Blu-ray Review - The Island Of Dr.Moreau (1977)

Genre:
Horror, Fantasy
Distributor:
101Films
BD Release Date:
6th October 2014(UK)
Rating:12
Director:
Don Taylor
Cast:
Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Nigel Davenport, Barbara Carrera,
Buy:Island Of Dr Moreau [Blu-ray]
The Island of Dr. Moreau is the second direct cinematic adaptation of H. G. Wells’s novel of the same name. It’s also the second best but it lacks the menace and doesn’t quite capture the essence of the novel as well as the brilliant 1932 adaptation, Island of Lost Souls, starring Charles Laughton as the demented Dr. Moreau.

The brilliant Burt Lancaster stars, however, in this adaptation made in 1977. It was made by American International Pictures in an attempt to recapture the magic of the Edgar Allan Poe cycle by doing a Wells cycle. To anyone who doesn’t know the basic plot, crewman Andrew Braddock (Michael York) survives the wreckage of a ship, The Lady Vain. Braddock is floating in the sea for days in his boat until he reaches a mysterious island. Dr. Moreau runs it, and soon it’s revealed that Moreau has also been running experiments that have made hybrids of man and numerous wild animals.

This take on the material is perfectly serviceable. The physical casting of Burt Lancaster is closest to Wells’s original character. Despite this, he never seems quite believable enough to be the twisted scientist, whilst Charles Laughton’s earlier take was pitch perfect. Lancaster clearly was also slumming it at this point in the late 70s, until a slight comeback in the early ‘80s with films like Atlantic City and Local Hero. At least he gives a much better performance than the bombastic Marlon Brando in the 1990s adaptation.

Michael York gives one of his better screen performances, especially after Moreau’s experiments on him. You do get some feeling of the pain he goes though. York, however, was never the world’s most gifted actor. The makeup effects are extremely cheap when compared to both other adaptations but it was an AIP film after all—they aren’t animalistic enough for my liking.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable take on Wells’s old tale of science gone wrong. It has a strong performance by Michael York even if Lancaster to an extent is phoning it in. It’s a typical low-budget AIP late ‘70s film, so don’t expect high cinematic art or you will be sorely disappointed.

★★★

Ian Schultz