Island of Lost Souls (1932 film)

''Island of Lost Souls'' is a 1932 American science fiction horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton. Based on H. G. Wells' 1896 novel '' The Island of Doctor Moreau'' and produced by Paramount Productions, the film stars Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen and Kathleen Burke. The film is about the sailor Edward Parker (Arlen), who finds himself stranded on the island occupied by the scientist Dr. Moreau (Laughton). Parker agrees to stay until the next boat arrives, while Laughton introduces him to Lota (Burke), who unknown to Parker, is actually part-panther. It is revealed that all the islands inhabitants are experiments by Dr. Moreau to create humans from animals, and tries to persuade Lota to have sex with Parker to continue his experiments.

The film was Paramount's follow-up to their successful horror film '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1931). Several writers worked on scripts for the film including Joseph Moncure March, Cyril Hume, Garrett Fort and Philip Wylie. While stage actor Charles Laughton was already invited to Hollywood by Paramount, they did not have the film set up for him originally leading him to work on other projects in 1932. For the role of Lota, the Panther Woman, a contest was run across the United States to cast an unknown in the role for the film. From thousands of applications, the final group was Lona Andre, Gail Patrick, Verna Hillie and the final winner: Kathleen Burke. The film began production on October 1, with some scenes shot on location in Catalina Island. During production, Bela Lugosi joined the cast, with the actor having declared bankruptcy during the same month. Production ended in early November.

''Island of Lost Souls'' was released in several edited forms since its release in October 1932, with several edits removing dialogue and scenes involving Dr. Moreau. The film was banned in several countries including Great Britain, Germany, Italy, India and New Zealand. Theatrical, television and home video releases have often been truncated, until the release of the film by the Criterion Collection in 2011, which was described by the companies president as one of the hardest restorations they had ever done. Contemporary critical reception was mixed, noting the horrific nature of the film. Retrospective reviews have often complemented Laughton's, with the general reception being mixed: some reviews proclaimed the cinematography while other reviews noted the disturbing themes for the film.

Plot

Shipwrecked traveler Edward Parker is rescued by a freighter delivering animals to an isolated South Seas island owned by Dr. Moreau. After Parker fights with the freighter's drunken captain for his mistreating M'ling, a passenger with some bestial features, the captain tosses Parker overboard into Mr. Montgomery's boat, bound for Moreau's island. When Parker arrives at the island, Moreau welcomes Parker to his home and introduces him to Lota, a young woman whom Moreau claims is of Polynesian origin. When she and Parker hear screams coming from another room, which Lota calls "the House of Pain", Parker investigates. He sees Moreau and Montgomery, operating on a human-like creature without anesthetic. Convinced that Moreau is engaged in sadistic vivisection, Parker tries to leave, only to encounter brutish-looking humanoids resembling beasts emerging from the jungle. Moreau appears, cracks his whip, and orders them to recite a series of rules ("the Law") leading the creatures to disperse.

At the main house, Moreau tries to assuage Parker by explaining his scientific work—that he started experimenting in London years ago, accelerating the evolution of plants. He then progressed to animals, trying to transform them into humans through plastic surgery, blood transfusions, gland extracts, and ray baths. When a dog-hybrid escaped from his laboratory it so horrified people that he was forced to leave England. Moreau confides to Parker that Lota is the sole female on the island, but hides that she was derived from a panther. Later he privately expresses his excitement to Montgomery that Lota is showing human emotions in her attraction to Parker. So he can keep observing this process, Moreau ensures that Parker cannot leave by destroying the only available boat, placing blame for this on his beast-men. As Parker spends time with Lota, she falls in love with him. Eventually the two kiss. After Lota hugs him, Parker examines her fingernails, which are reverting to animalistic claws. He storms into the office of Dr. Moreau to confront him for hiding the truth about Lota. Dr. Moreau explains that Lota is his most nearly human creation, and he wanted to see if she was capable of having sex. Enraged by the deceit, Parker punches Moreau and demands to leave the island. When Moreau realizes Lota examines Lota weeping and showing human emotions, his hopes are raised and he screams that he will "burn out" the remaining animal in her in the House of Pain.

