An African price is cursed with vampirism and is locked in his tomb for two hundred years. After being released, he stalks a woman who resembles his long lost wife.a sense of loss. A wanting of a At first look, this seems to be a cheesy little movie. Yes, there are glaring caricatures and no need to be apologetic about it. What makes the movie interesting is the reincarnation subplot. It was the subplot that makes this movie truly unique from the standard vampire fair. By adding this subplot, which was brilliantly done by William Marshall and Vonetta McGee, they gave Mumuwaldeshred of humanity that he can not have because of his cursed hunger. I think this was the first movie that not only looks at the vampire as a somewhat sympathetic being, but looks at vampirism as an illness. Brilliant script work helps this point out tremendously.
What holds this whole movie together is Marshall. A man, in my opinion, who is totally screwed out of the eschelon of the recognized "vampire" actors. Marshall understood the material and he went beyond the material. He even changed the name of his character from Andy to Mumuwalde. He added an elegance and nobility to the character that totally overshadowed everyone in the movie. You want to see how well played this character was, check out the climax. Marshall plays a whole range of emotions in the matter of minutes. He show how bad longing for humanity could be.
The downside of the film is really how it was packaged into DVD. It's criminally barebones. You not given anything more from MGM. No out take footage. No commentary. Not even an interview from Marshall. All we're given is a trailer and very good Audio/Visual clean up. A Damn shame, I think.
Four stars. All hail the King of Cartoons, baby.
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