Island of Lost Souls (1933 film)

Island of Lost Souls
Directed by	Erle C. Kenton
Written by	Philip Wylie Waldemar Young
Starring	Charles Laughton Richard Arlen Leila Hyams Bela Lugosi Kathleen Burke
Music by	Arthur Johnston Sigmund Krumgold
Cinematography	Karl Struss
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	January 12, 1933
Running time	71 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Island of Lost Souls is an American science fiction horror film starring Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams, Bela Lugosi and Kathleen Burke as The Panther Woman. Produced by Paramount Pictures in 1933 from a script co-written by science fiction legend Philip Wylie, the movie was the first film adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, published in 1896. The film was directed by Erle C. Kenton.

Both book and movie are about a remote island that is run by an obsessed scientist who is secretly conducting surgical experiments on animals. The goal of these experiments is to try to transform the animals into human beings. The result of the experiments is a race of half-human, half-animal creatures that live in the island's jungles, only tenuously under Moreau's control.

Plot summary

When a shipwreck sets ocean traveler Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) adrift, he gets picked up by a freighter that is delivering supplies to an isolated South Seas island owned by Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton). The only thing Parker can find out about the doctor is that he likes his privacy.

When Parker and the freighter's captain (Stanley Fields) get into a fight because the drunken captain abused M'ling (Tetsu Komai), a terribly ugly servant, the captain tosses Parker overboard into Montgomery (Arthur Hohl) and Moreau's boat and hauls up the ladder. As the animals are being unloaded, Moreau tells Montgomery that he intends to take Lota (Kathleen Burke) to Parker, which surprises Montgomery greatly. Parker eats dinner, and then retires to the lounge. Moreau then introduces him to Lota, a beautiful and kind girl, who seems simple. They talk for a little while, and Lota talks to Parker in a very kind and tender way. Suddenly, the two hear screams coming from a locked room. Lota calls it the House Of Pain, and when Parker enters, he sees a horrible monster being given surgery by Montgomery and Moreau without any anasthetic. Convinced that Moreau is brainwashing and torturing people for fun, and that 'he's next', Parker tries to leave the house where he has been staying, and for the first time runs into the animal-men. Saved from them by Moreau and his assistants, Parker observes the island's strange social structure. Moreau cracks a whip and orders an animal-man known as the Sayer of the Law (Bela Lugosi) to repeat the rule against violence. Once that happens, the animal-men return to the jungle.

Moreau and his men return Parker to the main house. Once they are back inside, the doctor explains his experiments; that he started in London many years previously, taking plants and accelerating evolution so that they grew larger and more intelligent. He eventually starts experimenting with animals, trying to transform them into people, as he regards human beings to be 'the climax of a long process of organic evolution' Theorizing that all animals will eventually become people, he begins making them into people through 'plastic surgery, blood transfusions, gland extracts, and ray baths'. He would still be practicing these experiments if a dog hadn't escaped from his laboratory and so horrified the people of England that he was banished. He clearly has an obsession with his work, and has formed a kind of religion, with Moreau as God, the Sayer of The Law as a preacher, and the House Of Pain as Hell. He omits describing how Lota was made from a panther, and later on, talking with Montgomery, he reveals that Lota is becoming more human in her emotions.

The next day, the boat that was going to take Parker off the island has been torn to pieces. Moreau blames the Beast-Folk, although it is clear that he was the one who destroyed the boat.

Kathleen Burke as Lota the Panther Woman

Parker is left around Lota for a long time and she falls in love with him. Eventually the two kiss, but Parker is stricken with guilt. Lota hugs him, and he feels a pain where she is touching him. When he examines her hands, he realizes that she has three-inch-long claw-like nails. In a fit of rage, he storms into the office of Dr. Moreau and tells him that he considers it criminal to make panthers into women. Dr. Moreau calmly explains that Lota is his most perfect creation, and he wanted to see if she was capable of falling in love with a human, being impregnated by a human, and bear human-like children. Parker punches Moreau and orders him to make arrangements for him to leave the island as soon as possible. Moreau takes out his anger on Lota, who he finds gazing at herself in a mirror, wondering how to make herself more attractive. Moreau grabs her chin and demands what she did to let Parker know that she was an animal; she raises her hands, revealing her claws, in response. Moreau is stricken with despair, thinking that animals are animals and humans are humans, and no amount of treatment can change that – until he notices Lota crying. His hopes are raised and he screams that he'll burn out all the animal in her and leave her around Parker until he impregnates her.

