Island of Lost Souls
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Year Released: 1932
Rating: 2.5
A shipwrecked man (Richard Arlen) ends up (after being tossed off the vessel that initially rescued him) on an island with mad scientist Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton, sporting some truly funky facial hair) who has created many freakish hairy mutants ("vivisection!") and a sexy leopard lady (Kathleen Burke). Of course it's all corny and campy (Laughton's eating this one up) and the movie unfolds in a clunky manner, but it does have a sort-of charm to it (pre-code, naturally) and the message about "playing God" and warnings about tinkering with nature hold up well. The ending is still chilling, with the freak masses (led by an unrecognizable Bela Lugosi) staging their revolt and breaking the rules: good for them. Unfortunately in real life, the victims of a certain Dr. Mengele were not afforded the opportunity for revenge....
