The Love Wanga

Paramount very kindly offered this to UK originally as a quota quickie. Here is a review from the Kinematograph Weekly (respected trade magazine) from September 13, 1934. It is not flattering...

"THIS drama is clumsily built around " Voodooism, - that mysterious cult, a form of hypnotic suggestion, practised by the natives of the West lndies. Had the subject been approached intelligently it would, no doubt, have provided intriguing entertainment, but the story, general treatment, acting and dialogue are so crude that the picture becomes posithely laughable. Not recommended, except as a quota proposition for very uncritical audiences.

Story. -Clelie. A half-caste girl, is consumed by jealousy when Adam, her white neighbour, with whom she had been on more than friendly terms, becomes engaged to Eve, a girl whom he had brought from England. She determines to get rid of Eve...

Acting.-There is no need to dwell on the cast. The majority of the players have never been seen before, and, judging by their pitiful performances, it is most unlikely that they will ever be seen again.

Production.-This picture fails to bring any enlightenment to that mysterious cult known as "Voodooism." The staging presumably is authentic, but out side of this the film is just crude melodrama acted by a cast whose technique, to say the least, lacks experience. The Renters will have to call Voodooism to their aid if they hope to convince the public that this trashy fare contains entertainment.

Settings and Photography.---The producer has failed to make anything of the natural resources of the country, the reproduction is far from clear, and the quality is drab.

Points of Appeal.- Quota angle only."

The film was later given general release in Great Britain on 25/03/1935.

Hope this bit of background helps.

Ouanga (1936)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Plantation owner Kiki (Fredi Washington) falls in love with a white man but when that man picks a white woman to be with over her, Kiki decides to use voodoo to bring the dead back to life and go after the man.

If you're familiar with the race pictures from this era then you probably already know that they were made for very little money and more times than not the talent in front of and behind the camera wasn't the greatest. That's pretty much the case with this horror film that, like a lot of the horror race pictures, is more melodrama than anything else.

I must say that I was a little surprised by the storyline. Interracial mixing wasn't a common thread back in the day so for this film to tackle that was pretty brave. Having a black woman lusting for a white man and then putting a curse on him isn't something you'd normally see in 1936. With that said, the film has a cast of actors who are quite light-skinned, which was another common issue for these films.

As You'd expect, the performances ranged from bland to poor and technically speaking there was nothing impressive about the film. The "zombies" in the film are like the ones seen in WHITE ZOMBIE so those expecting the George A. Romero type would need to wait several more decades. The zombie aspect really isn't explored too well and the horror elements are rather light.

If your'e a fan of these race pictures then there's no question that this is worth watching just due to the subject matter. One wishes that a better film would have came from it though.

This movie begins with a village witch doctor in Haiti giving a local plantation owner named "Klili Gordon" (Fredi Washington) a magical amulet to protect her. Not long afterward, she falls in love with a white man named Adam Maynard (Philip Brandon) who owns a plantation nearby. To her surprise, when Adam returns from a trip to the United States, he brings a another woman back with him by the name of "Eve Langley" (Marie Paxton) and announces that she is soon to become his new bride. This infuriates Klili who subsequently puts a death curse upon Eve that sends her into a deep and deadly coma. Fortunately, Adam manages to negate the curse when he confronts Klili about it. But Klili's anger only intensifies when he rejects her because of their racial differences and this prompts her to delve even deeper into the black arts in order to destroy her new rival. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie was filmed during the Great Depression and like a number of pictures produced back then is relatively short (only 56 minutes or so). Additionally, the manner in which zombies were portrayed was quite different during this period as well. Be that as it may, while this film is certainly quite dated and has several other faults as well, it still retains some of its charm and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.