Title: Island of Lost Souls
Author/Artist: Erle C. Kenton
Publisher: visionary
Media: Video
Reviewer: Pan
The Island of Lost Souls, loosely based on HG Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau is one of those 30's horror films that stands miles above the low level cack which characterises the genre then and now. Charles Laughton is a disturbing and unperturbable Moreau, presiding with English insouciance over his island paradise in hell. When a stranger arrives Moreau seizes on the chance to take his genetic experiments that one step further - with predictably catastrophic results.
The imagery is genuinely disturbing. Moreau's victims look like extras from Nazi propaganda films on sub-human untermench, and Moreau himself wanders his domain dressed in colonialist white suit, black tie and bull whip to hand. It's easy to see why the film fell foul of the British censors. The images of Moreau presiding over his tropical island with whip to hand, aware of the ever present threat of revolt by his 'natives', was perhaps considered too close for comfort. The fact that the imperial Moreau is so demonically possessed probably didn't help.
The dark thread of sexuality that runs through the film provided yet another reason for the film to be banned. There is only one female on Moreau's island, a beautiful, revealingly dressed and overtly sexual character who makes no secret of her desire for the newly arrived stranger.
But to see this film as a simple allegory on the evils of Western colonialism is to miss the deeper subtext. Moreau's genetic experiments restate the question of nature versus nurture. When Moreau cries that the stubborn beast flesh creeps back he despairs that nature prevails despite all. And yet his woman weeps, giving hope that perhaps nature is not totally triumphant. With Nazi atrocities in the name of race still to come, and intellectual interest in eugenics at its height, this timely film asked awkward questions that were easily ignored. No wonder HG Wells objected to the film - didn't he have a penchant for eugenics at the time?