Island of Lost Souls



Originally rejected by the BBFC on its original release for being “against nature”, this first and best screen adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau is a taboo-flaunting, blood-curdling spectacular, and one of Hollywood’s wildest, most notorious, pre-Code pictures.

Shipwrecked and adrift, Edward Parker finds himself a guest on Dr. Moreau’s isolated South Seas island, but quickly discovers the horrifying nature of the doctor’s work and the origin of the strange forms inhabiting the isle: a colony of wild animals reworked into humanoid form via sadistic surgical experiments. Furthermore, Parker quickly begins to fear his own part in the doctor’s plans to take the unholy enterprise to a next level.

Featuring a peerlessly erudite and sinister performance by Charles Laughton as the diabolical doctor, a sterling appearance by Bela Lugosi as the half-beast-half-man “Sayer of the Law”, and sensationally atmospheric cinematography by the great Karl Struss (Murnau’s Sunrise, Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Island of Lost Souls now returns to claim a central position among the most imaginative and nightmarish fantasies from Hollywood’s golden age of horror. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Kenton’s film on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK, a celebration of the film’s 80th anniversary.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Newly restored high-definition digital transfer officially licensed from Universal Pictures
• Newly created SDH subtitles on the feature for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Exclusive video interview with Charles Laughton biographer Simon Callow
• Exclusive video interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A lavish booklet featuring rare production imagery, and a new essay by Kim Newman

Also available as a Limited Edition SteelBook:

So why no Blu-ray?

Ohhhh god. Would be pitchforks and torches if Criterion said something like that.

So what's the status of this release?

According to this Twitter post it now has been put back to May 2012.

This one seems to have disappeared from the website.

I'd hope that that's because they're releasing it in a Blu-ray / Dual-Format package. Fingers crossed!

They've confirmed on Twitter that the release has at least not been cancelled.

For those holding out for the uk version of this movie... it's worth the wait , sit tight!
The new master of this film is absolutely stunning, and contains elements never seen before on any continent, probably not since it's premiere, and perhaps not even since then.

A sublime film!

Wait, so the Criterion is not definitive?

No I meant the exact opposite, I'm basing my comments on the criterion edition of the film, as I'm assuming the m o c edition uses the same resto/master prepared for PAL.

The new restoration is glorious! and I'm assuming identical across both editions.

Gotcha, and I agree wholeheartedly.

This just got updated to dual format Sweet!!

Given the ecstatic reaction to the Criterion, I suspected it might be.

Hmm, interesting spine number, thought this was reserved for another Pasolini.

Yes, the latest catalogue assigned it to Ro.Go.Pa.G.

Last minute change, to avoid leaving gaping holes, mixing things up a bit, seeing as we haven't even started authoring the RO.GO.PA.G. edition yet, and it's not scheduled until late Summer.

We'll be dropping a few bombs where the year of the film corresponds to the spine number. The two Laughton's already do.

We'll also be adapting the pdf catalogue at the website in January to reflect all this and the very latest announcements, which will cover April, May, June.

RUGGLES and ISLAND are both down for a Charles Laughton double-bill in May.

You're really catering for the OCD market now!

I am seriously wondering why Nick decided to go Dual - I own the Crit and totally agreed with him months ago this wasn't at all sparkling as an HD encode. (And this is ME saying this. ME!) BUT... as Schreck said, it's like a newly found print and cleaned up. Hopefully the biz model for dual editions in the UK works for all of them!! (god love 'em. help'em.)

Look, the whole world financial/market thing now is so pregnantly hideous for us all. Thank christ I just crawled out from unna a debt rock. Yet I have a sense 2012 will be the total mind fuck year for Blu-ray... and then?

I should add I think possibly the most "Difficult" (by which I frankly mean the worst) 1080p encode for reissue - and I don't blame it on the House of Crit - is La Regle du Jeu. I think it looks like shit. Less like shit than the Editions Montparnasse, but it looks as though the lousy master they got has obliged them (Kline and Maria P) to fiddle like mad with grain/faux grain/some DNR/more Grain reduction/then swamps of grain (and faux grain) in the last twenty minutes.)

Only so much you can do with a pig's ear.

But I sincerely look forward to MoC next year doing even more madness from totally out of left field (Which made me weep with joy) like the Blu of Make Way for Tomorrow..

Any label that can do this can do anything.

Off topic, but glad to have you back no matter for how long you eventually decide.

Oh hello there. Aka ditto knives.

I have to say I thought some moments of Island of Lost Souls looked damn fine.

Sad to hear about Rules, my copy just started winging its way here. I wonder if (besides its obvious print problems) part of the problem stem from Criterion deciding not to go back and re-scan (so many of their reissues are based on their ye olde HD scans and not their current minimum of 2K).

Surprised nobody has started guessing which films released between 1936 and 1940 that MOC are planning to release.

It sounds odd for me to say it but I really have arrived - to my own immense surprise - at a point where I would rather watch something like a really well executed WBArchive (including print damage and other scuffles) like Travels with my Aunt , or better still the amazingly gorgeous Yolanda and the Thief which looks like a vault IB master/to digibeta. The Oppo I play back with these days upscales the SD WBAs for instance like cream for a cat, but the Oppo is ruthless in revealing every flaw in the master (and the encode) for a not so good BD. Like the hideous new Kino Nothing Sacred. Or the totally dreadful Fox/Paramount My Fair Lady fuckup ofalltime.

Hmm, maybe I'm looking for different things in my viewing, but I too recently watched the CC BDs of both Rules of the Game and Island of Lost Souls on an Oppo (blown up on a 100" screen) and thought they looked great. In the latter especially, you could tell they upped the bitrate on account of the film being so short. It doesn't surprise me that the MoC team saw how great the film could look and decided to up the ante on their release.