Wells Novel

A twisted treasure from Hollywood’s pre-Code horror heyday, Island of Lost Souls is a cautionary tale of science run amok, adapted from H. G. Wells’s novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. In one of his first major movie roles, Charles Laughton is a mad doctor conducting ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked man (Richard Arlen) who finds himself trapped there. This touchstone of movie terror, directed by Erle C. Kenton, features expressionistic photography by Karl Struss, groundbreaking makeup effects that have inspired generations of monster-movie artists, and the legendary Bela Lugosi in one of his most gruesome roles.

H. G. Wells was both the author of the original source – an essay, rather than an actual novel, concerning mankind's future – and the screenplay (in conjunction with Lajos Biro) of this epic science fiction tale, but it was producer Alexander Korda who framed the terms on which it is presented, vast and elegant, and visually striking. Opening in the year 1940, we see the next century of human history unfold, initially with amazing prescience. In Everytown (a stand-in for London) in 1940, the people prepare to celebrate Christmas amid rumors and rumblings of war – forward-thinking pacifists like John Cabal (Raymond Massey) try to raise concerns amid a populace either too fearful to think about the risks, or so pleased with business conditions that they're oblivious to the downside of war…..

In 1941, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift), a bugler, transfers from the Bugle Corps at Fort Shafter (giving up his corporal stripes) to a rifle outfit, Company "G", at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. He was replaced as 1st bugler and left Shafter for Schofield. Prewitt, a native of Kentucky, enlisted at Ft. Myer, Virginia. He intends to be a…