This is the first cinematic adaptation of HG Wells's novel "The Island of Dr Moreau " warning of the dangers of genetic manipulation. Wells himself disliked it saying the film-makers had discarded the deeper meanings of the story in their desire to thrill. Nevertheless as a horror movie it works well thanks to impressive make-up and sets and a splendidly camp performance by Charles Laughton as the mad scientist creating pseudo-humans out of animals. Bela Lugosi, unrecognisable under his furry prosthetics, has a small role as spokesman for the half-beasts. The film is also remembered for introducing the phrase "The natives are restless tonight " although the quotation is not quite correct. This film too was banned in the UK for many years for its ( very tame, actually ) vivisection scenes but is now rated PG.
Leila Hyams ( as Ruth Thomas )
Sex: Ruth comes to the island looking for her fiance who has been stranded there after a shipwreck. One of the beasts, Ouran , watches her undress ( largely off screen ), then breaks into her room. It is implied that he is acting under Moreau's instructions to rape her but her screams arouse the house before he touches her.
Death : Survives
Leila's subsequent films were not horror pics so this is the last we see of her.
Kathleen Burke ( as Lota, the Panther Woman )
Sex : Lota has been developed from a panther and Moreau pushes her at Parker ( played by hunky Richard Arlen ) to test her femininity. She duly comes on to him but only gets two brief clinches . In the first he pulls away through guilt and in the second he feels her claw like hands and backs off.
Lota dresses in two bra-top / skirt combinations ( in the first the outline of a nipple is sometimes visible ) .
Death : Killed in a struggle with Ouran - to aid Parker's escape - in which both perish.
Nineteen-year old Kathleen was a dental nurse in Chicago who won a talent contest sponsored by Paramount to be in the film. Her film career was brief , ending in 1938. Her only other horror movie was Murders in the Zoo in 1933 which is hard to find. She died in 1980 aged 66.
No comments:
Post a Comment