plot that touches on many themes of contemporary interest. And it manages to do this all in about 68 minutes of running time. It is the elemental nature of this complicated narrative and the way that it is conveyed on screen that makes the film so compelling. So to discuss the film, I will proceed through the story and the way that various moods are developed. (Don’t worry about giving away the plot: the film can be seen with enjoyment any number of times.)

The are five principal characters:

• Betsy Connell, a young nurse
• Paul Holland, a wealthy owner of a sugar plantation
• Jessica, his wife
• Wesley Rand, Paul’s younger, half-brother.
• Mrs. Rand, the mother of Paul and Wesley.

The story can be divided into five basic sections or acts, although there is no strict demarcation indicating these divisions.

I. Arrival. Betsy comes to the West Indies and meets the two brothers and Jessica.

1. The film opens in Ottawa, Canada, with nurse Betsy Connell being recruited in an agency office for an overseas nursing assignment. Her interviewer tells her that her future employer is a big sugar planter in the West Indies. Then he asks her, without explanation, if she believes in witchcraft, and Betsy laughingly dismisses the idea. This first scene is bright and sunny.

2. A moody night time scene on a sailing ship with very atmospheric lighting. Black sailors on the ship are singing a mournful song. We hear Betsy in voice-over describing her recollections of this sailing experience to her West Indian destination. This sets us up for the feeling that the entire film is a recollection of events in Betsy’s past. She says that she met Paul Holland in Antigua and is now sailing with him to Fort Holland on the island of St. Sebastian. The voice-over indicates that she was silently reflecting that the night is beautiful, when Paul interrupts, in live action, saying, “it is not beautiful.” He tells her that in this part of the world, “there is only death and decay. . . . Everything good dies here”. Back to voice-over, Betsy recollects that she saw something good in Paul – she’s attracted. Already, we have the contrast presented between the sunny, optimistic spirit of Betsy and the dark, melancholy feelings of those around her. In addition, there will be an ongoing confrontation in the film between two contrasting world-views: the rational, perspective reflecting Western empirical science and the European Enlightenment (label it here, “E”, for European) and the dark world of evil spirts and magic (label it “V”, for Voodoo). “E” fuels our dreams; “V” inhabits our nightmares. As things develop, Paul is resolutely rational, though haunted by his own personal demons, while Betsy, Wesley, and Mrs. Rand are variously seduced by the lure of Voodoo. I will label the dominant mood of most of the upcoming scenes. This one is mixed: E+V.

3. Ship disembarking scene (E), which is again bright and sunny. Here, there is a nice tracking shot, as Betsy gets off the boat and walks through town. There’s no indication of any motorcars in this film, only horse-drawn carriages, and there are no telephones or other signs of modern life in the film. Later on, however, we do see a flashlight, which puts the film into more or less contemporary times. Betsy walks to a horse-drawn carriage and gets in.

4. Carriage drive to the plantation, during which the driver gives Betsy some background information (E+V). He tells her that the Holland family is the oldest family and that they brought the coloured folks and “Ti-Misery” to Saint Sebastian. Betsy soon figures out that “Ti-Misery” was the figurehead of the slave ship that brought black people to Saint Sebastian, and it is now installed as a statue in the front garden at “Fort Holland”. The driver says that that ship “brought the long-ago fathers and the long-ago mothers of us all, chained to the bottom of the boat.”. Betsy, oblivious to the driver’s gloomy words, says “they brought you to a beautiful place.” The driver responds, with polite resignation, “if you say, Ma’am.” Here, again, we have a slight further confrontation between the joyful optimism of Betsy and the other possibilities that the world can offer us.

The stature of Saint Sebastian, which shows the martyred saint in the traditional form as shot with arrows, will remain an ambiguous symbol. From one perspective, it's a symbol of Western beliefs, but the black people of the island see it as symbol associated with their own world of inexplicable suffering.

5. The camera tracks through the empty rooms of the Holland mansion, as Betsy, in voice-over, recollects how each of the rooms came to have great meaning for her (E).

6. Betsy meets Wesley for the first time, and he describes the Holland family. Wesley is obviously trying to charm the pretty nurse. During their conversation, we hear the distant sound of ethnic drums beating, which reminds them of the native world, with its different practices, outside their dwelling. Paul then enters, and Wes departs. Paul takes dinner on a platter to his wife (Jessica), and tells Betsy that she will be introduced to his wife, the person she has been hired to care for, the next day (E).

7. Betsy in her room at night (V), sees through her window a strange woman (later we know that this is Jessica) walking in the darkness. Betsy also hears a crying sound outside, puts on her gown, and goes outside into the yard. There, she comes to a “tower” building in the compound, which she enters and sees a mysterious staircase, which she begins to climb. The strange, tall woman (Jessica), in long flowing white robes, arrives and climbs the same staircase and then wordlessly approaches Betsy. Betsy screams in terror as Jessica comes closer. This is our first sight of the ethereal Jessica, a role beautifully played by Christine Gordon in her only credited movie performance. Jessica will not utter a word in the film and will only unblinkingly stare off into the distance.

