Island of Lost Souls / Mystery of the Wax Museum (1932)

When you've got Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi, how can you go wrong? Shipwreck victim Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is stranded on an island run by the mysterious Dr. Moreau (Laughton). Moreau is hospitable enough, but the jungle is full of menacing shapes--and what about those ominous references to the House of Pain? Parker gradually learns of Moreau's unholy experiments and worries that he'll never escape. Though it has aged a bit, Island of Lost Souls is surprisingly spine-tingling, particularly the horrifying climax. Light and shadows are used especially well--occasionally, Moreau speaks with his face entirely hidden, except for his glittering eyes. Laughton turns in yet another superbly evil performance and even the somewhat worse-for-wear Lugosi is creepy as the pronouncer of the law. ("Are we not men?" Well, no, not exactly.) This is a nicely chilling classic that may even make you think twice about modern science's experimentation with genetics. Don't miss it. Remade as The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1977 and 1996. --Ali Davis Amazon.com

One of the very finest from the golden age.

This was released a year before the production code went into enforcement, and it shows! There are things and suggestions of things here that the filmmakers would never have gotten away with once the Breen Office began imposing its iron fist on Hollywood. H.G. Welles, who wrote the novel on which it was based, was reportedly disgusted by it, but this is still one of the very best fantasy pictures of the early sound era, easily standing alongside 'King Kong' and Whale's 'The Bride of Frankenstein' as the very cream of the crop.

That it is still unavailable on DVD is a crime.

After more than 70 years this remains an exciting and involving picture with a number of unexpectedly poetic moments. The atmospheric camera work by Karl Struss is pretty sophisticated for the time, the art direction is great, and the makeup, while primitive, is still creepy and effective, with lots of disfigured faces looming eerily out of the darkness. It also has a brisk pace, cramming a lot into its brief running time.

In a movie that already has a lot of things going for it, Charles Laughton is one of the best. He gives a magnificently droll performance here, lending the picture a great deal of class. Laughton alone would be enough to give the film a strong recommendation - he's a joy to watch, and, cracking a nasty little smile at the most inappropriate moments, one of the best mad doctors to perform perverted experiments in the history of cinema, hands down. Bela Lugosi, in a minor role, also stands out as the Sayer of the Law. ("Are we not men?" No, not quite.)

Again, it really sucks that only the inferior (VERY inferior) film versions of this story are available on DVD. Somebody needs to get on the stick, or else go straight to the House of Pain. April 12, 2008

COME ON UNIVERSAL!!!! RELEASE IT!!!!!!!!

Universal has now released almost ALL of its classic films on DVD, especially in the horror genre. Sadly though this is still to make an appearance despite numerous calls for it from dedicated fans. Was this dvd ever released? well Ive never seen a copy of this one shown on Amazon so we must have to presume it was either a very limited release by a non-universal label or that the release was cancelled.

Anyway, Universal has released it on videotape before so theres certainly source material so come on Universal and put us fans out of our misery!!! February 11, 2008

Please please please

These are two of the greatest classic horror movies, as good as anything Universal put out besides The Mummy and Bride of Frankenstein. Each of these has been copied many times in later years, and every copy has been a pale shadow of these brilliant originals. I'd love for them to get fancy releases with loads of special features, but failing that PLEASE somebody release this wonderful two-fer. July 11, 2007

are we not men?

worth the price for the the Lugosi scenes alone. Laughton makes for a great god-like sadist, ruling over his island with sadistic glee.
light and shadows blend to make for a creepy atmosphere. one of the great unsung non-Universal horrors of the thirties. July 8, 2007

Still Fascinating With Its Foreboding Atmosphere

1933 saw the release of two seminal horror films based on H. G. Wells novels: one is `The Invisible Man' and the other is `Island of Lost Souls' based on Wells' `The Island of Dr. Moreau.' The latter was released from Paramount, the Hollywood studio better known for its entertaining films like Star Trek series today, but the central topic in `Lost Souls' is much darker and more disturbing than you expect even now.

Except for some minor points, the film is faithful to Well's original story, in which one Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) finds himself stranded on the small island after the shipwreck. Perhaps you already know the secrets of Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) and his `House of Pain' so I skip that part, but the film still has powerful moments when its shows its strange islanders and rituals about the way the doctor rules the place. Oh, and don't forget the vivisection scene.

What is really impressive is Charles Laughton as Doctor Moreau, conducting a series of `experiments' and hiding a sinister plan of making the first human-animal in the world behind his gentlemanly face. Compared to him, Richard Arlen's Parker looks too uptight and uninteresting, but that is how the story is meant to be.

But the real treasure of the film is Kathleen Burk as The Panther Woman, who is alarmingly sexy even by today's standards. If I were Parker, I would be very slow to leave the island. Bella Lugosi also appears `Sayer of the Law' with heavy make-up. His character is the antithesis to the Count that made him famous, but you can easily recognize him due to his distinctive mannerism.

The film's pace is slow and the soundtrack is too sparse, but `Island of Lost Souls' is full of foreboding atmosphere that is still fascinating.

IMDb says the film includes Allan Ladd and Randolph Scott (both not credited) as `Beast,' but I couldn't find them. Where are they?
November 10, 2006

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