This week’s mystery movie has been the 1928 MGM silent picture “West of Zanzibar,” with Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan, Warner Baxter, Jacqueline Gadsdon, Roscoe Ward, Kalla Pasha and Curtis Nero. It was directed by Tod Browning.
The film was adapted by Elliot Clawson from the play “Kongo,” by Chester De Vonde and Kilbourn Gordon, which received 135 performances on Broadway.
The play starred Walter Huston in the Lon Chaney role as a man named Flint, “a bearded and towering white man who rules black natives with an iron hand” and is “paralyzed from the waist down and accordingly bound to a wheelchair (or else committed to the even more glamorous expedient of dragging himself across the stage),” according to the New York Times review of the play (March 31, 1926). Huston returned to the role in 1932 for the MGM film “Kongo,” with Lupe Velez Virginia Bruce and Conrad Nagel.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Chaney performed his own stunt in which he tumbled over a railing and fell 18 feet during a fight with Lionel Barrymore that left his character paralyzed at the waist.
Los Angeles Times film critic Whitney Williams said (Oct. 14. 1928):
The action is atmospheric to the extent of becoming, at times, gruesome, and a certain aspect of horror marks the scenes in which the things-of-the-jungle-that-crawl are pictured. Those who favor an element of weirdness, a suggestion of the grotesque, in their entertainment, will thoroughly enjoy “West of Zanzibar.” Even those audiences who prefer straight modern day settings will find a note of the unusual to satisfy their palates.
Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times wrote (Dec. 31, 1928):
It is a well concocted narrative and Mr. Chaney gives one of his most able and effective portrayals as he drags himself through scene after scene without using his legs. He descends from his sleeping quarters by means of a knotted rope, and in a curiously expert fashion succeeds time and again in climbing into a wheel chair by merely the use of his strong arms.
“West of Zanzibar” is available from Warner Archive for $15.19.
For Monday, we have a mystery woman.
Update: This is Jacqueline Gadsdon.
For Tuesday, we have a mystery gent who is thirsty.
Update: This is Kalla Pasha.
Brain Trust roll call: Mike Hawks (mystery movie and Monday’s mystery guest).
For Wednesday, we have a mystery woman.
Update: This is Mary Nolan.
Brain Trust roll call: Mike Hawks (Tuesday’s mystery tippler.)
For Thursday, we have a mystery gent.
Update: This is Warner Baxter.
Brain Trust roll call: Mike Hawks (Wednesday’s mystery woman), Megan, Lee Ann and Thom (mystery movie and Monday’s and Wednesday’s mystery guests) and Sheila (mystery movie and Monday’s and Wednesday’s mystery guests).
And for Friday, we have a not terribly mysterious gent.
Update: This is Lon Chaney, a personification of the line “We had faces then.” He would make three more films — “Where East Is East,” “Thunder” and “The Unholy Three” — before dying in Hollywood at the age of 47.
Brain Trust roll call: David Inman (Thursday’s mystery guest), B.J. Merholz (Thursday’s mystery guest), Benito (Thursday’s mystery guest), Mike Hawks (Thursday’s mystery guest), Jenny M. (Thursday’s mystery guest), Gary Martin (mystery movie, Thursday’s mystery guest), Don Danard (Thursday’s mystery guest), Howard Mandelbaum (mystery movie and mystery guests) and Bob Hansen (Thursday’s mystery guest).
ladailymirror.com 
Jane Daly a.k.a. Jacqueline Gadsden.
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Dorothy Gish.
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Alas, I’m afraid not.
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Ruth Chatterton?
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Alas, I’m afraid not.
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Mary Philbin?
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Alas, I’m afraid not.
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Please add WEST OF ZANZIBAR 1928 to my earlier answer.
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Monday’s actress looks a lot like Lotti Pickford, but I’m sure it’s not her.
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Alas, I’m afraid not.
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A very young Irene Brown.
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Alas, I’m afraid not.
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Kalla Pasha.
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Jeanne Eagels?
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Interesting guess, but alas, no.
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Guy Kibee on Tuesday in “Rain” (1932) ?
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Interesting guess, but alas, I’m afraid not.
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Mary Nolan will not be smiling for long.
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Since CAPE FORLORN incorporates footage from the German version, I suggest that the bar habitue is Heinrich George and gal is Tala Birell.
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Wow! I wish I had a copy of “Cape Forlorn” in the Daily Mirror vaults! But alas, I don’t. An extremely interesting guess. But alas, I’m afraid not.
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West of Zanzibar with Jacqueline Gadsden (Gadsdon) on Monday and Mary Nolan today.
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Jacqueline Gadsdon on Monday, Mary Nolan on Wednesday, in ‘West of Zanzibar’.
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Warner Baxter today.
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Warner Baxter
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Today, the prolific (110 film credits on imdb) Warner Baxter looks hungover.
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Does Warner Baxter want another drink?
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Warner Baxter
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This looks like an early, I can’t say young, Warner Baxter. Is he somewhere West of Zanzibar? It certainly looks like tropical heat and humidity…steamy.
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I’ll guess the movie is “The Rescue” (1929).
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Interesting guess. But alas, no.
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I believe the man who wants a drink is Warner Baxter.
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WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928)
Monday: Jacqueline Gadsdon
Tuesday: Kalla Pasha
Wednesday: Mary Nolan
Thursday: Warner Baxter
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Thursday’s gent is Warner Baxter.
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Lon Chaney .
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Lon Chaney.
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Lon Chaney, Sr. says let’s get happy.
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The medallion gives it away, just like at the end of the film. Lon Chaney in West of Zanzibar.
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I’ve been without my computer for 2 weeks, finally have it back, now I can get back in the game, yahoo! This is West of Zanzibar w/Lon Chaney, Mary Nolan, Warner Baxter…
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