White Zombie

[Real_McCoy]

It was on TCM this morning. I think it was restored by UCLA using Sinister Cinema 35mm. They got all the scenes complete sound. Beautiful job. I was dissatisfied by the Roan version. There is one scene where Dr.Brunner has his back to the camera and the dialogue begins & ends that way. Finally all the words are there. Makes a big difference. He explains Haitian law & native customs to madelaine's husband before they go zombie hunting. Only took 80 years.

[Real_McCoy]

I am far from being an expert on this great film. But I was lucky or attentive. in the 80's White Zombie was on USA Night Flight. I taped it and kept the tape all these years. Still have it. This version has footage that escaped the various restorations. I will tell you a few of them.

1. When the couple are getting married (she has already been poisoned) she reaches over and grabs Neil's hand pulling it towards her and squeezes it hard. CUT all is shown is her hand reaching over.

2. Dr. Brunner says "Holy Matrimony , which is an honorable estate" CUT [which is an honorable]

3. Meanwhile Lugosi is finishing carving his figurine after which he pockets his stiletto turns around and looks intently at his artwork. CUT [takes place as he is pocketing stiletto] TO

4. There is a cut to the table in which the 3 main characters are seated. a parade of servants approaches during which Neil says: "This is the night of memory. If I live to be a thousand it'll never happen again." CUT
the cut is to Mr. Beaumont giving a toast to "Beauty's Queen"

5. later on is a scene which was shortened. When Neil faints in Lugosi's castle he decides to have his wife kill him. She gets the knife and goes to where her husband is sleeping. There is an extreme close-up of Neil's face which slowly moves to where his shirt is open. She is holding the knife up & hesitating. The extreme close-up was shortened. The beginning and end were removed & by doing so destroy the emphasis of the scene = her hesitating. She realizes she is supposed to kill her husband & can't do it. In the USA Night Flight version the scene is intact. Why is it not intact in the "restoration"?

Probably the most butchered scene is Bela Lugosi creating a figurine out of a candle. When he is finished carving it - it resembles a female oscar. Things happen for a reason. Which is most likely the reason the movie was destroyed as it was. The devil was MGM and the zombies are MGM slaves. Later on he creates another figurine to enslave Beaumont. It looks like a male oscar.

If I can tell you this stuff and UCLA decided to not include it in the movie, we are seeing another episode of the Murnau Stiftung "operations" ........ oh nobody'll notice it missing. I'm nobody These are people we trust to restore our artworks!

[Brent]

Thanks for posting. It'd be lovely to think we may one day get a really decent HD release of this classic film. There's certainly much room for improvement. I've got the Kino and VCI BDs but neither looks or sounds that great when projected.

[Real_McCoy]

I believe it was LAZINESS. In order to put those fragments back in the film as it should would take alot of time and money. UCLA charges top dollar. So they said "Fk it" - its good enough. they wouldve had trouble as the sound was removed and spliced back on so there'd be a gap of no sound. the sound of White Zombie is already a total mess. the movie was deliberately destroyed by many people. except they missed the night flight print.

[Real_McCoy]

No.1 --- by grabbing his hand and squeezing it - means she loved him but also she was going to need his love to escape zombieism.

No. 2 -- shows how the poisoning taking place during the wedding -- shows how sacriligious and therefore the line "Holy Matrimony which is an honorable estate" -- was cut to blur that Dr.Brunner knew zombieism was against god.

no.3.-- when Neil says "If I live to be a thousand..."- shows how much a victim he was in the scheme.

These pieces restored would make WHITE ZOMBIE a better film.