Paul and black servants arrive, and they tell Betsy not to be afraid. Jessica is led away, and Paul explains to Betsy that the crying sound that she heard is typical for the black people at the birth of a child (which was taking place elsewhere that night). He tells her that these people, with a history of misery from their lives of slavery, always weep when a child is born and make marry at a burial, because their lives are sad.

II. Developing Relationships
8. Morning, the next day (E). Alma, a black maid, comes and wakes up Betsy, and during their conversation tells Betsy that Jessica is “mindless”, although she can walk and will obey simple commands. Later, when Betsy is dressed, she meets Paul in the house. He tells her that this is not a place for a frightened girl, but she assures him that she is a medically-trained professional and is not afraid of the dark. Nevertheless, Paul warns her about the superstitions of the villagers.

9. Betsy with Dr. Maxwell, who explains more about Jessica’s catatonic condition (E). He says that Jessica is incurable. Then Betsy runs into Paul, and they engage in some small talk, but Paul appears negative and sour.

10. Betsy goes to the bustling town, and runs into Wesley (E), who again tries to charm Betsy. In the market, we hear the calypso singing of Ti-Joseph (played by Lancelot, a famous calypso musician of that time). While Wesley tries to flirt with Betsy, he reveals that he is a heavy drinker, which draws polite scolds from the medically-trained and level-headed Betsy. They overhear, Ti-Joseph now singing a song about the history of the two Holland brothers.

The song relates that there was a fight between them over Jessica. She wanted to run away with Wesley (according to the song), but Paul said, no, “and that’s when the trouble start”. When Lancelot sees Wesley, he interrupts his song and apologises to Wesley, but Wesley is abusive and then speaks highly critically of Paul to Betsy.

Later at night (V) at the same café table, now in shadows and with Wesley passed out from his drinking so that only Betsy is there to hear, Ti-Joseph finishes his song and reveals more of the history of the Holland family. Ti-Joseph seems to be more than a singer in this scene and something like a Greek chorus speaking the dark voice of fate.

11. The mother of Holland brothers, Mrs. Rand, who is a widow, makes an unexpected appearance (the first of many) and explains herself (E). She works as a missionary/doctor and doesn’t usually stay at the Holland mansion. Mrs. Rand helps get the drunken Wesley onto a horse to go home, and then she asks Betsy to tell Paul to remove whiskey from the dinner table in the future in order to help Wesley with his drinking problem. On returning, Betsy does ask Paul about this, but he refuses and tells her to mind her own business.

12. Dinner at night, with the sound of distant drums and the blowing of a conch. Paul explains that the blacks are trying to invoke their gods to end a drought. They are having a cermony at the houmfort, which is their Voodoo temple. Wesly complains that there is no whiskey at the table (so Paul has agreed to Betsy’s request), and then he quarrels more with Paul and angrily says that everything that happened back then was Paul’s fault.

Later in the evening, with Paul at the piano, playing romantic classical music, Betsy approaches to listen. Paul, revealing more about himself, talks about that famous night when Jessica wanted to run away. “I told her I’d keep her here by force, if necessary.” But the sound of the Voodoo drums intrude again, and Paul grows distant and departs.

Betsy at the seashore at night. Again the voice-over: she says that moment at the piano was when she knew that she loved Paul. She resolves, our of her love for Paul, to restore Jessica to him.

III. Betsy tries a desperate measure.
13. The next day (E). Dr. Maxwell proposes dangerous insulin shock treatment for Jessica, in the hopes it might wake her up. Paul reluctantly agrees to the treatment. But later that night, we see that the treatment has failed to have an effect. Paul and Betsy, both sad, show some tenderness towards each other. Then Wesley, bitter and jealous, appears and, after Betsy departs, accuses Paul of falling in love with Betsy.

14. The next day, Alma is seen with the new baby (born to her sister). It is a scene of general joy and laughter. Later, Alma, now walking alone with Betsy, says that witch doctors (Voodoo houngans) are more powerful than Western doctors and can cure Jessica.

15. Later, Mrs. Rand and Betsy talk about Voodoo. Betsy asks if Voodoo has “power”, and Mrs. Rand expresses surprise that a nurse would even ask that. She warns Betsy not to go to the houmfort, because these people are primitive and unpredictable.

16. It is now nighttime (V). While Paul, Wesley and the household are still awake, Betsy sneaks out of the house, leading Jessica by the hand. Alma meets her privately at the gate and traces out a map in the sand. She tells her that she will meet Carrefour, who guards the houmfort. To get past Carrefour, Alma gives Betsy and Jessica Voodoo patches that will signal Carrefour to let them pass.

