MovieChat Forums > I Walked with a Zombie (1943) Discussion > Jane Eyre??

Jane Eyre??

posted 16 years ago by peanutsboy
9 replies | jump to latest

on the tcm showing of "i walked with a zombie," robert osbourn said that lewton was given the title "i walked with a zombie" and told to make a movie out of it, so he took the public domain book jane eyre and threw in a few zombies. i thought this was pretty inovative and genious. this was also confirmed in the trivia section of this page.

HOWEVER:

i have only seen two versions of the movie jane eyre, and have never read the book, but i didn't recognise any similarties between the story of jane eyre and the movie "i walked with a zombie." maybe it's because i didn't read the book and only saw the movie, but can any one tell me how "i walked with a zombie" is related to jane eyre?

[–] airhead_baby89 16 years ago

I guess it would have to be the idea of a naive woman working for a mysterious man with a very sick wife, who's existance prevents them from being togeather.
It was only very, very, very loosly based.

[–] MJBRLD 16 years ago

I agree. It very loosely based on 'Jane Eyre'. I think too much is made of the connection. It is mostly quoted when someone wants to express the idea that IWWAZ is a cut above the usual horror film, giving it a literary pedigree

It is just wonderful for itself

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Tchoutoye 13 years ago

As if the film doesn't stand on its own as proof of being a cut above.

[–] Balok-2 13 years ago

There's a scene early on in which one of the workers is worried about the "drought" that is drying up the cane fields. I wonder if the original idea wasn't to have the zombie (under supernatural compulsion) set fire to the fields, which would have made the "Jane Eyre" connection more clear.

Keep in mind that Mr. Rochester made his bucks (and picked up his crazy first wife) in one of Britain's Caribbean colonies.

To be honest, this movie reminds me more of "Rebecca" than it does of "Jane Eyre."

[–] fast_fierce_and_funny 13 years ago

It was only very, very, very loosly based.

Boy, you can say that again. :)

Honestly, I would never had associated the film with Jane Eyre if I hadn't read about the connection here on the IMDb. I think that, at most, you can say that IWWAZ has elements of Jane Eyre, but then, Jane Eyre borrowed elements from a lot of other stories.

So, yes, you can truthfully say that there's a connection, but it's a pretty tenuous one. I'm beginning to think that there is no such thing as a truly original story anymore: the best you can hope to do is to put together elements from existing stories in such a way that they aren't immediately recognizable.

[–] fast_fierce_and_funny 13 years ago

i have only seen two versions of the movie jane eyre, and have never read the book,

A painless way to "read" the book is to listen to it on Librivox:

http://librivox.org/jane-eyre-version-3-by-charlotte-bronte/

The above version is my personal favorite, but there are others. It's a long story, (19th Century novelists were never in a hurry) but it has a way of drawing you into it. The woman who recorded that particular version (Elizabeth Klett) does an excellent job of breathing live into the characters, IMHO. She loves the novel, and it shows.

Anyway, it's just an idea. /shrugs

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

Probably a better adaptation of Jane Eyre than others!

It's that man again!!