SIXTY YEARS AGO TODAY
Sixty Years Ago Today was Wednesday, September 25, 1963….Dominican Republic President Juan Bosch was overthrown in a military coup, only seven months after he had become the nation's first democratically elected leader. Military leaders installed a group of three civilians, headed by Emilio de Los Santos as President, to preside over the nation….The U.S. House of Representatives voted 271-155 to approve the reduction of the federal income tax rate. The bill would pass the U.S. Senate, and be signed into law on February 26, 1964. (Wait! What’s that? Does that mean I’ll pay less tax when I file for 1963??? Sweeeet!)...But here’s yer top story…
Top song in the country was BLUE VELVET, crooned by Bobby Vinton. In the UK, the top song was SHE LOVES YOU by some band with a misspelled insect name….
Local TV that night featured THE VIRGINIAN, MYSTERY THEATER, THE ELEVENTH HOUR, CBS REPORTS, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE DANNY KAYE SHOW (this was the premiere episode of this show, which probably wasn’t that good, but which I watched each and every time it was on. So there.), THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET, THE PATTY DUKE SHOW “Paul Lynde gives intelligence test to Patty and the computer rates her a genius.”, THE PRICE IS RIGHT, BEN CASEY, and CHANNING (“Noreen Corcoran plays pretty co-ed who accuses professor [Leslie Nielsen] of making improper advances.” Hmm. Wonder if young David Mamet watched this??).
Here’s what was playing in Louisville movie theaters on the day in question…
So there I was, sixty years ago, no longer a grade school kid, now a big ol’ Junior High kid. Thirteen years, eight months, five days old, and didn’t know a damn thing about nuthin’.
I have one memory of my first day of 7th grade… when 6th grade ended, girls were still ooky. They were still the enemy: cootie-ridden, long-haired, doll-playing pests. Everybody knew that. Well, all us guys anyway. But in 7th grade--the very first day--the change was obvious. Guys had girlfriends. And the guys who didn’t have girlfriends wanted girlfriends. Guys were talking to girls as much as to the guys. What the hell was going on? I thought maybe an official letter had been sent to all 13 year old boys and mine had gotten lost in the mail.
I didn’t understand it and I didn’t much like it. Maybe I would have joined into the festivities myself--I mean…girls weren’t THAT bad-- but my horrible, innate shyness kept me right where I was. And where I would stay for an embarrassing length of time.
My movie today came on the late show, Channel 11. The fact that this was a school night made no difference to my viewing plans. Since my dad had split four years earlier, I was always staying up late. My poor sweet soft-hearted mom couldn’t and wouldn’t make me go to bed. Sometimes she’d say, “Rickie, you shouldn’t stay up, you need some sleep.” I’d say, “No, Momma, I’m fine.” and that was it. No arguments, no doubts. I’d stay up. If there was a movie worth watching, I watched it. If not, I’d watch The Tonight Show. First my idol, Jack Paar, later the new kid, Johnny Carson.
Tonight it was a movie and that is why we are assembled here. That night I saw, for the first time…
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
Yeah, a high-class biggie. This was, I think, the third Val Lewton film for me. I’d already seen THE BODY SNATCHER and ISLE OF THE DEAD, so this would mean I’d have seen one-third of Lewton’s horror output. Three of the nine.
I loved this one, as who wouldn’t? Another winner from Lewton. But I don’t think it hit me like those other two already seen. I have strong, specific memories from my first viewings of both THE BODY SNATCHER and ISLE OF THE DEAD. My 60 year-old recollections of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE are much more sparse. I remember that there was some calypso music and I remember a general impression of the famous walk through the canefields, and that’s it.
I’ve seen this one at least three or four times in the last 60 years, but it’s been quite a while since my last look, so I’m ready and excited to watch it again. Roll ‘em!
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The music under the opening credits sounds more suited to THE GHOST SHIP or THE SEA WOLF. I guess Roy Webb saw a boat and figured, “hey, sea music!”...
“Any similarity to actual persons, living, dead, or possessed, is simply coincidental.” Cute…
James Ellison would never be mistaken for a great actor. He’d hardly be mistaken for an actor at all. This, however, is probably his best work ever. That’s what a really good script does for you. Does TO you…
Apparently, in prior viewings, I’d simply taken Frances Dee for granted. But it’s easy to see now that this is a terrific performance…
Boy oh boy…the studio hands you the title I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and you turn it into the poetry of nightmare. Hats off to you, Mr. Lewton…
I thought I had a good memory of Sir Lancelot, but I was a little surprised by his somewhat sinister presence…
I wonder if the author of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES took any of his inspiration from this--JANE EYRE AND ZOMBIES…
Frances Dee is quite beautiful but when shot in direct profile, care should be taken. Her uber-strong jawline and seriously jutting jaw need caution in pictureizing…
Of course, the most famous sequence in the film is the walk through the canefields, the scene in which our leading lady actually does “walk with a zombie”. And it earns its fame....
It’s the lulls in Lewton--the frequent quiet sections of civil conversation and uncivil silence--which turn off some viewers. But the lulls are intentional. Lewton treasures his set-pieces of horror, so he nestles them in a comfortable blanket of calm, allowing them to burst or, more often, slither out into the light…
Carrefour (Darby Jones) is an incredibly impressive zombie…
I’m thinking that this is the only Hollywood voodoo ceremony which feels even halfway real. (Though I may be shortchanging BLACK MOON and/or SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW. Need to take a second look.)...
The character shift in Tom Conway’s “Rochester” is maybe a mite quick, a bit unsupported, a little too easy. Perhaps a more subtle change is too much for a 68 minute horror movie, however high-minded…
I’m bothered that “Rochester” stands by while his mother grieves the death of her other son, and makes no move to comfort her…
The watery denouement of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a romantic ending for a horror film only equalled, or likely surpassed, by the final scene of SON OF DRACULA….
I’ve known since I was 13 years old that this was a terrific horror film. Every viewing over the years has only reinforced that. So it’s particularly interesting, and sort of gratifying, that this latter-years look actually shows an even better movie than I’d always thought. That was a nice gift.
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