WEST OF ZANZIBAR

WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928) is yet another one of the countless films I was first exposed to in the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine when I was a kid. Every once in awhile, whenever Forry Ackerman felt like running on article on the great silent film star Lon Chaney, he would usually include a still from WEST in the piece. I was left to wonder about this ancient film, wonder what it was all about and, more significantly, wonder if I would ever have the chance to view this mysterious relic of an age long gone. 

Wonder no more. I watched WEST OF ZANZIBAR for the first time this afternoon (thanks to a recent broadcast on TCM). The film isn't a horror film really, although it does contain horror elements, many of which are revealed to be "Scooby-Do's", things which, while appearing to be supernatural in origin, are really just some guy in a mask. Chaney himself wears a mask (that looks more like a Muppet than a monster), in a couple of scenes. 

Even though it's more of a revenge melodrama than an out and out horror film, WEST contains a human "monster" in the form of paralyzed stage magician Phroso (Chaney). Here, the man of a thousand faces, sports a closely shaved head and useless legs (his henchmen refer to him as "Dead Legs"). And while Phroso has a wheelchair, the most horrific scenes in the film occur when Chaney drags himself across the floor, totally convincing audiences then and now, that his body was dead from the waist down. 

Phroso looses his wife Anna (Jacqueline Gadsden) to Crane (Lionel Barrymore). Crane brags he's going to take the woman to Africa and when Phroso tries to stop him, Crane pushes him from a great height, causing his paralyzing injury. A year later, Anna is back in town, with an infant in tow. She dies in a church and Phroso swears to have his revenge against both Crane and the child. 

It's eighteen years later when the scene shifts to somewhere west of Zanzibar. Phroso and his magic tricks help him control a tribe of natives who, using "voodoo, " steal ivory tusks from Crane. Phroso  reveals himself to Crane as the ivory thief and then plays his trump card: he brings Crane's daughter, Maizie (the luminous Mary Nolan) from her job as a prostitute in Zanzibar, to confront her father in all her debased and drunken debauchery. 

But Crane gets the last laugh when he reveals that he is not Maizie's father. She is truly Phroso's' child and he is suddenly faced with executing one last bit of trickery (the same trick that opened the film is used again in the climax), to save his daughter. 

Director Tod Browning, who worked with Chaney on several silent films including the legendary lost work, LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, works his magic again here. Cinematographer Percy Hilburn brings loads of atmosphere to the jungle sets and with a running time of 65 minutes, there's never time to become bored or distracted by frivolous sub-plots (there aren't any!)

Be aware that there are elements in this film that are objectionable by today's standards. The treatment of natives as ignorant, superstitious savages is a cliché that was already old (and offensive) in 1928. 

That said and despite the fact that it's not a genuine horror film, WEST OF ZANZIBAR, thanks to the talents of Browning and Chaney, is an effective tale of revenge and jungle justice. 

Recommended.