Edward Parker (Arlen), a handsome young man en route to a South Pacific island to get married, is shipwrecked and saved by a drunken captain who sets him off on a remote, uncharted island with a very strange cargo of wild animals and dogs. The master of the island is the mysterious Dr. Moreau (Laughton) who, it gradually develops, has been altering the course of evolution by trying to turn animals into men. In order to test the success of his one female creation, the panther woman Lota (Burke), Moreau keeps Parker trapped on the island along with a huge mass of hairy, half-human creatures. Despite at least four remakes, this 1933 rendition of H.G. Wells's novel _The Island of Dr. Moreau_ is in some ways still the best, even with plenty of campy script and acting. Laughton is creepily gentle, Bela Lugosi achieves an odd pathos as the most civilized of the Beasts -- the "Sayer of the Law" -- and though you won't recognize them under all that hair, the hirsute supporting cast includes future Western hunks Alan Ladd and Randolph Scott, and soon-to-be Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers star, Buster Crabbe.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
Mad scientist Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) tries to alter the course of evolution by breeding half-animal, half-human creatures. When Edward Parker--the dour but hunky Richard Arlen--arrives on Moreau's island, the doctor seeks to entice him into remaining by using one of his creations, Lota the Panther Woman, as bait. Strikingly photographed by Karl Struss, the movie is effectively atmospheric.
The review of this Movie prepared by Dave C
