Island of Lost Souls + The Island of Dr. Moreau

These two adaptations of H.G. Wells’ enduring 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau were produced over 60 years apart. Each brings its own distinctly spicy flavor to this profoundly unhinged tale of a shipwrecked man left on the island of a mad scientist whose forced, violent experiments on living creatures great and small has created a population of grotesque human-animal hybrids. With its jungle heat, laboratories of pain, and unforgettable chorus of “beast people,” Wells’ novel and its adaptations question our binary understanding of man and beast, civilization and savagery in a bleak and haunting portrayal of genius pushed to extreme cruelty.

Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Dir. Erle C. Kenton
With Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams, Bela Lugosi, Kathleen Burke
71min; DCP

The first American adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel (itself preceded by French and German silent films), Kenton’s full-tilt, Pre-Code interpretation of Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau captures both the disturbing, provocative horror and affecting pathos of the novel, and is still viewed by many as the quintessential adaptation.

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
Dirs. Richard Stanley & John Frankenheimer
With Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, Fairuza Balk, Ron Perlman
95min; 35mm

Released on the 100th anniversary of the novel’s initial debut, this star-studded contemporary adaptation was notoriously plagued by a litany of issues during its production. The completed film, while heavy and shambolic, also crackles with the genuine chaos that went into its creation, making it a fitting foil to its predecessor.