Island of Lost Souls Blu-ray Review

Upon its initial release, the movie was a dud, and its top-billed star was unhappy making it and uncomfortable discussing it years after the fact. Yet, Erle C. Kenton’s Island of Lost Souls continues to haunt to this day with its reputation gaining stature with each passing year. Made at a time in Hollywood when all of the major studios were experimenting with horror films in the hope of matching the success Universal was having with them, Island of Lost Souls won few fans then and was outright banned in more than a few countries. Now, the thrills that the movie offers can be better appreciated without the onslaught of the Legion of Decency or the Production Code officials sneering in disdain at its subject matter (animal vivisection), and, in its own way, it’s oddly touching and more than a little melancholy to watch the film thinking humanistically about the sad souls struggling for their own voices and feelings.

Island of Lost Souls (Blu-ray)
Directed by Erle C. Kenton

Studio: Criterion
Year: 1932

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1   1080p   AVC codec
Running Time: 70 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: PCM 1.0 English
Subtitles: SDH

Region: A

MSRP: $39.95

Release Date: October 25, 2011

Review Date: October 19, 2011

The Film

4.5/5

Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is rescued from a shipwreck by Captain Davies (Stanley Fields) and the strange Doctor Montgomery (Arthur Hohl), but instead of being taken to his port of call, he’s dumped on to the boat of Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) who is running a series of scientific experiments on animals on his own tiny, deserted island. Parker is astounded to discover that Moreau is attempting to circumvent evolution by turning animals into man-like beings, and the island is filled with the results of these experiments, none of which has been completely successful. Moreau is eager to match his panther woman Lota (Kathleen Burke) with Parker to see if she can attract him and if she can function as a human woman, but before events can proceed very far, Edward’s fiancé Ruth (Leila Hyams) comes looking for her man without the slightest knowledge of the danger she’s walking into by coming to the island.

One might think watching this seventy-nine year old movie today that its technical limitations might inhibit its entertainment value, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The story is positively gripping from its first moments with the atmosphere of weirdness and unease permeating the decks of the rescue ship. The array of wild animals and the first astonishing close-up of the physical oddity of the man guarding them sink the hooks firmly into the viewer, and they never let go until the blindingly quick seventy minutes is concluded. All around are incredible wonders which amaze: the startling make-ups on the genetically misfit creatures which alternately horrify and captivate, the mesmerizing tangle of the jungle location of the island, Dr. Moreau’s distractingly comfortable home although connected with the unsettling screams of his latest experiment coming from his laboratory. And at the focus of it all: Charles Laughton as the indescribable Dr. Moreau: genial, mannerly, the perfect host on the surface and yet possessed of a monstrous scientific imagination and capable of quicksilver mood swings and who wields a mean whip. Much of director Erle C. Kenton’s career consisted of rather inauspicious programmers, but here his control is masterful: he uses shadows extremely well to emphasize the large threat of the native population of the island; he likewise uses reflections at opportune moments (a seduction scene in one example), and he films murders with discretion behind foliage and in low light. What we can see and hear then transforms in our imaginations into grandly exaggerated horrors of our own.

Though he gave some grossly overdone performances during his career and didn’t much like his work in this movie, Charles Laughton’s performance is tremendous. He has the maniacal twinkle of an unbalanced person, lethal as a cobra but smiling ever-so sweetly as he moves in for the kill, and who can ever forget the final view of him here, a fitting end and by those whom he’s mishandled. Richard Arlen isn’t the staunchest of leading men, but he’s firm and fine as the outraged outsider determined to escape by any means possible. Bela Lugosi as the sayer of the law, a kind of figurehead leader of the misfits, has only a small part, but he’s quite effective as he begins to change his way of looking at Moreau’s law. Paul Hurst has some good moments as the courageous Captain Donahue who brings Leila Hyams’ Ruth to the island. Hyams herself is sincere but is much less important than Kathleen Burke’s Lota, the Panther Woman, found after a national search. Suggesting a young Dorothy Lamour, she doesn’t quite plumb the depths that this character might have offered a more experienced actress, but she’s more than adequate as one of the real tragic results of Moreau’s experiments. Hans Steinke and Tetsu Komai play two of Moreau’s trusted allies, both of whom sport impressive make-ups and give impressive physical and pantomime performances as other unfortunate mutants.

Video Quality

3/5

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1 is delivered in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. The enclosed booklet details the patchwork job needed to bring the film back to its original running time, so it’s not surprising that video quality is so erratic. There are some scenes that are very sharp and others that are discouragingly soft. Some scenes boast a handsome grayscale of inky blacks and brilliant whites while others offer a less impressive grayscale spectrum. Shadow detail also varies from being very good sometimes to sporting crushed details in more heavily contrasted scenes. There are noticeable scratches here and there, but nothing that is too distracting. The grain structure of film has been respected and reproduced admirably in this transfer. The film has been divided into 14 chapters.

Audio Quality

3/5

The PCM 1.0 (1.1 Mbps) sound mix has the kind of attenuated sound one expects from the equipment available in the early 1930s. Dialogue is still easily discernible, and the sound effects like the cracking of Moreau’s whip or the caged animal noises are reproduced exactly as one might expect for a film from this era. There is rather constant hiss, but the engineers at Criterion have worked with the soundtrack to eliminate the most distracting bits of crackle, pops, and flutter, and have done a good job with it.

Special Features

3.5/5

The audio commentary is an enjoyable one by film historian Gregory Monk who provides lots of facts and figures about the production as well as interesting anecdotes about the director, the actors, and other primary members of the production staff, all with a light and breezy conversational quality that makes it a pleasure to listen to.

All of the video featurettes are presented in 1080p.

A conversation between director John Landis, make-up expert Rick Baker, and genre historian Bob Burns emphasizes the outstanding make-up designs in the film, the wonderful work of cast member/make-up expert Charles Gemora, and the gallery of excellent performances in the movie. It runs 16 ¾ minutes.

Horror film expert David Skal discusses the original H.G. Wells book that the film is based on, and also discusses other Victorian horror writers whose novels were the basis of Hollywood films of the same period and famous mad scientists in movies of the period. His video interview runs 13 minutes and was filmed in 2011.

Director Richard Stanley, who was to have directed the 1996 Marlon Brando-Val Kilmer version of the novel, discusses that fiasco and his admiration for this 1932 version, the best one available of the story. His video piece lasts 14 ¼ minutes.

Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbough of the band Devo talk about the film and its effect on their band’s origins and their musical material. It runs 19 ¾ minutes.

There are fifty-three pictures in the stills gallery, many of which are used to illustrate interviews presented elsewhere on this disc.

The film’s theatrical trailer runs 1 ½ minutes.

The enclosed 15-page booklet contains the chapter listing, the cast and crew lists, some select stills, and movie historian Christine Smallwood’s tribute to the movie.

The Criterion Blu-rays include a maneuvering tool called “Timeline” which can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.

In Conclusion

4/5 (not an average)

One of the great quality horror films from the memorable decade of the 1930s, Island of Lost Souls is a haunting and memorable movie. The Criterion Blu-ray can’t erase what decades of abuse have done to the film, but this is undoubtedly the best the film has ever looked, and the release comes with a high recommendation!

Matt Hough

Charlotte, NC

As I mentioned in my review,. I found all of the make-ups sensational. March's marke-up in Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde got much attention in 1931, but the make-up jobs in this film are remarkable even by today's standards.