Cheap Island of Lost Souls (Video) (Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen) (Erle C. Kenton) Price
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| ACTORS: | Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen |
| CATEGORY: | Video |
| DIRECTOR: | Erle C. Kenton |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 12 January, 1933 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Universal Studios |
| MPAA RATING: | Unrated |
| FEATURES: | Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Horror |
| MEDIA: | VHS Tape |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 096898060936 |
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Customer Reviews of Island of Lost Souls
also waiting I also have seen this "release date to be announced" going on the second year.Of course the second movie on this bill can be gotten on the double disc of the" House of the wax museum" with vincent price, put out by warner bros. last year.But there are many of us that would love to have the first feature.....say, I have an idea,.....why don't all of us on this web site meet at the empire state building in 2010 in anticipation of acquiring this disc!
Probably Not a Helpful Review
Although horror movies from the 1930s were the first kind of film that I really got into as a kid, my enthusiasm for them hasn't withstood the test of time. Today, they seem rather clunky and unintentionally laughable. Also, I've grown a little skeptical of a genre based on the idea that we must fear something, rather than understand it. However, a few '30s horror films still hold up. Rouben Mamoulian's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is one. For different reasons, James Whale's "The Bride of Frankenstein" is another. If I were to name a third, it would be "Island of Lost Souls."
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>I like "Island of Lost Souls" despite a few drawbacks, not the least of which, as has been noted before, is the stilted central performance of Richard Arlen as the matinee-idol hero and the staginess of some scenes (such as the fistfight with the ship's captain). But "Island of Lost Souls" seems to revel in its artifice. At first, the film's decor looks a little too contrived, especially to eyes raised on shot-on-location. But everything else about the film -- from its plot to its execution -- looks equally contrived, so it's hard to take the movie's premise at face value. Also, Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau throws himself into the goings-on with such brio that the results are utterly enjoyable. Is it possible for an actor to be understated and over the top at the same time? Laughton is one of the cinema's best thespians. Another outstanding element in the film is Karl Struss's moody photography.
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>But I wanted to say something about "Island of Lost Souls" that many will, I'm sure, find absolutely irrelevant: I wish that the role of the Panther Woman had been played by Anna May Wong. No disrespect intended to any Kathleen Burke fans out there, but the Panther Woman would be a fun role in which to see the underutilized Chinese American star, who actually did some work for the film's studio, Paramount, at the time. Anna May Wong champions are probably shaking their heads in dismay at my suggestion. Some exotic, saronged plaything for a leading man is not the kind of role for our Anna, they would say. And they may be right. Still, AMW played worse roles. I'd rather see her claw the scenery as the Panther Woman than see her throw herself into the role of Fu Manchu's daughter in "Daughter of the Dragon."
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>At any rate, my comment is neither here nor there. It would have been impractical for Paramount to have cast AMW in "Island of Lost Souls," even if the studio had her under contract at the time (I'm not sure if it did, but it may have). If Paramount had cast Wong, the kiss between Arlen's character and the Panther Woman would have had to go: kissing between the races was not allowed by the Production Code in the 1930s.
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>Also, AMW in the cast would have brought to the surface something buried within the story: Dr. Moreau's creatures as stand-ins for the non-white races. "Island of Lost Souls" is a thinly veiled cautionary tale about what might happen if minorities ever rose against the white whip-wielders of Western society. In this respect, the hero's flirtation with the Panther Woman doesn't so much invoke beastiality, but miscegenation -- and many influential people of the time saw no difference between the two. By casting a white actress in the role, Paramount was able to keep this theme out of the viewer's face and in the back of his mind.
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>Still, I can't help but wonder how it might have looked to see Anna May Wong's opalescent face and reed-thin arms atop the Panther Woman's sarong. I can't help but wonder how she might have given the role more grace and gravity. I also can't help thinking about all of the other Anna May Wong movies that never came to be. (Ironically, she did star in an unrelated 1939 movie with a similar title: "Island of Lost Men," a revamped remake of the 1933 movie "White Woman," another Laughton vehicle.)
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>Anyhow, don't let my what-ifs ward you away. If you watch only a handful of 1930s horror movies in your life, make sure one of them is "Island of Lost Souls."
Release Date??????????
Why does it say release date January 1, 2010? That's a typo, right? Or some kind of joke?
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>This is without a doubt one of the best, creepiest horror films ever made. Of all the classic horror films of the 30's, this is easily the scariest. It deserves to be treated as the first class film it is, not an after-thought.
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>Please tell me the 2010 release date is wrong!