Island of Lost Souls (1932)

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The better of the Island of Dr Moreau films out there! As one of the first, in black and white, I found this to be very close to the original storyline. I read the HG Wells book and enjoyed it. There was a lot of propaganda against vivisection at the time, and HG Wells really disliked Walter Bradford Canon. Dr Moreau is effectively him, who worked much at Harvard doing experiments mostly on cats. This is a good film noir and you will like it.

I know H.G Wells hated this adaptation of his novel "The Island of Dr. Moreau" but the film is a brilliant one. Rather violent for its time - it was banned in Great Britain for many years - this film is a well-made one. Charles Laughton steals the film as the evil scientist, Dr. Moreau. Bela Lugosi was wasted in his brief scenes but still adds a lot to the proceedings.The recent DVD has restored picture and sound quality.One of the leading horror films of the 1930s.

You can't go wrong with Charles Laughton playing the heavy. Here is is cast as Dr. Moreau, the evil vivisectionist from the famous H. G. Wells novel. He has created an island filled with animal-men who walk on two legs but maintain the features of their various animal counterparts. A man finds himself washed ashore on this island and he becomes privy to Laughton's experiments. He is helpless to do anything. He involves himself with one of Laughton's "people" for a while. This is mostly about the sickness of the island itself and Moreau's obsessions. One thing he doesn't count on is that wild animals have a sense of self preservation and potential violence. I love that cry in the jungle: "What is the Law? Are we not men?" An excellent retelling of a terrific story.

Shipwrecked Edward Parker is rescued by a freighter. He was on his way to Apia to meet his fiancée Ruth Thomas. Montgomery is taking a cargo full of wild animals to an unnamed uncharted South Seas island owned by Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton). The drunken captain throws Parker overboard after unloading everything onto the boat to Moreau's island. Parker notices the crew is full of malformed individuals and Moreau promises to deliver him to Apia later on. Ruth manages to find Parker with the help of Captain Donahue.This is a good early horror. Laughton is good but I love the hybrids more. The makeup looks great. The final climax for Moreau is terrific. It is much scarier than most movies of the era. Parker and Ruth's escape is not as compelling. That's the main disappointment for me. Also Richard Arlen is a little stiff especially compared to Laughton and all the crazy manimals.