Island of Lost Souls (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

The somewhat stilted dialog and acting in many films from the early Thirties is very much of their time, and if you can accept that, this film has some genuinely chilling moments. Bela Lugosi's role as a Wolf Man (no, not THAT Wolf Man) in the village is haunting and evocative, and his interaction with Charles Laughton when reciting The Law is brilliantly thrilling. (Laughton is, as always, the exception to that occasional stilted character in many early "talkies.") It's a much better, much more integrated film than either of its two successors (both of which used the "Island of Dr. Moreau" title).Well worth owning for anyone who loves classic horror, whether the iconic Universal monsters or "Dead of Night" or others. And while many people will get the reference to Devo in my headline for this review, I always think of Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo's song based on the same film. "No more House of Pain!"

Easily the best screen version of Island of Dr. Moreau out there. Made in 1932, it relies on creepiness instead if grossness, and it does that well. Richard Arlen deserves kudos as Parker, the hero of the story. It's hard to be the straight man to all the insanity going on around you and not come off as bland. Arlen fares pretty well. The rest of the cast is terrific, including the underused Bela Lugusi and , of course, Charles Laughton. There are son liberties taken with the HG Wells novel, but they are to the good. And the ending with Moreau is genuinely creepy, even in 2016. A word on the film print-- it's terrific. Crisp sound, sharp picture. It's a shame all old movies don't look and sound this good.

When I was a kid in the 1960's, this movie was already a legend. My father told me about it and I saw a write up on it in the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. When I finally got a chance to see it on TV, it didn't disappoint.With an appropriately slimy and repulsive performance by Charles Laughton and creepy performances by the 'manimals', I was surprised by how horrible it was. Especially Bela Lugosi appropriately overacting as the 'Sayer Of The Law' fascinated me and gave me the hope of seeing the movie again some time.But it seemed like the movie was seldom shown on TV in the midwest where I grew up. Perhaps many still thought it was too gruesome to show. It was banned in Britain for many years because of the subject of the film. But with modern times, the movie became available on VHS and then DVD.I had a copy of it on VHS, and the picture quality wasn't bad, but there was a lot of hiss in the sound. This Criterion collection restoration had made the visual quality quite remarkable for a movie made in the early 1930's, and the soundtrack is practically hiss free.The film doesn't follow the book by H.G. Wells exactly, and reportedly he hated the filmed version. But it is the only filmed version that conveys the flavor and creepiness of the subject. It is a classic!

Cry all you want that the book is better (it is). Still doesn't change that this movie is bone chillingly disturbing.Charles Laughtons portrayal of Moreau is the scariest part of the movie that still holds up all these years. If you've never seen a black&white horror movie before, this is a great place to start!

Criterion Collection Blu-Ray is DEFECTIVE (bad batch). Freezes up and then jumps to a scene. I played the same disc in all 3 of my players and it does the same in the exact spots. I just ordered the DVD version hoping it has no problems.

Island of Lost Souls remains just as chilling and effective a horror film as it was back in 1932. Charles Laughton is super creepy as Doctor Moreau and Bela Lugosi is chilling as the Sayer of the Law. You would think that a movie from that far back would be dated but the movie has aged like a fine wine. Highly recommended!

This is a 1-star review for the 3rd party dvd ONLY. I used 3 stars because the film is great, and if you want to appreciate it at home go with the Criterion version. If anything, this is also a plea for Amazon to differentiate which version of the film we're reviewing, which is a feature that STILL doesn't exist.The movie is a very cheap, from a strange 3rd party distributor. No disc menu, no chapters, and the resolution is terrible. Picture and sound are better on the VHS version of the film.

Very poor image quality. The BD quality is worse than that of a poor DVD. I couldn't bring myself to watch more than the first few minutes other than skipping forward a few chapters just to be sure.Such a shame - Eureka MoC generally turn out excellent BDs - this is the first time I've had a poor one.Contrast this with The Old Dark House (Excellent, also from Eureka MoC) from the same year and purchased in the same Amazon order.Amazon's delivery and refund service was top-notch.Rating is for BD and not the film itself, of which you can read about elsewhere.By the way, I didn't confuse the BD with the DVD (dual format - 2 discs).

With the same euphoric enthusiasm as Colin Clive who shouts, "It's alive," in the 1932, "Frankenstein" we can shout, "I've GOT it, I've GOT it, I'vegotit, I'vegotitI'vegotit. Wuh huh huh huurr." After all, this has been one of the most elusive and difficult films to get hold of.I just want to add my voice to the other positive reviewers on here and praise Eureka for the wonderful job they have done transferring this movie to DVD. Apparently there is no original camera negative in existance so it just goes to show how close we came to losing this picture for good. The booklet included in this edition tells us all too briefly how this print was assembled from various 35 and 16mm elements. I must say I would liked to have seen a longer documentary on how they sourced and restored the existing prints to make this new one. Have they now managed to make a new negative from the old positives? I would have liked to have seen the condition of the reels and what they did to get this to the wonderful, pristine version that it is. I can't play the blue ray version because I don't have a player but I can certainly vouch for the DVD which is good enough as it is.Excellent work Eureka. Now, if you can just get us, "London After Midnight."

