Content warning: dead animal (sheep), passive racism, suicide (drowning)
Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) is a young Canadian nurse who accepts a position in the West Indies to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner. Jessica (Christine Gordon) had a severe fever that left her mind impaired. She can eat and walk unaided, and follow simple commands, but cannot talk or have any real agency. Betsy finds herself drawn to Paul (Tom Conway), Jessica's sullen husband but is warned off by his half-brother, Wesley (James Ellison), who claims Paul drove Jessica mad before her illness. Desperate to restore Jessica's mind, Betsy turns to a houngan, a Vodou priest, for a cure.
Why, yes, it is a more racist Jane Eyre. Apparently by design. It was based on a magazine article about Haitian plantation workers' drug use destroying their minds but obviously, that wasn't sexy enough for RKO. Creative liberties aside, the movie is beautifully shot. It is also edited down to the bones, clocking in at a speedy 68 minutes.
Gordon is a vacant-eyed doll but dressed impeccably. Even her voodoo doll looked great. The men kind of suck but I typically don't care about men's fashion. Women looked great though. Conway is the only one in the cast with an English accent which I would probably not have cared about if the movie hadn't tried to explain it as "uh, he and his brother went to different boarding schools."
If you're looking for vibes without gore or jump scares, here's one for you but you're going to have to whip out the VPN or pay real money to rent or buy.
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