West of Zanzibar (1927) vs. Kongo (1932)

Violence, Sex, Prostitution, Corruption, Drug Addition, Alcoholism, Torture, Sadism, Murder....

Welcome, my friends, to old Hollywood's vision of Black Africa: where the natives are superstitious, the white men stinkers, and the women are...., well, not the type you would take home to meet mother.

Ah, but it is the habitat of a certain fiend known as Deadlegs Flint, a tough paraplegic who, for the eighteen years that he has inhabited his hut in the middle of the jungle, has been focused on one thing, and one thing only: Revenge. Revenge on the man that cost him his legs, his wife, and his pride. In the meantime, he plots and plans. If he can't harm this man directly, Flint knows the next best thing that will devastate his enemy hardest: the ruin of his daughter.

And how! For all those who think that all old movies are quaint and tame, and oh so fluffy, the silent West of Zanzibar and the pre-code Kongo should prove to be an eyefull. These are a pair of strange and disturbing films, both different versions of the same tale. They are adaptions of a Broadway play called Kongo, and some of the actors from the original Broadway run return to reprise their roles in the film of the same name. Unfortunately, I am not able to say which version sticks closer to the one presented on the stage, for the script was never published, and I have yet to track down a manuscript of the original.

The men who play Flint on screen, Lon Chaney in the former and Walter Huston in the latter, are both great. They are imposing, cruel, and very memorable. I rather like how the silent presents Flint before his life was ruined, showing what a nice, good man his was before Lionel Barrymore entered his life (and yes, Barrymore did play S.O.Bs before It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and boy, is he detestable here). That makes the broken and cruel figure that he becomes all the more intriguing and horrifying.

But Walter Huston is just plain mean, if not more so. Heck, he threatens to twist his mistress's tongue with a piece of wire (and from his and everyone's reactions, you can tell that he has done this before). He is not just satisfied with letting his wife's daughter grow up in an African brothel, as Chaney did in the silent version. No, Huston has her raised in a convent, and then throws her into a brothel when she turns 18.

Before.....

....and After.

Which one do I prefer? Actually, I think Kongo, on the whole, is superior. It felt less stagy than the silent, had, if not better, more memorable actors (Lupe Valez is a special treat), and frankly conjured up a better sense of depravity and perversity. But do not let that deter you from seeing Zanzibar; Chaney's performance alone is worth the price of admission, and he is in top form here, making a more persuasive paraplegic than Huston.

The bad news: Zanzibar is not available on video (though you can see its minuscule form on youtube). The good news: Kongo is, thanks to Warner Archives. Be sure to check them out, as they are unforgettable examples of how far Hollywood could go before a certain Code was enforced.

A Little Experiment: Part 1

It is funny what one can remember about a film one has seen once a long, long time ago. There are moments, flashes that are very clear, but not enough to form a coherent.

One of these films that fits the description is Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), a bio-pic staring James Cagney, who portrays the great silent actor and make-up master Lon Chaney This film is rather special,  because not only does it have the honor of being my first Cagney film, but also my cinematic introduction to the works of Chaney himself.

Just for the heck of it, I will see just how accurate these 10+ year old memories of mine are: In this post, I will jot down everything that I remember about the film, (in as close to chronological order that I can muster). I will then watch it for the second time in my life, and see how accurate my memories are.

It starts out in Chaney's childhood. You see him on his way home, it looks like he was in a fight. His young sister chides him, saying that Mama would not be happy. He goes to his mother, and comunicates with her in sign langue, ( one of these gesetures looks like clap). She "talks" with him, and that brings a smile to his face.

When he is an adult, he is in 1919's The Miracle Man (as I have latter figured out). The scene is filmed in which he is a twisted up criple who crawls towards a prist. The prist lifts his hand, looking holy, and Chaney untwists him self slowly. He emotionally kisses the man's hand. The scene finished, Chaney stands up and procededs to do a little tap dance.

He is married to a woman who obsessed with their baby being born deaf, because of Chaney's parents. The baby's post-birth spanking is shown in silhouette in the hospital, and the wife is at first happy because the baby is crying, but becomes upset when the doctor tells her that crying is not influenced by what he hears.

Later, Chaney stands over the baby's crib, with his wife the background. She has continued to express worry that their son is deaf. Exasperated, he claps his hands loudly, and the baby cries. The parents are relived, and comfort the child.

The wife meets Chaney's parents, and greets them with a shy "hello", but is surprised when she finds out by default that they are deaf. She goes away to cry, and Chaney talks with his mom and she brings a smile to his face, echoing the beginning of the film. He then goes to his wife, and tells him that his Mom was right: that he should have told his wife that they were deaf.

The a filming of the whipping scene in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) is interrupted by some people, and there is an argument between them and Chaney (while he is still in make-up, which does not look similar to the original film).

The famous unmasking scene from The Phantom of the Opera (1925) is being filmed. Christine (with long blonde hair, for some reason) is sneaking up behind the masked Phantom, who preoccupied with playing the organ. She removes the mask from behind, and faints with shock when she sees his hideous visage. The Phantom (who has long straight white hair, for some reason) looks down at her still figure, and collapses from grief. After a call of "cut", Chaney and the actress get up, and they walk off while he pats her hand, talking cordially.

Chaney gets remarried to a nice, non-nerotic woman. You know she is nice, because she talks to the parents in sign language and hugs them.

Chaney and his son are talking in sign language at the edge of a dock. His second wife asks what's going on, Chaney says that they are having a "guy talk", and continues to sign.

Chaney is on his deathbed. No longer able to talk, he communicates with sign language. He tells his son to pick him his old make-up box. The son obeys, and Chaney takes out a piece of chalk and adds "Jr." to the end of his name. He smiles, and dies.