Parker's fiancee, Ruth (Leila Hyams), then arrives on the island. Parker realizes that he has to escape the island with his fiancee but is unsure how to do this. His opportunity appears when Moreau is caught by the animal-men in an act of violence, and they decide to revolt. They pursue Moreau to his House of Pain where they eviscerate him with his surgical instruments. Although this is not explicitly shown, Moreau's ghastly screams leave no doubt as to what is happening. Eventually the entire island goes up in flames. With help from Montgomery, Parker and Ruth then make their escape.

Cast (in credits order)

• Charles Laughton as Dr Moreau
• Richard Arlen as Edward Parker
• Leila Hyams as Ruth Thomas
• Bela Lugosi (billed as Bela "Dracula" Lugosi in the trailer) as Sayer Of The Law
• Kathleen Burke as Lota, the Panther Woman
• Arthur Hohl as Mr Montgomery
• Stanley Fields as Captain Davies
• Paul Hurst as Captain Donahue
• Hans Steinke as Ouran
• Tetsu Komai as M'ling
• George Irving as The Consul

UK censorship ban

The film was examined and refused a certificate three times by the British Board of Film Censors, in 1933, 1951, and 1957. The reason for the initial ban was due to scenes of vivisection; it is likely that the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937, which forbade the portrayal of cruelty to animals in feature films released in Britain, was a significant factor in the BBFC's subsequent rejections. The film was eventually passed with an 'X' certificate on 9 July 1958. Original author H. G. Wells was outspoken in his dislike of the film, feeling the overt horror elements overshadowed the story's deeper philosophies.

The censors also objected to Dr. Moreau saying "Do you know what it means to feel like God?"

Legacy

Two films have since been made based on the same H. G. Wells novel. The first was released in 1977 and stars Burt Lancaster as the doctor. The second was released in 1996 and stars Marlon Brando as Moreau. In the very similar Twilight People (1973), actress Pam Grier plays the role of the panther woman.

Playwright Charles Ludlam used this movie, as well as Wells' novel and the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, when writing his play Bluebeard (1970).

According to IMDb.COM, the film was first released in the U.S. in December, 1932.

According to IMDb.COM (under the "trivia" section for this movie), the film inspired the Blondie song "Island Of Lost Souls", released 31 December 1981 as a promotional single.

Members of the new wave band Devo were fans of the film. The "What is the law?" sequence formed part of the lyrics to Devo's song "Jocko Homo," with Lugosi's query "Are we not men?" providing the title to their 1978 debut album Question: Are We Not Men? Answer: We Are Devo! Oingo Boingo is another new wave band who paid tribute to the film with their song "No Spill Blood," which featured the refrain "What is the Law? No spill blood!" and appeared on their 1983 Good for Your Soul album. The Meteors, a psychobilly band from the UK told the story of the film in their song "Island of Lost Souls" off their 1986 album Teenagers From Outer Space, the chorus being a prolonged chant of "We don't eat meat; Are We Not Men? We stand on two feet; Are We Not Men?" etc. Heavy metal band Van Halen paid homage to the film in the original version of their song "House of Pain", the early lyrics for which directly referenced the storyline of the movie. During onstage introductions of the song circa 1976-77, Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth routinely gave a brief synopsis of the film. The song was shelved for the better part of a decade, but eventually resurfaced with different non-movie related lyrics and released on the band's 1984 album.

The US Horror-rock / punk / metal band MANIMALS based much of their stage persona on the 1933 film. Their 1985 Blood is the Harvest vinyl E.P. closes with the song "Island of Lost Souls" – a direct homage to the film / book. The track includes a "What is the Law?" section that fans would chant during live shows. Band members were billed as "half-man, half-animal" hybrids, and emerged from cages during shows in the 1980's, wearing full-makeup, furry outfits and refusing to break character or be photographed sans transformation. The highly-collectable, vinyl 12" was released on their own "House Of Pain" label, further evidence of the heavy influence of the film. As opposed to bands which have taken a tongue-in-cheek approach to horror themes, Manimals are widely respected in horror circles and among monster-movie aficianados for their serious, respectful approach to these films. Bela Lugosi scholar / film historian, Gary Don Rhodes has called them "the best-ever in the horror-rock genre" and referenced them in his 1997 book "Lugosi" (McFarland Press).

Sources

• Island of Lost Souls VHS tape, Universal Home Video Monsters Classic Collection
• IMDb profile: Island of Lost Souls
• Classics of the Horror Film: From the Days of the Silent Film to the Exorcist, by Willam K. Everson

External links

• Island of Lost Souls at the Internet Movie Database
• Island of Lost Souls at Rotten Tomatoes
• Island of Lost Souls at AllRovi
• Criterion Release: Island of Lost Souls