Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Simply A Masterpiece

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"The Island of Lost Souls" is the first version of this H. G. Wells story. It was not a good movie, but it did have great atmosphere. And Bela Lugosi. This version is much better. It's a much slicker rendition of the story. The creatures are much better constructed and the overall effectiveness of the film is quite good. The plot of this has to do with a scientist who is transforming animals into human-like creatures. They are constructed in a place called The House of Pain. Vivisection is performed and while these things are human-like, the maintain vestiges of their animal selves. The do have speech but for the most part they are either enslaved or abused. It is a reasonable telling of Wells story.

... although any limitations on what could have been shown or done were much more lax in this film 44 years later. Yet I just like the original better.This is another take on the H. G. Wells novel about the "mad" scientist experimenting with animals on a South Seas island, performing surgery on them in "the House of Pain" to try to transform them into human beings. Of course, things never go as planned in these films. Moreau is, after all, "tampering in God's domain" (though that hoary old expression is mercifully not used in this film).Difficult to not compare this version to the first adaption, 1933's Island of Lost Souls, which I find far more satisfactory. In the original Charles Laughton brought a creepy, perverse quality to his Moreau. He was unsettling but effective, and when he cracked that whip in the "What is the law?" scene with the man beasts there was more than a hint of the sadist about him.The surprising casting of Burt Lancaster as Moreau in the 1977 version fails to bring any of these same odious qualities to the film. It's difficult to work up much of a dislike for Lancaster's scientist in spite of his activities. He's still Burt, and he has to battle against his good guy screen persona.Island of Dr. Moreau also surprisingly jettisons one of the kinkiest aspects of the 1933 film, the Panther Girl, as originally played by Kathleen Burke, his most near perfection human like creation from a beast, with whom Laughton's Moreau is eager to see if an unsuspecting male shipwrecked on his island (Richard Arlen) will be willing to mate.The '77 version does have beautiful Barbara Carrera slinking around, and she certainly intrigues (well, more than intrigues) Michael York, now in the Arlen role. Lancaster is aware that they are sexually attracted to each other and ready to mate - but to what purpose, since it turns out Carrera is a normal human, and no kind of Panther Girl. There is a hint in her final scene, however, that she may not be quite so normal, after all, but it went by so quickly I wasn't quite certain if it was my imagination.The man beasts in the original are more effective than here. For starters, you didn't get a really good look at the makeup in the original (outside of a closeup of Bela Lugosi), so much of it is left to the audience's imagination. In the '77 version you see the makeup and, to be honest, it's not so much frightening as it is artificial in appearance (on about a par with that to be found in the original Planet of the Apes).The '77 version, however, interestingly, does show what happens to the man beasts after everything blows up on the island, something the '33 original left to our imagination. This version also has Moreau strapping down and experimenting with York, something not done in the '33 version. That is one of the more interesting aspects of this production, as well.In the final analysis, this is a fairly mediocre adaption of the Wells story, but one should still see it to make his own assessment. There would be another version with Brando almost 20 years later, of course. It's been too long since I've seen that version to talk about it, though I do recall disliking it at the time.

This is the second film adaption of H. G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau" I've seen, the previous one being 1933's Island of Lost Souls. Perhaps because the first one seemed very primitive, I found this version more entertaining. The material changes also helped as this time an Andrew Braddock (Michael York) is washed ashore with someone else but that someone else disappears soon after. He is found by Montgomery (Nigel Davenport) who introduces him to Dr. Paul Moreau (Burt Lancaster). Living with him is the exotic and sexy Maria (Barbara Carrera). Also inhabiting the island are various creatures led by the Sayer of the Law (Richard Basehart). I'll stop there and just say compared with the Charles Laughton characterization, Lancaster is very much more charming and subtle before we find out what he is capable of. Also, Montgomery here seems a bit more cynical but is still convincing when he turns a corner. And this Braddock character doesn't have a fiancée at home so he's...oh, watch the movie. Besides more exciting action scenes, there's an actual score by Laurence Rosenthal that compliments every segment it accompanies. And the tropical background scenes are so breathtaking. Kudos to director Don Taylor for making such a rousing adventure/horror film. And to American International, usually known for making drive-in exploitation features, for such a fine quality product. Nothing much more to say except that I highly recommend this version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, uneven at best, nonetheless boasted an interesting (if curiously laid back) performance by the normally scene-stealing Charles Laughton. His back-against-the-wall finish was one of the few times in said film that he really let loose. It wasn't, unfortunately, enough to save the movie from borderline mediocrity. The third version of this story to be brought to the big screen featured drama queens Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer vying for top honors at a picnic at a leper colony, and boasted some of the most jarringly bad cgi ever witnessed by Man (or Manimal). It was the second go-round that turns out to have been the best of three. Burt Lancaster gives what has to be (next to his performance as Elmer Gantry) one of the finest performances of his career, as does Michael York. The makeup, handled by Academy Award winner John Chambers, remains the finest realization to date of the Men turned Manimals. Recommended.