Betsy and Jessica set out on their famous night walk through the sugar cane field. It lasts 4:10 and is one of the most mesmerising scenes in film history. The ghostly Jessica, dressed in white and staring sightlessly sideways, is about a head taller than the fearful, but determined, Betsy, dressed in dark clothing. They walk past dead birds, sacrificed animals hanging from trees, and a human skull. There is no talking, only the sound of the wind blowing through the cane fields. Because the sugar cane is more than head high, Betsy and Jessica are walking though a mysterious labyrinth and are partially obscured sight by the cane branches. As they walk, Betsy’s Voodoo patch is accidentally scraped off of her garment by a branch, but Betsy doesn’t notice. They finally come to Carrefour, an extremely tall, gaunt and disturbingly glaring black man who is motionless and seems to be a zombie. They pass through (despite Betsy's missing Voodoo patch) and finally reach the houmfort. This is the passage into the innermost cave of the hero’s journey.

17. At the houmfort (V) there is a mysterious and haunting ceremony going on which lasts 3:30. We see wild, wanton dancing in front of the voodoo sabreur (a sword-wielding figure, perhaps something of houmgon, himself). Betsy sees that some of the black people approach the door of the houmfort and speak through a covered screen on the door, making requests to someone behind it. Betsy goes up approaches the door with her request for magic to cure Jessica, but she is quickly ushered through the door, only to learn that Mrs. Rand is there inside the room! Now Betsy is in the room, while Jessica is still outside the door with the madly and ritualistically dancing black people..

Mrs. Rand (E) scolds Betsy for seeking out Voodoo power and explains that she, herself, doesn’t believe in Voodoo – she only goes to the houmfort and participates in their rituals in order to help the black people. They seem to listen to her counsel, she tells Betsy, if they think she is on the side of the Voodoo gods. She reassures Betsy that Jessica is scientifically incurable. So Mrs. Rand seems to be in control here, and the voice of scientific rationality has quickly regained pre-eminence.

Meanwhile (V), the sabreur approaches Jessica and somehow, without speaking to her or touching her, compels her only with his gestures to raise her arms . The sabreur stabs Jessica lightly with the sword, but she doesn’t bleed. The black people become excited and start murmuring “Zombie!”. Betsy and Mrs. Rand now come out from the room, and Mrs. Rand, fearing things are getting out of her control, urges Betsy to take Jessica quickly back to Fort Holland for safety. Betsy and Jessica rush back through the sugar cane field.

18. Betsy meets Paul and confesses what she did (E). Paul rebukes her, but is impressed that she would do something so dramatic on his behalf. He says, “you think I love Jessica and want her back. . . I wish it were true, for your sake.”

So Betsy’s descent into the cave of mystery has failed. She can’t cure Jessica, and she can’t help Paul, whether it’s with science or with magic. Voodoo is dismissed as primitive witchcraft.

IV. Voodoo returns 

 

19. It is the next day (E), and Alma is tending a horse in the Holland compound front yard. She tells Betsy that it belongs to the police commissioner, who has come on urgent business.

20. Meanwhile native drums are heard again (V), and we see that a doll replica of Jessica is being prepared by the sabreur. This is the beginning of an extended parallel action between the houmfort and the Holland mansion. The focus from here on will switch back and forth between these two spheres of action and their associated the E and V perspectives.

21. Betsy puts Jessica to bed (E). Paul comes and reveals that the police came, because the black people have become aroused and are potentially uncontrollable. It appears that the blacks want to get hold of Jessica in order to carry out some sort of rituals for zombies.

22. The sabreur is seen with the Jessica doll (V), which he places in the hands of the zombie, Carrefour. He then beckons Carrefour to walk forward a few steps and then repeats the mysterious exercise. What does this mean? It seems that he is instructing Carrefour to carry Jessica somewhere

23. Paul, alone with Betsy, tells her that the police want to take Jessica to Saint Thomas, and urges her to return to Canada (E). Betsy doesn’t want to go, but Paul says that he believes that he only destroys beauty, and confesses that he hurt Jessica. He says that he’s afraid of hurting Betsy and destroying her love. They embrace discretely.

24. Betsy is in bed that night, guarding the sleeping Jessica nearby. Carrefour’s shadow is seen, and the sound of his scraping feet is heard. Betsy wakes up and walks outside. Then she sees something and, frightened, hides in the shadows of the front yard. Carrefour walks slowly by. Paul now appears from his room and orders Carrefour to go away, but Carrefour approaches Paul menacingly and continues towards Paul, despite Paul’s orders. Luckily and just in time, Mrs. Rand shows up suddenly and orders Carrefour to return to the hounfort. Carrefour obeys Mrs. Rands order and departs. Again, the confrontation between the European world (E) and the Voodoo world (V) has ended with the European world in control.

