The 1945 Val Lewton ISLE OF THE DEAD is, regrettably, aptly titled: the film itself is a dead, awkward thing and largely devoid of the style that made such Lewton films as CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, and THE BODY SNATCHER so memorable.
The story concerns a 19th century Greek military commander (Karloff) who visits his wife's grave, located on an island described as a cemetery. But plague breaks out--and in order to prevent its spread the commander quarantines the island. Even as various residents fall ill and die, others attribute the deaths to a Greek-style vampire; to further complicate the story a premature burial leaves the prematurely buried considerably annoyed, to say the least.
The basic problem here is the script, credited to Josef Mishel and Ardel Wray: the dialogue is incredibly awkward and the overall story is at best vague, at worst incomprehensible. Karloff, having just given the performance of his career in the earlier THE BODY SNATCHER, now gives what may be his weakest performance of the 1940s with this film--and frankly he looks incredibly ridiculous with curly hair. But Karloff is not alone: the entire cast is truly at sea, their performances clashing at every possible stylistic level, and director Mark Robson is unable to chart any direction that might give these issues any interest.
Lewton was greatly admired for his skill in turning low budgets into memorable horror films with unexpected poet flourishes; he was, without doubt, one of the few genius producers of the 20th century. But ISLE OF THE DEAD does him no credit. Although it will be a must-see for Lewton and Karloff fans, they will be tremendously disappointed--and all others are warned off.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
The story concerns a 19th century Greek military commander (Karloff) who visits his wife's grave, located on an island described as a cemetery. But plague breaks out--and in order to prevent its spread the commander quarantines the island. Even as various residents fall ill and die, others attribute the deaths to a Greek-style vampire; to further complicate the story a premature burial leaves the prematurely buried considerably annoyed, to say the least.
The basic problem here is the script, credited to Josef Mishel and Ardel Wray: the dialogue is incredibly awkward and the overall story is at best vague, at worst incomprehensible. Karloff, having just given the performance of his career in the earlier THE BODY SNATCHER, now gives what may be his weakest performance of the 1940s with this film--and frankly he looks incredibly ridiculous with curly hair. But Karloff is not alone: the entire cast is truly at sea, their performances clashing at every possible stylistic level, and director Mark Robson is unable to chart any direction that might give these issues any interest.
Lewton was greatly admired for his skill in turning low budgets into memorable horror films with unexpected poet flourishes; he was, without doubt, one of the few genius producers of the 20th century. But ISLE OF THE DEAD does him no credit. Although it will be a must-see for Lewton and Karloff fans, they will be tremendously disappointed--and all others are warned off.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer