Tourneur/Lewton鈥檚 饾槓 饾懁饾槩饾槶饾槵饾槮饾槬 饾樃饾槳饾樀饾槱 饾槩 饾懅饾槹饾槷饾槪饾槳饾憭 : a Bront毛an hypertext of the cinefantastic

Abstract

Notwithstanding the lack of any reference to Charlotte Bront毛鈥檚 Jane Eyre in the opening credits of I Walked with a Zombie, not only did Val Lewton, the RKO producer, allegedly inform his associates that 鈥渋n the guise of a zombie chiller, he would make a West Indian version of Jane Eyre鈥�, but even Jacques Tourneur, the film鈥檚 director, claimed that he had initially suggested that they should adapt this Victorian novel 鈥渟imply by radically changing the setting鈥�. Yet at no time do Tourneur/Lewton specify whether Bertha Mason鈥檚 Caribbean ethnicity was the inspiring source of their cultural transposition, nor which Bront毛an thematic preoccupations Ardel Wray interpolated in Curt Siodmak鈥檚 original screenplay based on Inez Wallace鈥檚 account of Haitian Voodoo rituals.