The story is set in 1863. Yet, one of the characters conspiring in an ambush mentions Custer's Last Stand (which was then-thirteen years in the future)!
Then, there's Glenn Ford's sidekick. An alleged explosives expert nicknamed "Nitro." He's depicted as riding--at full gallop--with bottles of nitroglycerine in his saddle bags! An action that, in real life, would have caused that notoriously unstable chemical explosive to detonate at the first intolerable vibration.
When Nitro sets off the explosion at the begining of the movie, the countess, in anger, calls him a Zombie. Just where did she get that word in 1863?
shareOops! I blew it: he English word "zombie" is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of "zombi".[2] The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as West African, and compares it to the Kongo words "nzambi" (god) and "zumbi" (fetish).
Well, that's one plausible script-reason (as I like to call such potential in-story explanations). But, yeah; you were right, in general, the first time. "Zombie" didn't enter the American linguistic mainstream until after THE WHITE ZOMBIE, starring Bela Lugosi (as evil houngan Murder Legendre), was released in the early 1930's.
shareSimply stated,this is an outstanding film with a top cast Claire Trevor was magnificent!
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