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Edward
Parker, the sole survivor of the S.S. Lady Vain, is rescued by
Montgomery on the trading ship S.S. Covena and taken to a South Sea
island. There, Captain Davies deposits Edward, along with his shipment
of wild animals, at the experimental station of Dr. Moreau, a mad scientist
involved in "bio-anthropological research." Moreau's island is
inhabited by half-man/half-beasts, who are products of genetic engineering
that is meant to alter the evolutionary process of animals through ions,
whereby they become men. Moreau has made only one woman, Lota, from a
panther, and hopes to mate her with Edward.
When Edward discovers Moreau performing an
operation on what appears to be a man in his torture chamber, the House of
Pain, he tries to escape with Lota. As the couple fends off Moreau's
beasts, Moreau strikes a gong and the beasts recite the law of the island,
which forbids running on all fours, eating meat, or spilling blood and
exonerates Moreau as their maker.
Meanwhile, at the seaport of Apia, Edward's
fiancée, Ruth Thomas, discovers him missing from the S.S. Covena.
The American consul then sends her and Captain Donahue to find him.
At Moreau's island, Edward discovers Lota's
origins when he kisses her and sees that her fingers have begun degenerating
into claws. Moreau then threatens Lota with the House of Pain, in
which he previously tortured her to keep her from reverting to a panther;
but Montgomery, who heretofore has assisted Moreau as an alternative to
jail, refuses to torture Lota.
Donahue and Ruth then arrive and, that night,
Ouran, one of the beasts, tries to attack her. Forced to leave the
island, Donahue braves the jungle of beasts to collect his crew and, at the
orders of Moreau, is killed by Ouran. Having broken the law of the
man-beasts that forbids the spilling of blood, Moreau is attacked by them
and tortured in his own House of Pain. With the help of Montgomery,
Ruth and Edward escape, but Lota is killed by a man-beast.
Notes
The film is based on the book The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
(London, 1896).
On the opening title card, the following cast
credits appear:
Charles Laughton,
Richard Arlen,
Leila Hyams,
Bela Lugosi "and The Panther Woman." A later cast list in the
opening credits includes actress
Kathleen Burke's name following Lugosi's. In the end credits,
Burke is identified as "The Panther Woman." According to an October 1,
1932 HR news item, Burke won the Paramount "Panther Woman" contest
and was awarded a role in this film, as well as five weeks' accommodations
at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
The Island of Lost Souls was shot on
location on Catalina Island, California. The opening titles for this
film were cleared from the screen by ocean waves. According to modern
sources, the film was officially banned in England for being "against the
laws of nature." A modern source credits Wally Westmore with makeup.
H.G. Wells' story was the basis of the 1913 silent French film Ile
d'Epouvante ( The Island of Terror ), and the 1959 New Realm film
Terror is a Man (also known as Blood Creature ), directed by Gerry
DeLeon and starring Francis Lederer and Greta Thyssen. There was a
1977 by American International Pictures adaptation released under the title
The Island of Dr. Moreau, directed by Don Taylor and starring
Burt Lancaster and Michael York. A 1996 New Line version, released
under the same title, was directed by John Frankenheimer and starred
Marlon Brando as "Dr. Moreau" and Val Kilmer as "Montgomery."
American Film Institute
Catalog
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