ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932)
Directed by Erle C. Kenton
Starring: Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Richard Arlen, Arthur Hohl, Kathleen Burke (as "The Panther Woman), Tetsu Komai, Leila Hyams
Every once in a while, I'll watch a film for the first time and realize it has influenced pretty much every aspect of my pop-culture world. Then it's as if I've been clued in to about a million in-jokes and references. Island of Lost Souls is one such film. Seriously, everyone from DEVO to Van Halen to Oingo Boingo was influenced by this film. It's been remade at least three times by directors who cite it as being one of the most influential they've ever seen. Every had anyone tell you, "The natives are restless?" This is where that came from.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
When a shipwrecked sailor named Edward Parker (Arlen) is found adrift, he is picked up by a ship transporting animals. He gets along well enough with the crew, particularly the amiable yet coy Montgomery (Hohl). However, when Parker slugs the ship's captain for his cruel treatment of a strange deck hand named M'ling (Komai), the captain vows revenge. He gets it when the ship makes its delivery - to another ship, in the middle of the ocean, no less. While the animals are being unloaded, the Captain conks Parker on the head and unloads him, too. A large man in a goatee (Laughton) protests, but the captain turns a deaf ear and sails on, leaving Parker behind. The large goateed man introduces himself as Dr. Moreau. He also re-introduces Montgomery and M'ling, who seem to work for the mysterious doctor. Moreau promises to return Parker to civilization first thing in the morning. However, being British and impeccably polite, he offers him dinner first. He also introduces him to Lota (Burke), one of the native women. Parker and Lota get on like Tarzan and Jane until they hear screams of agony coming from a nearby building that Lota dubs the "House of Pain." Parker investigates and finds Moreau and Montgomery vivisecting one of the beast-like natives without anesthesia. Parker tries to run, but runs into the native village. Right when they're about to tear him apart, Moreau appears with a gong, a gun and a whip. He screams, "What is the law?" One of the natives (Lugosi, credited as "The Sayer of the Law") repeats. "Not to spill blood. That is the law. Are we not men?" The other beast-men follow suit and Parker is spared, and spooked. He demands to be let off the island, but Moreau has other plans.
That's really all the plot synopsis you need, as a film like this one works best if you know very little going in. I've probably already said too much, but I refuse to spoil the ending.
Instead, I'll just talk about how out-of-the-loop I felt as I watched this film that has apparently been a favorite of film buffs for decades. Sometimes I'll come across such films, and they won't leave any lasting impact on me, or I'll find them overrated or just downright dull. That's not the case with Island of Lost Souls. It's wonderfully made, superbly acted and probably one of the creepiest films I've seen in a while. Charles Laughton was amazing as Doctor Moreau, playing the role more subtly than most actors of his day. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Bela Lugosi as the Sayer of the Law. He's not in the film very much, but toward the end he has a monologue when he and the other natives confront Moreau. And though it is very big and very over-the-top, it's probably one of the finest moments in Lugosi's career.
If you haven't guessed by now, the film was based on the H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau, which as been made and re-made at least three other times. I've never seen them, but I've read about them. And if the reviews are any indication, this is the superior film version of the story, though Wells was very vocal about his dislike of the film, claiming it was made purely for shock value, rather than touching upon the weightier subjects of eugenics and the role of morality in science.
And of course, he's right - about the shock value, that is. This film is pretty shocking, especially for 1932. It's dark and violent, but then again, so is the story. The characters are all men of action, not the kind who try to out-debate one another (though there is a bit of that, too). As it is, the story isn't weighed down by a ton of dialogue and runs by at a brisk 71 minutes. But the genius of this film is how much they were able to put into that brief running time. The subjects that Wells brings forth are touched upon, but by action rather than by words, and the audience will definitely be thinking about the film, and the questions it brings up, long after it's over. It shocks like a good horror film and it makes you think like a good science fiction film. That's a tough task to pull off, but Island of Lost Souls does it.
