American Cinematographer - February 1988 - 38

suggests the only way to win her is to make a zombie
of her. Beaumont is horrified, but Murder insists:
"There is no other way" He instructs Beaumont to put
the merest

pinpoint of a potion on a flower or in a glass

of wine.
Beaumont

pleads with Madeline, but she re¬
plans. He gives her a rose. The
wedding takes place and a banquet follows. Meantime,
Murder appears outside the house and takes a candle
from a lamp. This he carves into the shape of a woman
and wraps it in Madeline's scarf. As Madeline looks
into her wine glass she sees the face of Murder. "I see I see death," she says, and as Murder melts the effigy
in the flame of another lamp, she crumples to the floor.
She is pronounced dead by the doctor.
Neil's mind almost snaps. He becomes a
drunken derelict, seeing his wife's pale form in every
shadow. He stumbles down a road, calling her name, in
the black of night. Murder and Beaumont, accom¬
panied by the six zombie bodyguards, disinter the
body of Madeline. Neil finds the crypt empty. Later, he
and Dr. Bruner set out into the jungle to seek the lair of
fuses to reconsider her

Above: The

Legendre
Sugar Mill, where

Murder.

the workers "aren't

At Murder's

worried about

long
Right: Robert
Frazer deigns to ac¬
cept Bela Lugosi's
proffered hand as

mechanical,

soulless creature. He

pleads with Murder that "She
must be gay and happy again," but Murder poisons
him with a drug that will slowly turn him into a
zombie. The bodyguards throw Silver to his doom in

the monstrous

Frederick Peters
stands

clifftop castle, Beaumont realizes

his rash action has made of Madeline

hours."

by.

underground torrent.
Neil and Bruner

see

the castle; vultures hover

and screech.

Leaving the feverish Neil below, Bruner
to reconnoiter the castle. By some mystic reaction

goes
to the

"We

might have been killed!" Neil admonishes.
might have been
caught!" is the reply. The zombies, the driver explains,
were resurrected from death through witchcraft and
made to work by night in the fields and mills.
Dr. Bruner (Joseph Cawthorn) has been sum¬
moned to the Beaumont mansion to marry Neil and
Madeline. Neil, a bank employee in Port au Prince, has
"Worse than that, Monsieur, we

summoned his fiancee from America; she met the

wealthy Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) aboard
ship. Beaumont has insisted that the wedding take
place on his plantation. Bruner is uneasy about Beau¬
mont's penchant for debauchery, but he cannot voice
his suspicions because of the hovering presence of
Beaumont's loyal servant, Silver (Brandon Hurst).
Summoned to a coach driven by one of Mur¬
der's creatures, Beaumont is taken to a huge sugar mill
where

numerous

zombies labor. One of them stumbles

brought to the office of Murder, who still carries Mad¬

about to

runs

veranda and is

leap to her death, but Neil

recovers and stops
her. Murder's zombies crowd Neil to the edge of the

cliff. Neil

empties his revolver into the creatures, but

bullets have

effect. Bruner fells Murder

Neil

flings himself to the floor and the zombies shamble
mindlessly over the edge. Madeline recovers her mind
for a moment, but lapses into a coma when Murder
awakes.

Seeking to escape, Murder hurls a gas gre¬
nade; the gas, combined with his magic, could make
living
lyzed,

of his enemies. Beaumont, half para¬
appears on the parapet and grapples with Mur¬
der. Both men fall to their deaths. Madeline wakes and
says,

corpses

"Neil, I

I dreamed."
opened

White Zombie

Rivoli Theatre. No movie

ever

on Broadway at the
received a more tho¬

kidnap Madeline, but the zombie master maintains
such action will not bring about the desired result. He

rough critical scourge, although the public loved it and
brought in a great deal of money In recent years it has
gained notice as an outstanding film of its time. This
belated acknowledgement is hardly as paradoxical as it

American

February 1988

eline's scarf. Beaumont has tried to hire Murder to

of her lover, Madeline goes out onto a

interference of Bruner. She

and

topples into a cane chopping machine and is
ground to bits by his heedless fellows. Beaumont is

nearness

balcony Neil is drawn to the castle, where he wanders
aimlessly until he collapses at the top of a staircase.
Murder sends Madeline with a knife and telepathically
orders her to kill Neil, but, because of opposition from
Beaumont's waning mind, he must summon all his
willpower to make her strike. Her hand is stayed by the

Cinematographer

American Cinematographer - February 1988

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