Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Boring

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

WHEN ONE WANTED to take an already frightening story and turn it into an even more disturbing shocker, there are two steps that would insure success. First, cast Lon Chaney in the Lead. Secondly, have Todd Browning direct. Fortunately for MGM, in 1925, WEST OF ZANZIBAR had both going for them.AS MANY OF the dramas of the period did, this film had a Show Business setting. In this case, we have Stage Magician, Professor Phroso (Lon Chaney), suffers the loss of his spouse, Anna (Jacqueline Gadsden)to her lover, Crane (Lionel Barrymore). The two men quarrel and fight, where Phroso suffers a severe fall; leaving his legs paralyzed and "dead." YEARS LATER, BOTH men are in Darkest Africa, where Phroso operates a trading outpost; where he uses his skills at prestidigitation to cheat Natives out of ivory. Eventually, Mazie (Mary Nolan) daughter of the now deceased Anna, comes under Phroso/"dead Legs" control and is left to wallow in the worst den of debauchery in Zanzibar.AFTER DIRECTLY CONFRONTING Crane, "Dead Legs"/Proso discovers that Mazie is after all his daughter. A sudden uprising by the African Natives, who have been cheated for so many years in the "Dead Legs" trading post, threatens to kill the Daughter and Proso sacrifices his own life; allowing Mazie to escape with young 'Doc' (Warner Baxter).OUR SYNOPSIS CAN do no justice to the film. With this outstanding "Duo of the Macabre", being Mr. Chaney and Mr. Browning, every scene is saturated with disturbing and frightful implications. DISDAINING THE BLOOD & gore that has come to be synonymous with "Horror", the production team instead creates all of their horror in the mind of the viewer.Please, please take the time to screen this film if you haven't yet done so. If you have, see it again

"West of Zanzibar" is truly one of Lon Chaney's best films. It's a story of revenge and hatred and is dominated by Chaney's performance as the paralyzed magician Phroso.The story in brief, has Phroso's wife Anna (Jacqueline Gadden) running off with ivory trader Crane (Lionel Barrymore). In a scuffle with Crane, Phroso is crippled. When Anna returns with a baby and dies unexpectedly, Phroso decides to exact his revenge on Crane through the child. The child who is named Maizie (Mary Nolan), is raised in a brothel to the age of 18. Then the demented Phroso who has become some sort of a false god in Zanzibar, begins to carry out his insane plan of revenge with the help of a derelict doctor (Warner Baxter) and his two assistants Tiny (Tiny Ward) and Babe (Kalla Posha).Chaney is so convincing as the paralyzed Phroso that you will believe that he is really crippled. With his slovenly and unkempt appearance, he drags himself around on the floor of his hut and climbs into his wheel chair pulling his lifeless legs behind him. Chaney was an excellent pantomimist. Watch the expression on his face change from insane hatred to surprise and pity at the climax of the story.Unfortuneatly, the film somewhat telegraphs the ultimate climax but Chaney's performance more than makes up for it. Mary Nolan is good as the tool of Chaney's revenge and Warner Baxter is excellent as the boozy "Doc" who comes to Maizie's aid. Barrymore is suitably evil as the other man. I was captivated by the beauty of Jacqueline Gadden in a brief role and wondered why we didn't see more of her.One of Lon Chaney's most memorable characterizations, it is a must for all Chaney fans.

Lon Chaney and his long time collaborator Todd Browning turn in another fine picture full of ghoulish atmosphere and a horrific plot. Chaney stars as a magician named Phroso who is devoted to his wife Anna with all his heart and soul. He has a rival for his wife's affections in Crane a fellow performer who wants to take her off to Africa with him. Anna is hesitant because she truly does love Phroso, Phroso sees Crane with her and goes berserk. Crane pushes him off a balcony to his near death. Phroso now a twisted cripple discovers his wife's dead body with a child he assumes to be Crane's. He vows to the Virgin Mother that he will avenge his wife's death. Phroso moves to Africa and becomes a black market ivory dealer who is known as Dead-Legs. Dead-Legs scams the natives into thinking he is a God, and at any opportunity he scams his competitor Crane out of the precious ivory.Phroso decides to bring his revenge plan into full fruition and he takes Crane's daughter Maizie, who had raised in Zanzibar and turns her into a drunken drug addict. The Congo has a unique tradition, when a man dies the woman must be burnt on the funeral pyre with his corpse. Phroso will finally have his revenge but he has a surprise in store for him...Lon Chaney and Todd Browning complete each other. Chaney knows exactly what kind of character Browning is looking for and Browning knows exactly how to highlight Lon's mastery of character development. Every one of their collaborations is character driven and an interesting character can carry a picture. The atmosphere in West of Zanzibar is perfect. Chaney looks like a Kurtz figure as the crippled jungle demigod Dead-Legs. The physical devotion to the role from Chaney is amazing, he crawls through the rooms with no gotcha moments where his legs might slip. Everything about the picture is damn near perfect except for the racial stereotypes. I feel I can't truly give the picture the elusive perfect rating because of this. It's too bad but I know Chaney was not a racist. Maybe it was a symbol of the times but if so thank God we've come that far. By no means skip West of Zanzibar because of this because it is a fine picture with another masterful performance from the Man of a Thousand Faces directed by the man who used him best.

Very interesting and unusual silent film starring Lon Chaney as Phrosos the Magician, a stage show performer who has a wife he really loves - but she informs him she is planning to leave him for a man named Crane (Lionel Barrymore). When Crane tells Phrosos he is taking her away to Africa - he fights with Phrosos sending him falling over the railing of a second floor landing. His legs now paralyzed, Phrosos goes around riding a cart or pulls himself around by his arms, with his lifeless legs dragging behind. When the wife comes back with a baby, he finds the wife dead - so Phrosos, bitter and full of hate, sets out for Africa to seek his revenge on Crane and the baby daughter. Eighteen years pass - Phrosos, now known as "Dead-Legs", uses his magic to trick the natives with fake "voodoo" so he can steal elephant tusks from Crane, now a trader. Meanwhile, he has the daughter being raised in a Zanzibar brothel and he sends for her to come to him - all part of his evil plan. He now holds the poor girl captive and treats her like dirt - doing such things to her as making her eat on the floor and giving all her clothes to the natives. Twists and turns to follow.This is an absorbing, well done film - odd, creepy, and sad too. Chaney is really excellent in this - he gets such a look of evil and hate on his expressive face and is just SO good at making his legs look completely lifeless. Mary Nolan, who plays the daughter, spends most of the film looking around her with a complete look of disgust (and who can blame her!) - but her facial expressions are slightly over the top sometimes. Warner Baxter is handsome here playing Doc, Chaney's sidekick in Africa who falls in love with the girl. Very good.