So, I enjoyed my recent first foray into old horror movies with Dracula enough to give it another whirl.\u00a0 Tonight, I was going to try the Mummy but last night TCM had some Lugosi movies on so I picked \u201cThe Island of Lost Souls.\u201d\u00a0 This is a 1932 film starring Charles Laughton as Dr Moreau; a scientist who experimented on surgically converting animals into humans.\u00a0 Lugosi has a relatively small part as one of his experiments.\u00a0 He looks like a man-wolf and functions as, \u201cThe Sayer of the Law.\u201d\u00a0 This movie is just a renamed version of H.G. Wells\u2019 story, \u201cThe Island of Dr. Moreau.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okay, the first thing to take into account is that Laughton is a much better actor than your typical horror movie mad scientist.\u00a0 Now granted, this isn\u2019t \u201cMutiny on the Bounty\u201d so he has to work with what he\u2019s given but Laughton sells it well.\u00a0 The rest of the cast is adequate to the task at hand.\u00a0 And the movie does deliver the climax that a fiendish Frankensteinian scientist will always reap; destruction at the hands of his tortured creations.<\/p>\n
The highlights of the movie are of Moreau portraying an omnipotent ruler as he commands the obedience of his many creations.\u00a0 On a hill in the jungle, he rings a gong twice, cracks a bullwhip and shouts down to his assembled subjects repeatedly, \u201cWhat is the law?\u201d\u00a0 And the Sayer of the Law gives the various answers at each repetition of the question,<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to walk on all fours.\u00a0 Are we not men?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to spill blood.\u00a0 Are we not men?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to eat meat.\u00a0 Are we not men?\u201d<\/p>\n
And this is enough to quiet the beast within each \u201cman\u201d when the night awakens his blood.\u00a0 And if they become especially restless, he reminds them of \u201cThe House of Pain.\u201d\u00a0 This is where Moreau rearranged their living flesh to simulate a human form and apparently anesthetic was not part of the program.\u00a0 Just the mention of it triggers howls of fear.<\/p>\n
But when Moreau orders one of his creatures to murder an outsider, a man like Moreau, the creatures put together the pieces of the puzzle.\u00a0 Moreau ordered one of them to spill blood, so, \u201cthe law is no more!\u201d\u00a0 And a man like Moreau was killed, so Moreau could be killed!\u00a0 And so, dragging Moreau into the House of Pain for some unskilled surgery of their own was now on the agenda!<\/p>\n
The subplot where Moreau tried to get an outside human male to fall in love with the \u201cpanther woman\u201d who was his most successful attempt at mimicking the human form is somewhat interesting.\u00a0 And the antics of the sailors who show up in a couple of sections of the story provide a slight amount of comedy.\u00a0 But the real story is Moreau playing god to his creations and the inevitable revenge reaction destroying him.\u00a0 H. G. Wells was a good writer so it is no surprise that his story is somewhat fun to watch in its first Hollywood portrayal.\u00a0 I very much enjoyed rewatching Island of Lost Souls.\u00a0 And I assume that Charles Laughton is the main reason.\u00a0 Now, without a doubt he hammed up his portrayal as needed.\u00a0 But his Moreau is a successful portrayal of the mad scientist.\u00a0 Kudos to Mr. Laughton.<\/p>\n