Starring
Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Barbara Carrera, Nigel Davenport.
Directed by Don Taylor. (1977, 99 min).
You'll
have to indulge me while I give The Island of Dr. Moreau a bit
more praise than it might actually warrant.
When
I was a kid, my parents used to drop me off at the Southgate Quad nearly every Saturday afternoon. I went alone most of the time, which was
actually preferable. For me, going to the movies wasn't really a social
activity. Never too picky over what was playing, I simply loved the
experience. Those afternoons in the dark, just me, my
popcorn and the wonders on the screen, are some of my favorite
childhood memories.
One
of those memories is of 1977's The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Back
then, legendary purveyors of drive-in fodder, American-International Pictures, took a few fleeting stabs at
escaping its B movie origins in favor of mainstream respectability. They opened their
wallets a bit wider than usual for such films as The Amityville
Horror, Meteor and Force
10 from Navarone. With The Island of Dr. Moreau, AIP continued cashing-in on H.G. Wells' name, albeit on a much bigger budget than the studio's other
campy crapfests, Food of the Gods
and Empire of the Ants, released around the same time.
 |
| Charlie Rich as Wolverine. |
But
I didn't know any of this in 1977. All I really knew was it had
that British dude from Logan's Run
(Michael York), the old guy from Airport
(Burt Lancaster) and the beautiful Barbara Carrera as Maria, who I'd
never seen before but...mee-ow!
Though the film is rated PG, my 13-year-old self found her brief
seduction scene rather...uh, stirring.
Elsewhere,
Dr. Moreau (Lancaster) is a brilliant-yet-bonkers scientist who has
retreated to a remote island to continue his controversial work,
which consists of using a serum to slowly convert animals into
thinking and speaking human beings. Also populating the island are
the results of his experiments in various stages of human
development. Moreau treats them cruelly, much to the chagrin of
Braddock (York), who's marooned on the island and forced to endure
the doctor's increasingly maniacal behavior (made more tolerable, to
be sure, by Maria's company at night). Moreau ultimately tries to
turn Braddock into an animal and document his decent into savagery.
I
hadn't watched The Island of Dr. Moreau
since that summer afternoon at the Southgate. Back then, I found
it entertaining, though nothing remarkable from any kid-friendly horror fare I enjoyed on other weekends.
Still, I fired-up this disc with nostalgic giddiness...alone in the
dark just like 40 years ago, this time from the comfort of my Dave
Cave rather than the Southgate's sticky floors and cheesy orange
curtains.
 |
| "Dammit, man! I need a restroom now!" |
Four
decades later, the film holds up pretty well. Though trying to run with the Hollywood big boys ultimately exasperated AIP's downfall, it's
hard to argue with the results here, which reflect a considerable
amount of creative ambition. The Island of Dr. Moreau
is arguably the most handsomely-produced movie of the
studio's "mainstream" era, directed with workmanlike proficiency by Don Taylor (who'd go on to make Omen II better than it had a right to be). And even though films like The Howling
would come along a few years later to make Dr. Moreau's
make-up designs seem quaint, they serve their purpose effectively
enough.
The
overall performances are quite good as well. York is solid, though for me
he'll always be that Logan's Run
dude, while Carrera was a reminder of my good taste in boyhood crushes.
Perhaps because of his more beloved legendary roles, we tend to forget Burt
Lancaster was quite adept at playing characters who are just a little
south of sanity (Seven Days in May
and the woefully underappreciated Twilight's Last Gleaming
immediately come to mind). He's at his unhinged best as the film's
titular character.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
is a wonderful blast from my past. A definite childhood artifact, the film isn't what anyone would ever call a classic, so its appeal will probably be limited to similarly nostalgic fans. Still, age notwithstanding, it's remains the best of the official adaptations of Wells' novel, and immeasurably more enjoyable than the dumpster fire remake with Marlon
Brando. My one beef is that Olive Films is releasing it only on DVD.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
ESSAY:
"The Island of Dr. Moreau as Theological Grotesque"
by Gorman Beauchamp (both a booklet insert and one of the bonus
features. It's discusses H.G. Wells' original novella, not the film).
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - by Jeff Belanger and Dr. Dreck (I'm not exactly sure who
these guys are)
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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