Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Directed by

Erle C. Kenton

Genre

horror film, science fiction film, monster film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 10m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 268 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A sailor is stranded on a remote island run by Dr. Moreau, a scientist who creates human-animal hybrids through violent experiments. The sailor becomes entangled in Moreau's plans when a panther-woman is set to seduce him.

creepytenseatmosphericunsettlinggrimslow-burneerieclaustrophobic

What happens

Island of Lost Souls is a 1932 American pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton. Produced and distributed by Paramount Productions, it is based on H. G. Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, and stars Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, and Kathleen Burke. Island of Lost Souls is about Edward Parker (Arlen), a sailor who finds himself stranded on an island that is occupied by the scientist Dr. Moreau (Laughton). Parker agrees to stay until the next boat arrives; Moreau introduces him to Lota (Burke), who unknown to Parker, is part-panther. It is revealed all of the island's inhabitants are the results of Moreau's experiments to create humans from animals. Moreau tries to persuade Lota to have sex with Parker so he can continue his experiments. The film is Paramount's follow-up to the successful horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Several writers, including Joseph Moncure March, Cyril Hume, Garrett Fort, and Philip Wylie, worked on scripts for the film. While Paramount had invited stage actor Charles Laughton to Hollywood, they did not have the film set up for him, leading him to work on other projects in 1932. For the role of Lota the Panther Woman, a contest was run across the United States to cast an unknown actor for the film. From thousands of contenders, the final group was Lona Andre, Gail Patrick, Verna Hillie, and the winner Kathleen Burke. Island of Lost Souls began production on October 1, 1932. Some scenes were filmed on location on Catalina Island. During production, Bela Lugosi joined the cast, having declared bankruptcy during the same month. Production ended in early November. Island of Lost Souls was released in December 1932. Since then, several edited forms have been released with several edits to remove dialogue and scenes involving Dr. Moreau. The film was banned in several countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, India, and New Zealand. Theatrical, television, and home video releases have often been truncated until the 2011 release by the Criterion Collection, which was described by the company's president as one of the most difficult restorations they had done. Contemporaneous critical reception was mixed, noting the horrific nature of the film. Retrospective reviews have been positive and have often complimented Laughton's performance; some reviews praised the cinematography, while others noted the film's disturbing themes. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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