Meanwhile, the American consul at Apia in Samoa learns about Parker's location from the cowed freighter captain. His fiancée Ruth Thomas persuades Captain Donahue to take her to Moreau's island. She is reunited with Parker, but Moreau persuades them to stay the night. The ape-themed Ouran, one of Moreau's creations, tries to break into Ruth's room. but is driven away after Ruth screams. Montgomery confronts Moreau, and implies that Ouran's attempted break-in was arranged by Moreau. Donahue tries to reach the ship and fetch his crew. Moreau, seeing him depart, dispatches Ouran to strangle him. Learning that Moreau has allowed Ouran to break the Law, the other beast-men no longer feel bound by it. They set their huts ablaze and defy Moreau, who tries and fails to regain control. They drag Moreau into his House of Pain and stab him to death with his own surgical knives. With help from the disaffected Montgomery, Parker and Ruth make their escape. Parker tries to rescue Lota along, but Lota is killed when attacking who was out to ambush them leading to both their deaths. The others escape by boat as the island goes up in flames.

Cast

Cast sourced from the AFI Catalog of Feature Films.

Some sources state that actors Buster Crabbe, Alan Ladd and Randolph Scott were among the beast men extras, but no proof of this has been found.

Production

Development

In 1931, Hollywood had released three horror films that were hits: Universal's ''Dracula'' (1931) and ''Frankenstein'' (1931), and Paramount's '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1931). Paramount's film featured Mr. Hyde who resembled a monstrous ape with implied sexual relations with the sex worker Ivy and desired to make a follow-up with further horrific and sexual themes. On June 1, the studio paid $15,000 for the rights to H. G. Wells' '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'' (1896) and sent a copy of the novel to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of America. Along with the novel, Paramount had access to an unproduced play by Frank Vreeland, based on Wells’ story that was titled ''His Creatures''.

Several writers attempted to work on the film's screenplay. These included Joseph Moncure March, who wrote the novel-length poem '' The Wild Party'' as well as writing the screenplay for '' Hell's Angels'' (1930). Cyril Hume, the screenwriter of '' Tarzan the Ape Man'' (1932) and later '' Forbidden Planet'' (1956); Garrett Fort, whose credits included work on both ''Dracula'' and ''Frankenstein''; and Philip Wylie, whose 1930 novel ''Gladiator'' was one of the main inspirations for the ''Superman'' comics. Fort and Wylie both developed an original character for the film: the Panther Woman, a creature Dr.Moreau creates in the film in his House of Pain, which he tries to mate with a human. In one of Wylie's and Fort's early adaptations, Moreau beats the half-naked Panther Woman because instead of having sex with a younger male, The Panther lady violently slashes him. Their adaptation also had a far more gruesome ending, involving Moreau taking the character Prendick from the original novel to see a chained creature who had no face, with Moreau planning to kill Prendrick, slice his face off, and sew it to the creature. The final and highly revised script is dated September 30, 1932 and only gives credit to Wylie and Waldemar Young. Young had written such Lon Chaney silent melodramas as '' London After Midnight'' (1927). Paramount sent their script to the MPPDA on September 22, noting that the film was set to start shooting on September 26. Shooting was delayed as the writers continued working on the script.

