''Black Moon'' is a 1934 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
horror film directed by
Roy William Neill and starring
Jack Holt,
Fay Wray
Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian/American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international r ...
, and
Dorothy Burgess
Dorothy Burgess (March 4, 1907 – August 20, 1961) was an American stage and motion-picture actress.
Family, education
Born in Los Angeles in 1907, Burgess was a niece of Fay Bainter. On her father's side, she was related to David C. Montgome ...
.
It is based on a short story by
Clements Ripley
Clements Ripley (August 26, 1892 – July 22, 1954) was an American fiction writer and screenwriter.
Early life
Ripley was born on August 26, 1892, in Tacoma, Washington. He was the son of Thomas E. Ripley, and the grandson of American Civil War ...
that first appeared in
Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan. The film centers on a young woman who returns to the tropical island where her parents were murdered during a
voodoo
Voodoo may refer to:
Religions
* African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups
* African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo
** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
with her daughter and nanny, only to become corrupted by the native's dark rituals.
Plot
A young girl, Juanita, finds her parents killed in a
voodoo
Voodoo may refer to:
Religions
* African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups
* African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo
** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
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 a
nanny
A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
who takes care of the child. Once there, she goes to stay with her uncle who lives on the island. She soon discovers that the
natives
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, 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
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
pit, while another is found
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
. At one point, Juanita is so overcome by the voodoo
curse
A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particula ...
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
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
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
Cast adapted from the book ''Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films''.
Production
''Black Moon'' was based on the novel by
Clements Ripley
Clements Ripley (August 26, 1892 – July 22, 1954) was an American fiction writer and screenwriter.
Early life
Ripley was born on August 26, 1892, in Tacoma, Washington. He was the son of Thomas E. Ripley, and the grandson of American Civil War ...
which first appeared in ''
Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan''.
Among the cast was
Jack Holt, who was one of
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
' most popular actors of the period and would continue to headline their pictures up until the early 1940s. The director,
Roy William Neill had been directing films since 1916 and joined Columbia in 1930, where he directed the studios films ''
The Menace'', ''
The Ninth Guest'' (1934) and ''
The Black Room'' (1935).
The film began production on April 10, 1934 and finished on May 3, 1934.
Release
''Black Moon'' was released on June 15, 1934.
It was distributed by Columbia Pictures Corp.
Reception
From contemporary reviews, A.D.S. of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' commented that the film was "strictly studio-made, is admirably equipped to throw a double-bar-relled scare into the innocent entertainment-hunter." while stating that "There are times when the reassuring Hollywood touch appears in the picture. For example, the native ritual which precedes the main or throat-cutting event has a precision in the dance routines and mass singing that suggests the
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...
touch." A reviewer in ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' commented that direction in ''Black Moon'' was "commednable and the acting is good, but the scenario possesses dubious elements"
References
Sources
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External links
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{{Authority control
1934 horror films
1934 films
American black-and-white films
American horror films
Columbia Pictures films
Films directed by Roy William Neill
Films about Voodoo
Films set on islands
1930s English-language films
1930s American films