31 Horrors: Island of Lost Souls (#19)

Wherein I attempt to watch 31 horror films over the course of October. 31 horror films that I have never seen before, from obscure to acclaimed classics. We'll see how well I go in actually finding the time to watch and then write about them in some way.

I knew as I popped in the Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray for this 1932 (by coincidence, the second of October's horror flicks to have come from that year) that Erle Kenton's Island of Lost Souls was an adaptation of sorts of HG Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau. Given the title change I figured it was one of those unofficial adaptations where everything's the same, but not. Alas, I was wrong. By the time a character is introduced called, you guessed it, Dr Moreau, it became obvious that this was just a straight out filming of the novel. Well, as close to one as you could probably get in 1932. I haven't read the book so I can't tell you how similar they are, but at least in Europe it was marketed with its original book title in tow.

The film isn't all that special, to be honest, but as an almost schlocky pre-code genre title, it makes for some interesting viewing. Starring Charles Laughton as the aforementioned doc, and Richard Arlen as the shipwrecked man who uncovers his research (if one can call it that) into regeneration and vivisection. There is also Bela Lugosi (Dracula!) as a half-man/half-beast creation known as the "Sayer of the Law", and Kathleen Burke as The Panther Woman. She was supposedly chosen amongst a group of 60,000 candidates and, on the marketing, wasn't even credited by name, but merely as "The Panther Woman". Those old Hollywood types really knew how to sell a woman's soul for financial gain, didn't they!

Island of Lost Souls came out a year before King Kong, and the two share quite a few similarities. So much so that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that that 1933 classic used some of the same sets as Kenton's picture. It opens with a boat sailing the choppy seas and various characters finding themselves amongst a island dense in as much flora as mystery. Admittedly, the first and the third acts hold most of what I found interesting here, with the middle - basically everything about the boring Panther Woman - losing my patience. I enjoyed the opening with its gruff sailors and charming, yet sinister, Charles Laughton. The end, too, is quite intense as the beasts retaliate against their maker - certainly it was Laughton's final scene that earned this movie its status as banned in the UK? At only 71 minutes long though even the stuff I didn't too much care for didn't stick around long enough to prove too detrimental. To be honest, I watched this early in the month and forgot to write it up. I have as little to say about now as I did then, I suppose. B-

Black + White Friday Saturday: King Kong (1976) & King Kong (2005)

I wanted to take a look at these two remakes of the black and white classic monster movie King Kong. I thought it would be interesting to see if either of them lend themselves to the classical style of filmmaking that black and white photography lent itself too.

I actually had to outsource the caps used in this installment. I don't actually own either of these movies on DVD, so all images are from DVD Beaver.


Oh Jessica Lange! I can't take her seriously at all in this movie. Can you? There's something there that just turns me off majorly.


I much preferred Peter Jackson's remake, but even that had major problems and really wasn't that good. I'm not entirely convinced that Naomi Watts portrayed the character 1920s enough, but she was far better than Lange. I do hate those bloody hats though!


I just think this is a bit gorgeous.


I remember really liking this scene as I felt it actually tried to be like an old movie (unlike so many other sequences in this remake). On one hand I guess it's a good thing that Watts didn't do the same style of performance as Fay Wray did in the original, but on the other hand I sort of miss it.


Apart from the very "of the time" top that Jessica Lange is wearing here, this could conceivably be seen as a shot from an old movie. I think it's the moustache.


This image is actually quite wonderful. I thought the scene was "a bit much" in the film, but it did look gorgeous. In black and white though this actually looks more like a sketch drawing using charcoal.


She's not exactly Fay Wray, is she?


I just think this is a bit gorgeous.

I do find it interesting though that in black and white this moment looks far more ominous than it does in the colour version. All those dark clouds look far more scarier than the overly orange hues that they were before.


This is ridiculous. How is it that a remake made some 60 years after the original can have effects that are barely improved? In fact, I'd go so far to say that they're worse in this 1976 remake than the original since, at least, the 1933 version was made in 1933. This image particularly looks quite silly don't you think? What would I know though, the film won an Oscar for its visual effects so there ya go.


By far the best scene in either of these remakes was this quite touching moment on the ice rink in New York City. It looked like 100% CGI, which was one of the big disappointments of Jackson's film in general, but even that couldn't stop this moment being lovely.