V. The final triumph of Voodoo

25. The next day, Betsy says to Mrs. Rand that she is returning to Canada (E). Doctor Maxell and Wesly then enter and announce that there will be a police investigation about Jessica’s circumstances (this had already been foretold by Paul), because of the native unrest. Wesley expresses satisfaction, saying maybe Paul’s evil actions will finally be revealed to all. But Mrs. Rand, intervenes and confesses to everyone that Jessica really is a zombie (in its Voodoo-understood way). She explains.

At that time when Jessica planned to run away with Wesley, Mrs. Rand says that she was overcome with concern for her family breakup and ran to the houmfort, where she entered the Voodoo ceremony and pretended to be possessed. But, now she knows that she really was possessed, and didn’t realize it. In that ceremony at the houmfort, she asked the houmgon to make Jessica into a zombie. When she returned home, she learned to her horror that Jessica was raging with fever. So Jessica feels that she caused Jessica’s becoming a zombie.

But Dr. Maxwell now speaks up to contradict her story. He says it is well-known that one has to kill a person first in order to make him into a zombie. Since Jessica was not killed before her sickness, he says, it follows that Mrs. Rand’s story doesn’t hold water, even on Voodoo terms. He reminds them that there was no indication of prior death, “there was no coma, nothing.” (We later learn, however, that this claim of absence of coma is untrue.) Mrs. Rand appears to accept Dr. Maxwell’s scientific rationalisation of what happened.

26. Back at the houmfort in the evening (V) and to the sound of ritual drum beating, the sabreur is seen attracting the Jessica doll toward him as it is pulled by a string held by the houmgon.

27. Jessica is seen walking in the darkness by herself toward the compound gate (V). Paul and Betsy see her and give her orders to turn back. Unusually this time, she does not obey verbal commands from Paul and Betsy to turn back, so they lock the gate, and Jessica, unable to open the gate, is stalled.

Cut to the sabreur, whose symbolic attraction of the Jessica doll towards him is also stalled.

28. Continuing with the action at the compound gate, Wesley shows up and says that Voodoo has strange powers and that Jessica must be attracted by some Voodoo calling. Wesly says that the Voodoo can make people do anything. Paul dismisses this as nonsense and says that just because Dr. Maxwell didn’t know about the fact that Jessica really did have a coma doesn’t mean that his main argument against Voodoo was wrong.

29. Betsy going back to her room, sees Wesley, who asks her to kill Jessica and “make her free”. Wesly says that Jessica is already brain-dead, and that euthanasia would be an act of mercy. Jessica refuses, saying that her nurse’s commitment is to preserve life, not end it. Then she retires for the evening.

30. But Jessica is again seen walking alone toward the gate (V).

Back at the houmfort (V), the Sabreur is seen whispering something into the ear of the houmgon.

31. Wesley, now in something of a trance, gets up and opens the gate for Jessica (V) enabling her to walk out of the compound towards the houmfort. He then goes to the statue of the martyred Saint Sebastian and pulls out one of the arrows.

32. At the houmfort (V), the sabreur is shown stabbing the Jessica doll.

Cut to Wesley, who has just finished stabbing Jessica to death. Carrefour appears and watches. Wesley picks up Jessica’s body and carries it to the seashore and then wades out into the ocean. Carrefour is seen holding his hands outward (it is unclear whether this gesture indicates that he wanted to retrieve Jessica’s body from Wesley or he was commanding Wesley to enter the ocean).

33. Cut to a medium close-up scene of black spear fishermen at night wading in the water (V) and singing the same dirge-like song that was sung on the boat at the beginning of the film. They discover Jessica’s drowned body in the ocean. We learn that Wesley has also drowned.

34. A voice-over is now heard that is utterly new (V). It is the voice of an island black person, a Voodoo spokesman, who says in a soothing voice with an air of finality that the woman was wicked and already “dead in her spirit”, because of her selfishness: “her steps led him [Wesley] to evil.” The Voodoo perspective has now completely taken over even the narrative oversight of the film. Betsy’s European-oriented narrative voice-over has vanished.

Paul and Betsy are seen sadly embracing (discretely), consoling each other.

There is a final tracking shot moving closer in to the statue of Saint Sebastian, as the voice-over says “give peace and happiness to the living.”

And so it ends. Everything that happened can be rationally and scientifically explained according to the European perspective. A woman, Jessica, suffered spinal paralysis because of a tropical fever. She was later killed by her grief-stricken and deranged lover, who then killed himself. No magic needs be invoked to account for all the events of the film. At the same time there is much that is left unexplained. We do not understand the rationale behind things, and yet when we watch this film, we recognise our own nightmares.
★★★★