Review of I Walked with a Zombie (1943) by Zack B — 02 Sep 2011

Easily the most startling and stylish adaptation of Jane Eyre ever made, Jacques Tourneur's 'I Walked with a Zombie' answers the simple question: what if Rochester had never left the Caribbean--if Jane instead were to travel there instead? In less than seventy minutes Tourneur's balletic camera describes a world of dreamlike languor and voodoo magic, a world where not just Rochester's wife but all the main characters are, in fact, only half alive, caught between passion's drive and society's demands.

The film itself is equally divided in nature, alternating between long, beautifully lit and photographed sequences almost entirely without dialogue (Betsy's first encounter with Jessica, the trek to the Home Front) and monologues from people describing their struggle with passion's consequences with all the fervor of recovering addicts (Tom Conway, Edith Barrett).

The ending has been described as abrupt; I can only call it inevitable, lyrical, breathlessly tragic. A great film.