In line of previous Jacques Tourneur's Cat People this one is a follow up in same direction,bringing the spooky atmosphere at West Indians island where slavery takes place at this period of time,the black people took their mysticism with them as voodoo,the epic night scene through cane field under the moonlight is quite fantastic when they meet the black man Carrefour,stunning story which has a minor fail,is too short,could be more developed to expand the whole thing,even so deserves a look to all moviefan who likes this genre!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

A Hollywood primordial exploration of the now time-honored zombie trope, running around a svelte 69-minute and with the filmmaker who previously brings us CAT PEOPLE (1942), I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE holds its own in its compact narrative that takes place in the Caribbean island of Saint Sebastian, where the wife of a sugar plantation owner has slumped into a zombie-like state, viz. a living dead under the spell of voodoo magic. Audience are whisked onto the tropical land with our heroine, a Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Dee), who snatches the well-paid job to minister to the aforementioned wife Jessica Holland (Gordon), whose first apparitional appearance is a mild hair-raiser, and instinctively swoons for her hubby, Paul Holland (Conway), a suave gent ailed by a pessimistic streak, the first thing he tells her is that "everything is putrescent". As she dedicatedly takes it on herself to bring Jessica back to the living world, a manifestation of her lofty affection to the man she loves, and is out of step with a more plausible self-serving/possessive maneuver that more likely pops up in the context of romantic pursuit, her last resort to work the miracle hinges on the local voodooism, and the most atmospherically stirring sequence is where she chaperones a sleep-walking Jessica across a nocturnal cane field interspersed with memento mori, to attend an occult ceremony and is appalled by the sight of a dead-fish-eyed guardian Carrefour (Jones), an archetypal zombie embodiment that might give viewers at then nightmares.Directer Jacques Tourneur, cunningly straddles the explanation between scientific diagnosis and ethnic necromancy, also configures a bare-bones JANE EYRE plot to leaven the narrative, although Frances Dee flourishes as a gamely virtuous can-doer, and theater dab-hand Edith Barrett upstages the rest with a layered rendition as Mrs. Rand, Paul's mother, whose evasive culprit identity actually counterpoints her palpable bonhomie, the film per se is too much an obsolete novelty to be seriously reckoned as a masterwork, not even with the help of Sir Lancelot's calypso invention, especially when he is unceremoniously introduced as a Janus-faced fabulist (apologizing first, scandal-disclosing later).

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a classic of atmospheric horror that comes courtesy of famed producer Val Lewton. Like the rest of Lewton's output in the 1940s, this is a mood piece all about the atmosphere; the story comes second to the visuals and the stylistics. The story is set in the Caribbean and features a plucky young nurse heroine who arrives at a plantation only to discover some weird goings-on involving her employer's somnambulist wife.Essentially it's Jane Eyre with zombies, and there's no harm in that. The voodoo material in this production is pretty effective, and the horror highlight is the sight of Darby Jones as the emaciated zombie with bulging eyeballs wandering through the cane fields; these scenes are quite exceptional and help to make the film. However, the dialogue scenes are also engaging and there's never a dull moment despite the slow pace. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a classic for good reason.

"Betsy Connell" (Frances Dee) is a nurse living in Canada who accepts a job taking care of the wife of a sugar plantation owner named "Paul Holland" (Tom Conway). The fact that it takes her to the tropical island of Saint Sebastion in the Caribbean is an added incentive. On the way there she meets Paul and he acts quite cold and distant to her. Subsequent meetings only reinforce this impression. However, his brother "Wesley Rand" (James Ellison) seems much more friendly. But her impression of him changes when she realizes that he has a drinking problem. She also learns that Paul Holland's wife is a sleepwalker. At least, that's what it looks like. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that for a movie made during World War 2 this particular zombie film wasn't too bad. Naturally, like most movies of this type made prior to 1968 the catalyst for creating a zombie centers on voodoo rather than a virus or chemical agent. Additionally, the zombies of today are nothing like those back then. In any case, I enjoyed this movie for the most part with my biggest criticism being that it lacked the necessary time (only 69 minutes) to establish any real depth. Accordingly, I rate this movie as slightly above average.