Black Moon (1934 film)

Black Moon
Directed by Roy William Neill
Produced by Everett Riskin
Written by Wells Root
Clements Ripley (short story)
Starring Jack Holt
Fay Wray
Dorothy Burgess
Cinematography Joseph H. August
Edited by Richard Cahoon
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • June 15, 1934 (1934-06-15)
Running time
 68 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Black Moon is a 1934 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Roy William Neill, and starring Jack Holt, Fay Wray, and Dorothy Burgess.[1] It is based on a short story by Clements Ripley that first appeared in Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan.[2]

A copy is held at the Library of Congress.[3]

Plot

A young girl, Juanita, finds her parents killed in a voodoo ritual on a distant tropical island. She escapes with her life, but when she reaches adulthood, she feels compelled to return to the island, bringing her daughter and nanny with her. Once there, she goes to stay with her uncle who lives on the island. She soon discovers that the natives, who had been using her for voodoo rituals when she was a child, now treat her as a voodoo goddess. In this role, she begins leading their rituals.

Any attempt to fight Juanita's influence or to remove her from her position is met with violent force. One person is found dead in a lava pit, while another is found hung. At one point, Juanita is so overcome by the voodoo curse that she offers her daughter up for sacrifice. Juanita's businessman husband, Stephen, follows her to the island and attempts to travel into the jungle to rescue her, but finds her taking part in a sacrifice of an innocent woman. Although he shoots the high priest of the tribe, Juanita completes the sacrifice herself.

Their high priest injured, the natives now plan to murder all of the white people on the island. Stephen takes his daughter and two others into the fortified section of a plantation house. The natives succeed in capturing Stephen and his secretary, Gail, but they are eventually rescued. In the end, Stephen shoots and kills Juanita just as she is about to sacrifice her own daughter.

Cast

Cora Sue Collins is the last surviving primary cast member.

Notes

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Iotis. "Black Moon". Allrovi. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Black Moon". American Film Institute. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at the Library of Congress c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

External links

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