The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977 film)

The Island of Dr. Moreau
original movie poster
Directed by	Don Taylor
Produced by	Skip Steloff John Temple-Smith
Written by	Al Ramrus John Herman Shaner
Starring	Burt Lancaster Michael York Nigel Davenport Barbara Carrera Richard Basehart Nick Cravat
Music by	Laurence Rosenthal
Cinematography	Gerry Fisher
Editing by	Marion Rothman
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date(s)	July 13, 1977
Running time	99 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6,000,000 (estimated)

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) is the second movie version of the H. G. Wells science fiction novel about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people, starring Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Barbara Carrera, and Richard Basehart. Lancaster perfectly matches Wells' description of Moreau's physical appearance, unlike the other two actors to play the role on screen, Charles Laughton in 1933's Island of Lost Souls and Marlon Brando in 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau. This movie was filmed in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Synopsis

Crewman Andrew Braddock (York) survives the wreck of the sailing ship, "The Lady Vain". After several days at sea in a lifeboat, he reaches the shores of an island governed by the mysterious scientist, "Dr. Moreau" (Lancaster). Besides Moreau, the inhabitants of the island include Moreau's associate, Dr. Montgomery (Davenport), his deformed servant M'Ling (Cravat), and a lovely young woman named Maria (Carrera).

Though welcomed as an honored guest by Moreau, Braddock finds his contacts with the natives increasingly disturbing, for they are not like any men he has ever seen. Eventually, it becomes apparent that these "men" are, in fact, the hybrid products of Moreau's experiments upon various species of wild animals. Braddock finds himself threatened by both the "manimals" and the sinister Moreau.

After one of the man-beasts (Demura) attacks an animal, breaking the rules that Moreau has established, Moreau intends to take it to the "house of pain", his laboratory. His intention is to kill the beast for using free will. The beast panics and leads chase, and Braddock kills it in sympathy. Convinced that Moreau is insane, Braddock plans to leave the island with Maria, with whom he has developed a mutual attraction. They are caught however, and Moreau straps Braddock in his lab, intending to conduct experiments on him. Montgomery objects and Moreau kills him in cold blood. M'Ling and the servant animal women take Montgomery's body into the woods to the man-beasts.

While the man-beasts become agitated over Moreau breaking another of the rules ("man shall not kill man"), Moreau injects Braddock with a serum that gives him animal characteristics. Braddock becomes more animalistic and struggles to maintain his humanity. The man-beasts storm the compound and in the chaos Moreau is killed after trying to whip his attackers into submission. Braddock, Maria, and M'Ling stall long enough to engineer an escape, but the compound is burned and most of the man-beasts are killed by the wild animals which Moreau kept for his experiments. M'Ling is also killed in the final escape.

Braddock and Maria manage to sail away in the lifeboat that Braddock arrived in, but only after a bloody battle with one of the man-beasts who is killed by a Braddock with a shovel. Some time later, they are rescued by a passing ship, and the serum has worn off, returning Braddock to his full human state. It also appears that Maria, too, is returning to her true nature.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Burt Lancaster	Dr. Paul Moreau
Michael York	Andrew Braddock
Nigel Davenport	Dr. Montgomery
Barbara Carrera	Maria
Richard Basehart	Sayer of the Law
Nick Cravat	M'Ling
Fumio Demura	Hyenaman

External links

• The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) at AllRovi