Pre-production

To cast the role of the Panther Woman, Paramount Publicist Arthur Mayer developed a contest for the role that involved giving the winner a trip to Hollywood, $200 a week for five weeks, and home at the Ambassador Hotel, and a role in the film. The contest required the contestants to be between the ages of 17 and 30 years old and to be in good health, taller than 5 feet 4 but at most 5 foot 8, and not anyone who had worked or had a relative who worked at Paramount. In his memoir ''Merely Colossal'' (1953), Mayer stated that newspapers who were cooperating with Paramount on the project received floods of letters for the role. The contest attracted a reported 60,000 applicants. There were four finalists: Lona Andre, Gail Patrick, Kathleen Burke and Verna Hillie.
According to Hillie who was living in Detroit, Paramount had published the content in several major city newspapers. Hillie was performing on radio at the time, and her mother had submitted her for the contest. When she was contacted by Paramount, she appeared in different theaters in Detroit on three succeeding Saturday nights, as one of the 12 finalists with a few being removed from the production each week. The audiences would vote privately on which performer they liked best, with Hillie winning her spot in Detroit. As production was set to start, the four finalists of the Panther Woman contest arrived in Hollywood. Early publicity shots were taken which historian Gregory Mank described as making the winners look "less like vamps, as they do like classmates at a convent school." The judges of the final winner for the contest were Cecil B. DeMille, Rouben Mamoulian, Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Stuart Walker and Erle C. Kenton. On September 29, two days before, production was set to begin Kathleen Burke was summoned to the casting office and told she had won the contest. Hillie, Andre and Patrick all received Paramount contracts as well.

Charles Laughton portrays Dr. Moreau in the film. Laughton had performed on stage in New York in 1931 and was requested to come to Hollywood in early 1932 by Paramount. Paramount did not yet have a film ready for him, leading Laughton to be in Universal's '' The Old Dark House'' (1932). On June 19, ''The New York Times'' announced that Laughton would be playing the starring role in the film. Prior to working on the film, Laughton would work on Paramount’s ''Devil and the Deep'' (1932) and MGM's ''Payment Deferred'' (1932). To prepare for the role, Laughton used his own skills with a bullwhip, which he’d already used in the play ''A Man with Red Hair'', and the other was his beard, which had been inspired by a doctor Laughton had visited. Laughton was paid $2,250 per week for his work on the film. On July 31, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Nancy Carroll and Randolph Scott, who were both under contract to Paramount, had were to portray Ruth and Edward Parker respectively. These roles would later go to Richard Arlen and Leila Hyams. Among the extra actors were wrestlers Hans Steinke, known as The German Oak as a beast man and Harry Ezekian as Gola, who wrestled under the name of Ali Baba.

Director Norman Taurog who had won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Skippy'' (1931) was initially going to be the director of ''Island of Lost Souls''. On September 20, 11 days before production was set to begin on the film, ''Variety'' announced that Paramount was "having trouble injecting comedy into ''Island of Lost Souls''" and had Erle C. Kenton, to replace him. Along with Kenton was his cinematographer Karl Struss who had won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for F. W. Murnau's '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' (1927). Struss spoke positively about his relationship with Kenton, stating he had "a greater command of the English language than anyone I ever worked with."

Production

Shooting of ''Island of Lost Souls'' was set up to start on October 1 with a 28 day production schedule. Some actors were last minute additions to the cast, such as Tetsu Komai as M'ling, the "Dog Man" as the September 30 shooting script stated that the role was as of yet uncast. Laughton, Arlen, Hyams and Hohl went to Catalina Island for one week of location work. Some footage for the film was shot on the SS Catalina which according to Struss, had real fog which was called for in the script. During a scene, one of the extras dressed as a beast man reportedly got too close to the bars leading to a tiger nearly tearing him arm from his socket. No information on what happened to the man is known, but Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester confirmed this story, recalling that terribly rattled Laughton and others on set.

Young stayed on the script after shooting began. Emjou Basshe worked on the screenplay from September 19 throughout the shooting. After productions was complete, ''The Pittsburgh Press'' published excerpts of Burke's diary she kept during production. After her first day of shooting, Burke wrote: "I wish I could go to sleep. I feel lonesome." Her second entry noted how excited she was to film, and that Kenton had asked her to slow down her movements as she moved too quickly on set. A later entry recalled that Kenton was very patient with her on set, but that she was "so tired, I hardly could walk." It was announced that Burke was go on a promotional tour for ''Island of Lost Souls'' after production, which she responded to in her diary: "I'm going to be scared to death - trip over carpets, fall into the footlights or the bass drum or something. But, of course, it's an honor, and I'm going to do my best." On set, Burke's boyfriend from Chicago, Glen Rardin, began following her to work each day. The continuous visits led to fist fight between him and director Kenton.

