West of Zanzibar
West of Zanzibar

Watch West of Zanzibar Online Free

- 72/100 based on 1,864 votes

Magician Phroso's wife Anna leaves him for another man, named Crane, who fights with Phroso and leaves him paralyzed. Later Anna returns and he finds her dead, leaving behind a daughter. For 18 years Phroso, known as "Dead Legs" by his cronies, plots his revenge, becoming a pseudo-king in East Africa, nearby where Crane has set up an ivory business. When the daughter is grown, having lived in a brothel in Zanzibar thanks to "Dead Legs", Phroso put his plan into action, result... (Full plot summary below)

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Actors in West of Zanzibar:

Lon Chaney
Lionel Barrymore
Mary Nolan
Warner Baxter
Jacqueline Gadsden
Tiny Ward

Full Plot Details

Magician Phroso's wife Anna leaves him for another man, named Crane, who fights with Phroso and leaves him paralyzed. Later Anna returns and he finds her dead, leaving behind a daughter. For 18 years Phroso, known as "Dead Legs" by his cronies, plots his revenge, becoming a pseudo-king in East Africa, nearby where Crane has set up an ivory business. When the daughter is grown, having lived in a brothel in Zanzibar thanks to "Dead Legs", Phroso put his plan into action, resulting in revenge and retribution all around.

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Movie Reviews

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) - 9/10 by John BeifussChaney plays a stage magician whose signature trick is to transform a beautiful woman into a skeleton: This is an absolutely brilliant -- and economical -- visual evocation of the relationship between sex and death, the erotic and the morbid...
Ozus' World Movie Reviews - 8/10 by Dennis SchwartzWhat makes this film special is the virtuoso performance of Chaney.
User Review - 10/10 by Alex BOne of my favorite Tod Browning films. Creepy, sad, and picturesque. And those tribal masks could not be cuter!
User Review - 10/10 by Mark FOne of my favorite Tod Browning films. Creepy, sad, and picturesque. And those tribal masks could not be cuter!
User Review - 10/10 by Charles POk, so the "voodoo" tribespeople are outdated at best and racist at worst. But damn if this isn't exceptionally cracked melodrama, propelled by Lon Cheney, sans make-up, and he's incredible in every moment on camera. He didn't ever need to "Ham" it up, he just was made for the screen, especially in the case of this where it's about 'Dead-Legs', a paralyzed magician who spends 18 years crafting his plot of revenge against a former showman (Barrymore), and involving a certain daughter that his former love had with another man... OR DID SHE? Now, off to Zanzibar, to meet the Zanzibarbarians! Here we go again!
User Review - 8/10 by Antonius BAnother successful Tod Browning and Lon Chaney silent pairing; these two seem to have been made for one another. Chaney plays a magician who has been crippled during an altercation with his wife's lover (Lionel Barrymore), and then plots revenge. Left with the pair's daughter (Mary Nolan), he sends her off to a sleazy place in Zanzibar, where as an 18 year old we find her in a dive bar bantering with men. The implication is clear. He steals ivory from Barrymore in order to goad him into coming to him, then sends for Nolan, in order to spring vengeance in the form of her degradation. Things don't go as he plans, but I won't spoil it. Chaney gives a great performance, and with a range spanning glowering bitterness to frightened horror over some of his actions. He's so great physically in these types of roles, truly appearing as one who has no function in his legs as he pulls himself up and down from his wheelchair. Barrymore, Nolan, and Warner Baxter (in the role of a doctor) are all strong as well. Browning is fantastic at blending macabre elements, such as the natives' practice of burning a wife or daughter alive when a man dies, with psychological shock and horror. As compared to William J. Cowen's remake four years later ('Kongo'), I found this one to have a lesser degree of racism, though the 'savage cannibal'/'civilized man' aspects are present. It's unfortunate that a portion of the footage seems to be missing - in particular, when Nolan's character apparently has run away, only to appear the next day in a bedraggled, dirty appearance. Even so, it holds together and makes for a good watch, if you're in the mood for something dark.
User Review - 8/10 by Valerie GLately I have been watching the old horror classics. To look at where are modern horror films are built on. The Chaney /Browning films are fantastic. If you haven?t watched any silent films for a while check it out. I don?t think you will be disappointed. Chaney?s character Dead Legs Flint is awesome and Browning direction is superb. The stories in theses films are unreal or surreal if you like. This is one of my favorites.
User Review - 8/10 by Cinik DTod Browning and Lon Chaney are a great team
User Review - 8/10 by Harri KUnparalleled transformations by Chaney. Captivating, intense and appropriately exotic drama macabre.
User Review - 8/10 by Eric BA remarkably dark, twisted movie, even by contemporary standards. And of course, it has a fantastic performance by Lon Chaney, playing a maniacal, vengeful Colonel Kurtz type who has paralyzed legs and laboriously drags himself around on his arms. "West of Zanzibar" is not as well-known as other Tod Browning films like "Dracula" and "Freaks," but it's just as powerful. I feel it desperately needed a flashier title -- "West of Zanzibar" suggests some dull National Geographic travelogue, not this sick, gripping melodrama. One warning: In a movie about African natives made in the 1920s, embarrassing racist stereotypes are a given.

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