Island of Lost Souls (1932)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Island of Lost Souls (1932) – E. C. Kenton

I read H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) in my teens, although I barely remember it now. The film hones in on the horror in the story rather than on the more philosophical inclinations of the author (dealing with the theory of evolution, animal ethics, etc.) and, for this reason, Wells apparently was not a fan of the adaptation by screenwriters Waldemar Young and Philip Wylie.  Yet the film, as directed by Erle C. Kenton, is truly horrific – with no constraints placed by censors (the film is “pre-code”), a palpably decadent weirdness pervades the proceedings. Of course, there is an assortment of half-beast/half-human oddities (with excellent make-up) on the Island, created via sadistic experimentation by Doctor Moreau (played by Charles Laughton in a gleefully leering and cruel performance), that evokes not only dread and disgust but sympathy for their horrible plight. Shipwrecked Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) gradually discovers the evil goings-on and is shocked when he realises that Moreau has attempted to manipulate him into providing evidence for whether the half-beasts can procreate with humans (as well as speak/learn/and follow the Law). Lota, the Panther Woman (played by Kathleen Burke, who won a contest by Paramount to star in the film), is the target (and in true pre-code fashion, she is scantily clad and the target of the camera’s male gaze) and, despite his fiancée, Parker almost seems to give in. But when said fiancée actually arrives on the island to rescue him, with a sea captain in tow, Moreau tries to turn his beasts against them, causing them to violate his Law (no killing, no walking on all fours, etc.), and therefore also to realise that there is nothing stopping them from killing Moreau himself, which they do. (Spoiler). The film is all humid tropical jungle, shrouded in fog and silence (no musical soundtrack) save for the cry of the beasts in the House of Pain.  A strange artefact from another time and place.