On October 14, the ''Hollywood Citizen-News'' announced that Paramount has had Bela Lugosi had joined the cast of the film. Mank noted that newspapers were often late in publishing casting information, but as this was the earliest note of Lugosi's casting, that he was cast after the film has started shooting. On October 17, three day after this announcement, Lugosi had declared bankruptcy. Lugosi had lost most of his money after achieving popularity in ''Dracula'' to friends and signed on to the film for a total salary of $875. George Barbier was dropped from his role as the Sayer of the Law for Lugosi. Filming ended in early November. Kenton shot retakes of the scene of Hyams’ Ruth with Steinke’s Ouran on December 8.

Release

''Island of Lost Souls'' opened in Chicago at the Roosevelt Theatre on December 23, 1932. This was followed by screenings in Los Angeles at the Paramount Theatre on January 7, 1933 and later in New York at the Rialto Theatre on January 11, 1933. At the Paramount theatre, the film earned $23,000 in its first and only week. At the Rialto, the film was screened for three weeks, taking in $26,100 in its first week. Burke was initially going to go on a personal appearance tour with the film which ended up cancelled. Instead, she was cast in ''Murders in the Zoo'' (1933) with Lionel Atwill. The film was released across the United States with several state censors editing the film. Around the world, the film was banned in several countries, including Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, India, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and Tasmania. The film's ban in Britain was lifted in 1958. In the 1958 re-release, the censors cut Laughton's entire death scene. Dialogue of Moreau asking Montgomery about the Panther Woman: "But how will she respond to Parker when there's no cause for fear? Will she be attracted? Is she capable of being attracted? Has she a woman's emotional impulses?" were cut in Pennsylvania, British Columbia, Quebec and Australia. Other scenes of Moreau cutting into a screaming man were cut in Chicago, Alberta and British Columbia.

In 1935, Paramount wanted to reissue ''Island of Lost Souls'' but was denied a re-release by Joseph Breen's Hays Code due to the film's excessive horror. In 1941, Paramount attempted a second re-release, which led to a response stating that " e blasphemous suggestion of the character, played by Charles Laughton, wherein he presumes to create human beings out of animals; the obnoxious suggestion of the attempt of these animals to mate with human beings, and the … excessive gruesomeness and horror … all these tend to make the picture quite definitely repulsive and not suitable for screen entertainment before mixed audiences." No specific rental, profit, or loss for Paramount are known for the film. The box office is known to be performing below expectations in the box office in the United States.

MCA/Universal Home Video released the film on home video in 1993 as part of their Universal Studios Monsters Classic Collection along with '' Ghost of Frankenstein'' (1942), ''House of Dracula'' (1945) and ''Invisible Agent'' (1942). Since its release on home video in the 1990s, Dave Kehr of ''The New York Times'' noted the difficulty in obtaining the film, stating that it "has only surfaced in dubious offshore editions, despite the constant clamoring of horror film aficionados." Kehr noted that the film being off market for such a long time was due to a lack of material good enough for a high-definition release. The film had lost its camera negative and only survived through a handful of positive prints which ranged in quality. The Criterion Collection had combined two 35-millimeter prints and had collector's copies of for some missing frames. Criterion's president, Peter Becker declared their restoration of the film for home video being “one of the two or three most challenging reconstructions and image restoration jobs we’ve ever done." In 2011, the label released the film on blu-ray and DVD while Eureka Entertainment released the film as part of their Masters of Cinema line in 2012. Both releases use the same restoration.

Reception

Contemporary

From pre-screenings, an unnamed critic for '' The Hollywood Filmograph'' which declared on December 10 that "All that can be done in the way of horror pictures has now definitely been done" and that the film "tops all the rest. It out-Frankensteins Frankenstein, and relegates all other thrillers to the class of children’s bedtime stories…". The review went on to praise the acting of Laughton, Burke and the direction of Laughton. Mae Tanee wrote at the Chicago premiere about Burke, stating she "hasn't much to do other than crouch and run and open her eyes wide, but she is agile and uncamera-conscious and very well-suited to the part she plays." Philip K. Scheuer of the ''Los Angeles Times'' declared to be "extraordinarily bristly work" noting the "suffocating atmosphere" and the performance of Laughton as Dr. Moreau.
The review concluded that the film was a "genuine shocker" that was "hard to shake off afterward. As art, it begins and ends with Charles Laughton."

