I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

I enjoyed "I walked with a Zombie" even more than "Cat people" - everything from the acting to a creepy atmosphere and things that go boo in the night was just perfect and my toes were curling with pleasure as I was lost in this story. Sure,it is old-fashioned but after all it was made in 1943. and that's the beauty of it - I absolutely love these old classics and what struck me interesting is how exciting and effective they were with minimum technical wizardry - it seems that today people rely way too much on special effects but forgot the importance of good story,after all if the story is half-baked everything else collapses.

Not here - the main character is the nurse who is interviewed for a new job (while snow heavily falls outside of the office) somewhere in Caribbean and goes there just to fond truly creepy atmosphere in the family house owned by two brothers who eventually fight for her attention. It has more than a touch of "Jane Eyre" in it's story and everything is very simple but very good - the "zombie" in the movie is actually character of Jessica who does not utter even one word!

Tom Conway plays elegant and suave Mr.Holland and he is very good - he was also in "Cat People" - the strange thing in this movie is his mother who was all wrong for the role. I was watching this slim "mother" thinking she looks very unconvincing as mother of two grown-up sons until later I found out the actress Edith Barrett was only 36 (which makes her younger than her screen sons) oh well,never mind.