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 They acknowledge the source material here (H.G. Wells' novel The Island of Dr.
Moreau ) and note that the book was banned in some countries and parts of the
United States. Dr. Moreau is described as " a benign-looking doctor who lives
and works on his own private South Seas island." A shipwreck strands Eward
Parker on the island and he learns about the "hideous experiments" that the
"benign-looking" doctor conducts in his lab called "The House of Pain". Parker
runs into a panther woman, Moreau decides to try to see if he can have these
two procreate. Soon his island of creatures begin to rebel and Moreau "could
become the next victim of his own twisted creations." 1933, 71 minutes, VHS
This video is touted as being part of the Universal Studios Monsters
Collection. That is actually something of a misnomer. Paramount Studios made
this movie in 1932 and Universal, knowing a good thing when they saw it, bought
it later and repackaged it with their classic horror films of the period (
Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy ) and it stands up with the best of those
films. It tells the story of a man picked up at sea, Edward Parker (Richard
Arlen), by a ship heading to the uncharted island inhabited by the mysterious
Dr. Moreau. For some reason, the ship's captain, a grubby sea-lout if there
ever was one, didn't feel like hauling Parker's carcass back to the mainland
where he could reunite with his woman. So, when he stops at Moreau's island, he
punches out Parker and walks his ass off the plank and onto Moreau's boat and
then he leaves, chuckling (tis no man, but a remorseless beast!). So Parker and
Moreau are left staring at each other, mouths agape. Moreau ferries him to the
main part of his island and tells him that his doctor assistant will take him
back to the mainland in the morning.  Of course, since this is a mysterious uncharted island, Moreau tells Parker
that he must not roam around the island, for his own safety. Parker begins to
think something might be amiss when he notices that all the natives are
half-man, half-beast. "Hmm, that guy looks like a dog and that other guy a
gorilla and that one has a cloven hoof. Why, the natives here are an odd lot,
almost as if they're the product of some sick scientific plot gone horribly
wrong. Probably just my imagination." Now, I would have known something was up
the first time I laid eyes on that tubby Moreau character poured into his ice
cream white suit and decked out with a simpering goatee. I also think that the
fact that he was making like Indiana Jones with his bullwhip whenever the
natives barked and growled in his direction was a dead giveaway that we had an
evil genius on our hands. You see, what Dr. Moreau does on his island is experiments of unspeakable
horror! He takes animals such as apes and lions and tries to turn them into
people by operating on them! He even was able to get some of them to talk with
his special operations. Setting aside the dubiousness of whether that would
ever work (it wouldn't), the concept behind it is relevant today, even more so
than in 1932 when this movie was first released. Already we've seen the cloned
sheep Dolly survive with no apparent problems and you see reports almost daily
of some sicko freaky thing some sicko freaky "scientist" has dreamed up in his
secret government lab: mice with paws growing out of their backs, mice
engineered with the genes of jellyfish, WWF brand meat snack sticks made partly
with ostrich meat (original or teriyaki flavors!). Yep, this is one of those,
"man shouldn't play god" movies. And really in this case it's a good idea. I
mean, do we really need to be creating scuzzy looking subhumans that are dumb
as dirt? Don't we already have the South?  Moreau, like any good scientist is wanting to take the next step in his
research. He's managed to populate the island with all these grunting losers
and he's all like, "boring!" When Parker shows up, Moreau gets the bright idea
to introduce him to Lota. "Parker, my good man, I know just the perfect
panther-woman for you. She's got smoldering good looks, doesn't talk a lot, and
you should see her claws, I mean nails." So, Moreau sets him up on a blind date
with Lota and leaves them alone to get to know one another. And Moreau is
hoping that they get to know one another in a biblical sense. Apparently, he's
gotten it into his head that the next big thing is to breed a human with one of
his creatures. Now, why would that be a good idea? Anyway, they get in a clinch
and Parker notices that she has claws instead of fingers or something and gets
all creeped out by it. Rejected, Lota goes bawling to Moreau who is initially
outraged but is then impressed with his handiwork because one of his creatures
can cry. Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau delivers a great performance here as a
scientist bent on doing his research at all costs. He literally is playing god
on his island, a hidden Eden where he is the master and the Law. He controls
his subjects through fear and physcial punishment. All the creatures know of
"The House Of Pain" where Moreau makes his "adjustments" to his subjects and
they fear and hate him for it. Moreau is one of those guys so sure of his
genius that he doesn't see that there is about to be a revolt by his creatures
and fails to recognize the inevitabilty that people outgrow their gods and
destroy them to announce their passage from child to adult. He also isn't real
smart in that he doesn't seem to realize that one fat guy with a bullwhip
against an island full of hellish creations isn't going to get you the greatest
point spread in Vegas. Bela Lugosi is in this movie a gives a good performance
as he's buried underneath a wig and fake beard and only has about twelve lines
of dialogue, thus keeping the ham and cheese to minimum in this picture. This
movie is better by far than the subsequent versions including the Brando
version which was as bloated and understandable as its star (a lot and not at
all). The cautionary message about science run amok and science without reason
still resonates. The movie never explained Moreau's motives regarding his
experiments. He seemed to be doing them just show the people who booted his
lard ass out of London that he could do it. I think it was because he had a
self-image problem and all the animals he tried to remake into perfect humans
were substitutes for himself. Naturally he failed in all his attempts, becuase
he needed to change what was inside of him, not his physical appearance (though
he was kind of icky), and eventually all his failures and self loathing finally
destroyed him.
Reviews © 2004
MonsterHunter
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