The 1977 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau managed to surprise me. I had a certain idea in my mind of how this amazing HG Wells novel gets turned into movie magic. It seemed the screen had to have its megalomaniacal, twisted weirdo of a mad scientist, and torchlight through the jungle at night, and close-ups of leering, distorted faces to make you shudder. All of these things have tended to detract from the debate at the centre of the novel about what difference there is between humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom; everything Dr. Moreau does, when he’s been played by either Charles Laughton in the 1932 version or Marlon Brando in the 1996 version, is obviously crazy, so the obligation to take anything the character says seriously is removed. Of course, there’s a long way to go from dissecting corpses to the kind of thing Moreau gets up to, but a build-up is always so much more rewarding than simply starting out with the horror up front. I would say, with this in mind, if you don’t know this story you might be wise to avoid reading the blurb on the back of the Blu-ray box or even looking too closely at the screenshots provided there, which give the entire game away. We also don’t get a lot of night-time antics in this version. Great use is made of the sun shining down on this tropical paradise (it was filmed on Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands, and it is stunning) and of the flora and fauna that abound, building the sense of exposure, isolation and confusion that Andrew Braddock (played by Michael York) experiences. Braddock is a shipwrecked sailor who lands on the island and slowly uncovers what Moreau is doing, and Michael York brings a great physicality to this, particularly as he becomes attracted to the strange and beautiful Maria (Barbara Carrera) who lives with Moreau. Having said that, I would love to be proved wrong. I’m sure at some point there will be another version of The Island of Dr. Moreau and maybe next time all the elements of horror, surprise, disgust, and sympathy will come together without losing the big questions at the heart of the story. In the meantime, this version is as good as it gets. If you can accept the fact that the transformational element requires a heavy suspension of disbelief, and concentrate instead on the main performances, then there’s a lot here to enjoy. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
