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West of Zanzibar
1928 Drama / Thriller
Review
The last but one of the ten collaborations of director Tod Browning and
actor Lon Chaney is one of their best and, whilst not strictly a horror
film, it is the film in which Chaney gives arguably his most chilling
performance. The film was adapted from the successful stage play
Kongo, which was performed on
Broadway in 1926. Walter Huston played the lead role in that play
and in the subsequent 1932 sound film version, directed by William J.
Cowen.Today, most people know Tod Browning through his 1931 horror classic Dracula, but that film pales in comparison with his earlier silent films, which are amongst the finest that Hollywood made in the 1920s. West of Zanzibar is a particularly striking film, with its atmospheric sets (which offer an authentic recreation of the torrid African setting), brisk pace, and mounting tension achieved through its brooding chiaroscuro cinematography and sharp editing. In one of his last roles before he succumbed to cancer, Lon Chaney plays a truly memorable villain, the crippled magician Phroso. The intensity and realism that Chaney brings to his performance makes the film relentlessly dark, almost sadistic – up until the moment when his character realises his fatal mistake. At this point, Chaney’s portrayal changes in an instant, from that of a monster to that of a man wrought by guilt and sorrow. There aren’t many actors who can take you through so many contrasting emotions, making you shiver with fear one minute, making you weep in sympathy the next. Lon Chaney was one of this rare breed, richly deserving his epithet The Man of a Thousand Faces. © James Travers 2009 Write a review for this film... User Comments
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Director:
Tod Browning
Starring: Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan, Warner Baxter Synopsis
Anna cannot bear to tell her devoted husband, the magician Phroso, of
her intention to leave him for another man, Crane. It is the
latter who breaks the news and, in the ensuing brawl, Phroso falls from
a great height and breaks both his legs. A year later, the
crippled Phroso learns that Anna has returned to his town, with what he
assumes to be Crane’s child. When Anna dies, Phroso vows
vengeance on the man who has ruined both of their lives. Eighteen
years later, Phroso has traced Crane, now an ivory hunter, to an
African settlement near Zanzibar. Using his skill as a magician,
Phroso gains the confidence of the natives, who revere him as their
leader. By stealing Crane’s ivory crop, Phroso lures his former
rival into his carefully laid trap. The natives have a quaint
custom: when a man dies, his daughter must also perish...
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