"What is the law?""Not to eat meat, that is the law. Are we not men?""Are we not men?""What is the law?""Not to go on all fours, that is the law. Are we not men?""Are we not men?""What is the law?""Not to spill blood, that is the law. Are we not men?""Are we not men?"H.G. Wells may have loathed it and the British censor banned it for nearly three decades for being "against nature," but 1932's Island of Lost Souls is still the best and most disturbing adaptation of the author's The Island of Dr Moreau. Certainly Paramount's idea of a horror film was much darker than Universal's classic monster movies of the period, and it tackles its subtext head on without appearing especially heavy-handed.Looking like a cross between British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, a chubby Adolph Hitler and Little Britain's Matt Lucas (though he claimed he based the character's look on his dentist), Charles Laughton's white-suited vivisectionist turning animals into half-men in his House of Pain on an uncharted South seas island with the aid of Arthur Hohl's disgraced doctor is at once the worst of colonialism personified and the kind of scientist the Nazis would love to have had on the payroll. Ruling over his creations with a whip and a Law based on fear, he's not that far removed from the crazed eugenics experiments that would take place a few years later or of the patronising hypocrisy that would lead to most European colonies to fall to rebellion after the war. Unlike later versions, there's no rationale behind his experiments beyond the desire to prove they can be done, and he has no scruples about trying to mate his creations with the odd human visitor or, if that fails, create a situation that might lead to a convenient bestial rape to further his scientific curiosity. When his inevitable fall at the hands of his experiments comes when they realise man is not a god but mortal like them, it's just as cruel and sadistic, the shots of real-life amputees with cloven hoofs grafted on or mental patients transformed into animals courtesy of Wally Westmore's uncredited makeup effects still shocking today.If Richard Arlen's human lead doesn't stand much of a chance of doing more than just about getting by against Laughton and Bela Lugosi's Sayer of the Law's screentime is limited to a couple of key scenes, Erle C. Kenton's direction is exceptionally good, with a real visual flair for camera movement that's as striking today as anything in James Whale's films, not least the fluid crane shots revealing the manimals' village or the commanding image of Moreau looking down on his worshipping creations like a malignant god. Hans Dreier's impressive art direction and Karl Struss' dramatic cinematography beautifully compliment what is still one of the best horror films of its kind.The much-delayed Masters of Cinema Bluray/DVD combo may use the same transfer as the Criterion release, but contains different extras. Alongside the customary booklet (which includes stills of unused manimal makeup) there's an interview with Laughton's biographer Smon Callow that draws attention to the Conradian undertones of the story and the anguished sadism of Laughton's performance, while the factual background is filled in very impressively by an excellent interview with Jonathan Rigby that's one of the best of its kind that I've seen, not just covering the expected bases like Darwin and Wells but also dealing with the 30s craze for jungle movies and physical 'degeneration.'Criterion's US Region 1 NTSC DVD offers a fine package: historical audio commentary by Gregory Monk, interviews with John Landis, Rick Baker, Bob Burns, film historian David J. Skal, musicians Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh and director of the ill-fated Marlon Brando version, Richard Stanley, two 70s short films inspired by the film, stills gallery, trailer and booklet. The picture quality on this uncut version (mastered from the same source as Eureka's upcoming PAL version) is particularly impressive considering the negative has long been lost.It's worth noting that Criterion's Blu-ray release is Region A-locked.Spanish DVD releases are pretty hit or miss - you'll either get a decent transfer (usually from the majors like Fox or Paramount) or something that looks like the worst of public domain transfers - but while the Spanish DVD of Island of Lost Souls isn't an official Universal release (it's out of copyright now), it is surprisingly good quality that's comparable to the laserdisc release though the synch gets a bit wobbly in a couple of scenes. It's English language with optional French or Spanish subtitles, with the 1933 The Vampire Bat and a booklet included as extras. Compared to the pretty lousy quality on the UK video release, it's surprisingly decent.

Vivisection. Always, and rightly so, a subject to inspire horror and revulsion. HG Well's novel, 'The Island Of Dr Moreau' caused an outcry upon its 1896 publication. That outrage was to be shared by Wells himself less than thirty years later with the release of Paramount's film version, 'The Island Of Lost Souls'. Wells, reportedly, hated it; and was pleased when the British censor banned the film outright from being screened in the UK for more than twenty years. Perhaps Wells had a point. The film does - as do all film versions of novels - drastically simplify his morality tale to the point of reducing it to a mere shocker. But on the plus side it does deliver its shock with elan. For a movie over seventy years old the sudden sight of a 'man' hobbling on one leg and one animalistic hoof can still turn the stomach. It certainly turned mine! As for the cast: well, of course Charles Laughton is great - was he ever not? - despite bearing absolutely no resemblance to the physical description of Moreau in Wells' novel - ironically, Burt Lancaster came the closest in that respect in the lacklustre 1977 remake, which, by the by, I wouldn't bother with. Richard Arlen - (who?) - does a passable job as the square-jawed hero, and of course there has to be a love interest - not featured by Wells - in the highly arresting shape of 'Panther Woman' Leila Hyams. It is however slightly sad to see the inset of the rot in Bela Lugosi's career as he resorts to hiding behind a face of fur and chanting Laughton's law as the Sayer of the Law. The plot, as I have said, takes the source novel and truncates and simplifies it, thereby losing a lot of the original power. But that's what Hollywood did then just as they do now. On the whole, an obviously fantastic film and one every movie-lover should own. But, having watched it, do what I did - go back to the novel, it really does help fill in the gaps.

always wanted to see this.laughton is brilliant and a total nut.surprised at the cert maybe a 12.i suppose only us old fogeys would watch and understand the under lying connotations some of which is relevent today.i don,t want to give any thing away a bit light on extras although quite a good book at about 32 pages with some interesting stills.the one thing with film it stays with you after it has finished.the ratio is 4.3 ish. the picture is as good as you are going to get with a film around eighty years old.as it has been taken from a 16mm screening print and a 35mm nitrate and a 35mm fine master .using the best of the 3 prints then remastered.the original negative no longer exists.the sound track is taken from the 16 and 35 nitrate source alas mono.i would say if you are a movie buff or a horror film nut you need to have this in your collection.