First Zombie

In 1931, Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi became a bona-fide movie star with his performance as Dracula in Tod Browning's film of the same name. But in 1932, he starred in what many consider the first actual zombie movie, White Zombie. 

Directed by Victor and Edward Halperin, White Zombie  is set in Haiti where Madelaine (Madge Bellamy) meets with her fiance Neil (John Harron) for a romantic island wedding. They arrive at the sugar plantation of Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) who falls in love (well, lust) with Madeline. Beaumont soon arrives at the sugar mill run by Murder Legendre*(Lugosi). Legendre's mill is run entirely by zombies under his control, and he convinces Beaumont the only way  to win Madeline is to turn her into a zombie. Legendre gives him a potion which Beaumont slips to Madeline on her wedding day. Soon thereafter, Madeline takes ill, 'dies' and is buried, much to her new husband's consternation. Charles and Murder soon sneak into Madeline's tomb and revive her as a zombie, but Charles begins to regret his actions and begs Murder to restore her to life. Murder refuses and it soon becomes apparent that Charles is also under Murder's supernatural control. Meanwhile, Neil, haunted by ghostly visions of Madeline, seeks the help of a local missionary, Bruner (Joseph Cawthorne). Bruner and Neil arrive at Murder's cliffside castle, where Murder sends Madeline to kill Neil. Bruner intercedes and after a struggle, Beaumont and Legendre are thrown off an escarpment to their deaths, releasing Madeline from Murder's spell. 

The movie was not well-received when it was released. Critics savaged the performance of Ms Bellamy, a former Broadway and silent film star, even though she had very little actual dialog, spending most of the picture moping about silently in a trance. The Halperin brothers were sued by playwright Kenneth Webb, who claimed they had stolen the plot from his theatrical flop "Zombie" (the court ruled that Webb's dialog and plot were not infringed upon). Bellamy went on to make a handful of films, but never really recovered from vicious attacks on her performance, despite being an accomplished stage actress. Lugosi, of course, went on to become one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, though by the late '50's was reduced to appearing in Ed Wood, Jr's "Z"-grade movies. 

Preceding Val Lewton's atmospheric I Walked with a Zombie, by 11 years, White Zombie manages to combine the traditional voodou zombi mythology with the mind-control of hypnotism popularized in earlier works such as The Cabinet of Caligari. Lugosi sports a truly demonic goatee and chews the scenery like every other horror star of the era. A lame, unofficial sequel called Revolt of the Zombies was released in 1936, though that movie lacks the atmosphere of the original and suffers from a dialog heavy script by Webb.

Like all horror movies of the era, White Zombie is truly tame by today's standards. Still,  it remains an important entry in the sub-genre and introduced the concept of the "Zombie" into the American psyche. It is also an essential part of any serious horror collector's library. Don't be confused by the 2009 movie of the same name, which has absolutely nothing to do with this film.

*Is that the most awesome character name ever, or what?

More, anon.
Prospero

54 and 33 Years Ago Today...

Today marks the anniversaries of the deaths of two prominent figures in both popular culture and my own life, who have more in common than one might initially suppose.

On August 16th, 1956, Bela "Dracula" Lugosi passed into the ether. His funeral was attended by a handful of his friends, including the infamously bad director, Edward D. Wood, Jr. As per his request, he was buried in his Dracula costume.

Lugosi had enjoyed a rather successful stage and film career in his native Hungary for quite a while before appearing as Bram Stoker's archetypal monster in the original Broadway production of Dean and Balderston's 1927 play, which in turn was adapted into the famous 1931 film by director Tod Browning. Women swooned and Lugosi became Universal's top star, though his refusal to wear the heavy makeup required to play Frankenstein's Monster would give his greatest rival his own iconic horror role. Lugosi would go on to appear in dozens of films, including White Zombie; The Black Cat; Island of Lost Souls (the first film adaptation of "The Island of Doctor Moreau") and Franz Lubitsch's classic comedy Ninotchka. Sadly, by the mid-to-late 40's, he had been reduced to appearing in self-parodying roles in films like Zombies on Broadway and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein:

By the mid-50's Lugosi was a washed up has-been, addicted to drugs and reduced to appearing in Ed Wood's tragically funny films Glen or Glenda and Bride of the Monster. Ironically, his last film was made two years after his death, when Wood used silent footage of the star at the start of what many have called "The Worst Movie Ever Made" (though many would argue that point), Plan Nine from Outer Space. Ironically, Martin Landau would go on to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Lugosi in Tim Burton's best film, Ed Wood:

Lugosi was a childhood idol, and I can remember being very upset when Dracula was shown to my 7th grade class (the novel was part of our curriculum) and most of the kids laughed at the, by then, corny movie. Being of Hungarian descent (with a little German and Scotch thrown in on my mother's side), I grew up thinking that if 'Uncle Bela' could be a star, then so could I.

Flash forward 21 years to 1977. I was about to enter my Junior year of High School that August when my mother tearfully informed me of the death of her own personal icon, Elvis Presley.

Dad may have been an aficionado of Classical music (Beethoven and Wagner, in particular -- more on Dad's Nazi-leanings at another time), but Mom was a Rock 'N' Roller, and Elvis was the man she wished she could have married (along with millions of other gals in the '50's).

One of Uncle P's earliest stage memories -- I was maybe 8 or 9 -- was lip-synching to a 45RPM vinyl recording of "Hound Dog" in front of my elementary school classmates. I seem to remember they all had a good time...

Elvis and Bela shared a similar career path - both were Pop Culture icons taken down by their addictions, though Elvis certainly enjoyed a longer and much more lucrative career. Both made some really awful movies:

Whatever happened to Mary Tyler Moore, anyway?

Elvis died of a drug-overdose, found by his daughter on the toilet. I can't imagine a more ignominious ending to the career of 'The King.' And while my mother still pays homage to Presley on the anniversary of his death, I can't help but make mention of how gorgeous and hot he was in that black leather outfit he wore for his 1968 "Comeback Special:"

Damn! I totally understand why women threw their panties on stage... and I have never been so jealous of Priscilla... And I know plenty of 'straight' boys that would have thrown themselves at this version of him.

What does all this mean? I'm not exactly sure. Maybe it's just that legendary talent endures. Both Lugosi and Presley will remain icons of Pop Culture, as long as folks like myself continue to talk about them; post their images; view their works and aspire to be just like them - without the death-causing addictions, of course.

More, anon.
Prospero