Jungle noir!

THE DISEMBODIED is referred to as a horror movie everywhere I've seen it mentioned, which is not many places. True, this 1957 Allied Artists B involves voodoo, a kind of zombie and some pretty graphic violence, but this story of a trapped, frustrated girl from the noir side of the tracks could just as easily have taken place in a concrete jungle as the one in which it's set.

Yes, we get to see Allison in that outfit.

 Twice

Tonda Metz (Allison Hayes, only about five and three-quarters feet here) lives a stifling life of numb leisure in the middle of an African nowhere with her much older husband (John Wengraf), a doctor studying the mysteries of human psychology. All the doctor's insights into the human mind don't seem to be enough to allow him to see that his wife spends her free time as a voodoo priestess who would rather kill him than look in his general direction. It is no spoiler to say Tonda uses her powers to try to off her husband in the very first scene, and he's only saved by the inadvertent interference of the couple's manservant Suba (Dean Fredericks, who, despite all appearances, is supposed to be...African, or something, I guess).

Anyway, there's a really cool music cue to go along with Tonda's aborted attempt at murder.

Enter great white wildlife photographer Tom Maxwell (Paul Burke) and colleagues, dim Norm and mauled Joe. Joe (Robert Christopher) is in terrible need of a doctor. Although Dr. Metz sees very little hope for Joe, his buddies hole up in the hut next door to see what can be done. The doctor doesn't do anything, but, somehow, Joe's wounds heal overnight, and Suba turns up dead of the very same wounds. In the same places.

Did I mention Tonda took an immediate shine to Tom?

Did I also mention Suba was married to a beautiful, barefoot babe in the jungle, played by Eugenia Paul?

There's a scene early on in which Tonda is relaxing on her porch as Tom wanders up to the house. Before he sees her, Tonda flips her skirt away from her thighs in one of the coolest black widow moments I've ever seen. Tonda knows she can use even the faintest whiff of sex to get what she wants from the men around her. Certainly her husband, even poor Suba, but she doesn't actually want any of them. The man she does want, the man who can take her away from it all, take her back not only to civilization, but maybe to the promise of the life she thought she'd have by marrying an older doctor, is our man Tom Maxwell. But he's doing his level best to avoid wanting her.

Can he? If he can, to what length will Tonda go to change his mind?

And what do Tonda's husband and Suba's wife think of all this?

That's noir, baby.

I'm sure Tonda can handle HER. Right?

As we know, jungle love can drive us mad and make us crazy. I suppose that's why THE DISEMBODIED's voodoo machinations make as little sense as they do. After the first few curses, I had no idea what Tonda's spells were doing, or even what her goals were in casting them. That's where the movie falls down, unfortunately. It really sort of falls apart after a strong, noiry beginning. The finale does excite, even as it confuses, but the resolution left me pretty cold. Too neat, and wholly unemotional.

Which is a shame, because the first third, perhaps even the first half, of THE DISEMBODIED is a terrifically seamy example of noir in an exotic setting. Allison Hayes does as much damage with sidelong glances as she does with the dagger that's strapped to her belly, and it's great fun watching her spiral as she feels Tom Maxwell, and her chance at freedom, slip through her fingers. Have to hand it to Wengraf, too, who does a good bit with an unsympathetic and thankless role. It's not easy to project any sort of menace as a cuckold, but he manages it here and there.

It's not remotely perfect, but THE DISEMBODIED is a cool curio well worth a look. If you're so inclined, Warner Archive has you covered.

I need to see something else with Eugenia Paul in it. Jeezus...

-J


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