In New York, The ''New York Herald-Tribune'' critic declared that the film had "the quality of a hangover" while praising Laughton and described Burke's performance as possessing "a certain bewildered, sad-eyed quality that manages to be rather touching." B.M. of ''Brooklyn Times-Union'' stated that the film might suffer in comparison to films like ''Frankenstein'', '' Doctor X'' and '' White Zombie''. The review also praised the performance of Burke and Laughton declared that the film will "even provoke some of the more serious to speculative scientific thinking." Martin Dickstein of ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' recommended the film to horror fans, stating it was "as horrifying as anything the screens have offered in months", finding that the film was "immensely thrilling, in a few spots, you will probably find it a terrible bore in others." concluding that "personally, it left us cold." "Waly." of ''Variety'' reviewed the film at the Rialto on January 11, stating that the film had good imagery and that "there are undoubtedly some horror sequences which are unrivaled", while finding the plot poor, comparing it to cheap adventure magazine stories and "grammar school mysteries". The review also praised Laughton in the role, while finding Burke to be "too much like a girl" than a proper panther-human hybrid. Mordaunt Hall'' declaring that "the attempt to horrify is not accomplished with any marked degree of subtlety, there is no denying that some of the scenes are ingenously fashioned and are, therefore, interesting." while praising Laughton as "the best actor in the tale" whose performance enhanced the film greatly.

Retrospective

From retrospective reviews, Carlos Clarens declared in his book ''An Illustrated History of the Horror Film'' (1967) that nothing in the film approached the climatic terror of Wells' original novel, finding its crowning achievements to be Laughton as Dr. Moreau, and the film "seldom convinces, it never bores." and that Kenton had achieved "a minor, not ineffective film." William K. Everson, writing in his book ''Classics of the Horror Film'' (1974), that ''Island of Lost Souls'' suffered from being "like the Hammer chillers of the 1950s and 1960s, it has all the ingredients but little of the mood required. One is often repelled by the film, but rarely convinced by it." Everson felt that Laughton gave a marvelous performance but that "he rarely suggests anything much worse than a medically curious Captain Hook." Everson also commented positively on the visuals, specifically noting the crane shots and that Lugosi gave "a surprisingly good performance." A review in Phil Hardy's book ''Science Fiction'' (1984) declared the film to be "a superior adaptation" of Wells' novel, praising Laughton and the cinematography of Struss.

In the book ''The Variety Book of Movie Lists'' (1994), director Joe Dante included ''Island of Lost Souls'' in his list of "Best Horror Films", while author Robert Bloch, author of ''Psycho'' included it on his list of Best Science Fiction and Fantasy films. Bloch commented earlier in the book ''The Horror People'' (1976), noting that "against the context of its time, 'Island of Lost Souls''was a most unusual and daring film. In the November 1996 issue of '' Shivers'', the magazine published their list of Best horror films.
''Island of Lost Souls'' placed at number 13 on their list. Contributor David J. Hogan found the film to be "surely the most upsetting Horror film of the 30s, and perhaps of all time."
Kim Newman reviewed the film in ''Empire'' in 2007, praising Laughton performance and declaring it was "often imitated, this exercise in surreal dementia has never been matched" and "remains a neatly disturbing horror with a definitive ending." In the June 2012 issue of ''Sight & Sound'', Michael Atkinson proclaimed the film to be "arguably the most disquieting and subtextually exploring of the 1930s Hollywood gout of horror adaptations" and that it "no bigger compliment can be made to it than to say that the thematic ickiness of the film is intensified by its early-talkie mood and aura." Atkinson concluded that the film "remains by far the best Moreau film (and maybe the best Wells adaptation ever), capturing vividly the sense of the book’s ominous denouement."

Legacy

In 1935, ''Screenland

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