In 1932, MGM decided to do a sound remake of one of Lon Chaney’s most successful post-PHANTOM OF THE OPERA movies, 1928’s WEST OF ZANZIBAR. That film, based on a Broadway play, was set in the jungles of Africa and told the sensational story of an injured man’s bizarre quest for revenge. A stage magician, crippled by a rival who stole his wife, plans to revenge himself on their infant daughter (after the wife’s death) by having her raised in a brothel in Africa then transported to a secluded spot in the jungle where he controls the natives through his stage magic. He then plans to tell the father, also in Africa, what he has done, have him killed, and then have the daughter burned alive in a native ritual. However, things do not go as planned thanks to an unseen twist of fate.
Lon Chaney had died in 1930 so the studio chose character actor Walter Huston for the remake. This was appropriate as it was Huston who had actually originated the role on stage in KONGO which ran for over 100 performances. Huston had played the principal villain in THE VIRGINIAN (1929) opposite Gary Cooper and the title role in D.W. Griitth’s ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1930). He would continue to appear in movies on a regular basis until his death in 1950. Other notable roles included the evangelical minister in RAIN (1932) with Joan Crawford, Mr Scratch, the Devil, in ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY (1941), the old prospector in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1947) with Humphrey Bogart, and finally the powerful land baron in THE FURIES (1950) with Batbara Stanwyck.
Joining Huston were 21 year old Virginia Bruce in the role of the beleaguered daughter. Her part was played by the ill-fated Mary Nolan in ZANZIBAR. Silent star Conrad Nagel, adapting well to sound, took over Warner Baxter’s role as the down and out doctor while Lionel Barrymore’s role of the rival went to the chiseled featured character actor C. Henry Gordon. In each case the sound performers were an improvement over the silent ones not because they were better actors but because they were given more to do. As KONGO was closer to the original show, there was an additional role which was not in ZANZIBAR, that of the crippled man’s exotic companion, Tula, who was played by the south-of-the-border actress Lupe Velez who had yet to become the “Mexican Spitfire”.
While the 1928 Chaney-Tod Browning WEST OF ZANZIBAR was considered pretty out there as were most of their movies, KONGO made it look pretty tame. All the sordid and disturbing aspects of the story were played up even more making KONGO one of the the most flagrant violaters of the Production Code which was still 2 years away from being rigidly enforced. Rape and potential incest along with physical brutality were hinted at (but not shown) while drug and alcohol addiction certainly were. As for MGM’s portrayal of the natives, it would be considered extremely politically incorrect and racially insensitive by today’s standards. So would their TARZAN, THE APE MAN and THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, not to mention FREAKS, which were all made the same year (1932).
ZANZIBAR currently survives in a 61 minute version (down from 70 minutes) while KONGO was released at 86 minutes and that’s the one around today. The print is also in much better shape than its predecessor which is probably due to the fact that it was not successful at the box office due to lots of negative publicity over its storyline which bothered audiences in 1932 whereas it hadn’t in 1928. While ZANZIBAR had a long run in theaters, KONGO completely disappeared shortly after it opened and so prints of it were rarely in demand. The strict enforcement of the 1930 Production Code which went into effect in 1934 made sure that no one would see it for at least 25 years until it showed up on TV in the early 1960s. Even then showings were few and far in between.
KONGO made its first appearance on home video in 1990 when MGM released it on VHS. It didn’t make it to DVD until 2012 and it has yet to be issued on Blu-ray. The Warner Archive Edition is a MOD disc and it comes with absolutely no extras. However, as pointed out earlier, the print used is clear and sharp and the soundtrack is clean so it isn’t hard to follow which is good because there is some choice dialogue for all the major characters. While not as good as KONGO as regards the print, WEST OF ZANZIBAR is still quite watchable and comes with the original 1928 synchronized music and effects soundtrack. It’s also a Warner Archive release and contains no extras either. It does give us the chance to compare the two movies which have some fascinating differences.
The Capsule Critic 