cstotlar-1 This film has been on my list for years to see and I finally caught it on You Tube. The print wasn't in tip-top shape but it was quite viewable. Browning's camera never shifts and that becomes monochromatic at times but his avoidance of unnecessary inter-titles is an excellent choice. The actors are particularly good in this one and the great Lon Chaney without excessive make-up is truly remarkable. The are twists and turns galore in the last part of the film that wear quite well. The geography is somewhat muddled perhaps but the story-line braves the storm and keeps the audience guessing. The musical score of the version I saw was effective without being overbearing.I'm glad I saw this film.Curtis Stotlar

theowinthrop West of Zanzibar was based on one of those torrid dramas that were big on Broadway in the 1920s, set in some distant rain forest or jungle. The best recalled is WHITE CARGO, in which a half-breed (as they were called in the 1920s) named Tondelayo manipulates one man into marrying her, and later tries to poison him for her own comfort. The play RAIN was based on a better piece of fiction (Somerset Maugham's short story of the same name) and set in the South Seas - and told of how a holy man proved more man than holy man after he met a prostitute.But KONGO, the basis of WEST OF ZANZIBAR, is not as well remembered except for the two films that came out of it: the silent film here with Lon Chaney as "Deadlegs" and the talkie movie version with Walter Huston called KONGO. They gave the same type of background - exotic and rotting to White "European" types. But KONGO / WEST OF ZANZIBAR also is a study in vengeance and it's dangers and limitations.Lon Chaney Sr. plays a prominent magician named Phroso, who is married when his wife deserts him for a rival named Crane (Lionel Barrymore). There is a fight, and Crane cripples Phroso by throwing him down. Crane leaves with the wife, but a year of so later she tries to return to Phroso, who rejects her. She dies, leaving a young girl. Phroso takes the girl, believing it is Crane's daughter.Tod Browning's films were good on building suspense and showing the odd in life from "Freaks" to Mad Magicians to Great Vampires (of fake Vampires). But the plot lines are not well thought out. Phroso learns Crane is an ivory dealer in Africa, so he follows him there, sets himself up as an ivory dealer too, and proceeds to slowly drive Crane out of business as part of a long term plan for vengeance. He also brings up the daughter (Mary Nolan) as a drudge and a drug addict. His compound in Africa includes a drunken doctor (Warner Baxter) and the local natives. It is with the scenes and plot developments with the natives that the creakiness and racism of the play shows through - Phroso keeps the natives under control by his magic tricks. Baxter, who is usually soused, is seen playing a guitar rapidly in one scene, while a heavy native woman is "shimmying" in a suggestive dance. One thing in the plot that the natives have been promised is that when Crane dies they can put the daughter to death as a sacrifice to their gods.Eventually two things upset the plotting of Phroso. First, Baxter finds that he is falling for Nolan. Soon, instead of being pliant to Chaney he starts defending her defiantly. Second, when Chaney finally confronts Barrymore, he learns that the latter could not care less about what happened to Nolan - because she is not Barrymore's daughter, she's Chaney's! All of his plotting has only endangered his own child!The film was a good one for Chaney, playing one of his most belligerent and dangerous fiends, but one who recovers his own humanity too late. Barrymore played mostly villains in the movies at this time, and makes Crane a person devoid of any charm at all (one wonders what Phroso's wife saw in him to begin with). Baxter and Nolan do the best with their roles, Baxter pulling himself together and belatedly discovering Chaney's rediscovered humanity. If not as well known to the public as THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, WEST OF ZANZIBAR gave Chaney another eccentric villain to play with, and is worth watching.

MartinHafer The movie begins with Lon Chaney and his wife doing a stage magic show. Shortly after they finish, the wife runs off with her lover AND the lover attacks Chaney and leaves him paralyzed from the waist down--and all this occurs in the first few minutes of the film! Several months later, Chaney finds his wife dead in a church with a baby that he assumes is her lover's child. What an odd coincidence, huh?! The movie then picks up about 18 years later. What has Chaney done with his life in order to get revenge on his wife's lover? Yeah, exactly what any other man would do--follow the guy to Africa, start a cult among the natives so you can be their chief and bring the now addicted baby (who is now 18 and going through DTs) there to torment her in front of her biological father, naturally! This is all very creepy and convoluted and just plain weird. In a way, it's very entertaining but also pretty ridiculous. This story is one of the more bizarre tales I have seen in a silent film, though pretty consistent with director Browning and Chaney's styles. And while many of the story elements are quite scary and unsettling, the pacing of the film is a real problem--particularly at the end of the film. Instead of wrapping everything together and dealing with the suspense, the movie just starts to bog down and becomes rather plodding. This is a real shame, as it tends to lessen the dramatic impact and slow the movie to a crawl. A truly interesting and creepy relic, but far from Lon Chaney's best film, though his ability to mimic a disabled man and pull himself along with floor with "dead legs" (also his nickname in the film) was incredible--a fine job of acting on his part.

preppy-3 Silent film of crippled Lon Chaney Sr. who blames a man (Lionel Barrymore) for causing it. He tortures and turns his young daughter (Mary Nolan) into a drug addict to punish him.Very strange but absolutely fascinating movie. The story is strong (but not overly gruesome like its remake "Kongo") with great acting. Nolan is very good at playing innocent and drugged out. Barrymore isn't in it much, but he's very good when he is. Chaney is just great in his role--quite possibly one of the best performances I've ever seen on film, and I've seen hundreds of them.Quite simply, this is one of the best silent films ever. A definite must-see.