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West of Zanzibar (1928 film)

West of Zanzibar
West of Zanzibar.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tod Browning
Produced by Tod Browning
Written by Chester De Vonde (play)
Elliott J. Clawson
Starring Lon Chaney
Lionel Barrymore
Mary Nolan
Warner Baxter
Cinematography Percy Hilburn
Edited by Harry Reynolds
Irving Thalberg (uncredited)
Distributed by MGM
Jury-Metro-Goldwyn (England)
Release date
  • November 24, 1928 (1928-11-24)
Running time
65 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent film (English intertitles)

West of Zanzibar is a 1928 American silent film directed by Tod Browning about the vengefulness of a cuckolded magician (Lon Chaney) paralyzed in a brawl with his rival (Lionel Barrymore). The supporting cast includes Mary Nolan and Warner Baxter. The picture is based on a 1926 Broadway play called Kongo starring Walter Huston. Huston starred in the 1932 talkie film adaptation of the same story using the Kongo title. West of Zanzibar is also famous with horror film fans for having lost or excised sequences that Browning filmed; in particular, Phroso (Chaney) as a duckman in a sideshow act and scenes showing Phroso and his troupe when they first arrive in Africa.

Anna (Jacqueline Gadsden) cannot bring herself to tell her professional magician husband, Phroso (Lon Chaney), that she is leaving him. Her lover, Crane (Lionel Barrymore), informs Phroso that he is taking Anna to Africa, shoving the distraught husband away so forcefully that he falls over a railing and is crippled, losing the use of his legs. After a year, Phroso learns that Anna has returned. He finds his wife dead in a church, with a baby beside her. He swears to avenge himself on both Crane and the child.

Eighteen years later, Phroso rules a small outpost inhabited by Doc (Warner Baxter), Babe (Kalla Pasha), Tiny (Tiny Ward) and native Bumbu (Curtis Nero) in the African jungle. Through his magic tricks, he dominates the local tribe. He has his men steal ivory repeatedly from Crane by having Tiny dress up as an evil voodoo spirit to frighten away Crane's porters. Meanwhile, Phroso sends Babe to bring back blonde Maizie (Mary Nolan) from the "lowest dive in Zanzibar", where Phroso has had her raised. She is told only that she will finally meet her father.


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