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26 out of 29 people found the following review useful: Karloff Most Effective In Psychological Thriller, 31 October 2001 Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA
In 1912, a stern old Greek general finds himself trapped on the ISLE OF THE DEAD after an outbreak of the dreaded plague.When the front office at RKO Pictures informed producer Val Lewton that Boris Karloff had been procured to appear in his next suspense film, he wasn't entirely pleased. Karloff was famous for his portrayal of horrific monsters & mummies, sensationalist creations not at all in tune with the psychological thrillers for which Lewton was noted -- with very low budgets, he was able to fashion fascinating films in which the atmosphere was every bit as important as the plot.Luckily, Karloff turned out to be an inspired choice. Determined to show that he was a skilled actor (actually, he was a very fine & talented performer) he was completely in sync with what Lewton envisaged, giving a nuanced portrayal of an essentially decent man who finds himself slowly driven to a sort of despair by the forces around him. He becomes the heart of a film which wisely saves its shocks for the last few minutes, having built up to the eerie climax slowly & inexorably.Lewton was very pleased with Karloff's work and arranged two more collaborations. With only two weeks left in filming ISLE OF THE DEAD, Karloff had to be hospitalized for serious back problems. On his release from hospital, he found Lewton was all prepared to film THE BODY SNATCHER (1945). Karloff gave another wonderful performance, before finally finishing ISLE OF THE DEAD. The following year Karloff starred in Lewton's BEDLAM (1946), completing the trio of very tidy thrillers.Karloff's co-stars give him good support, especially Ernst Deutsch as a military doctor; Alan Napier & Katherine Emery as a British consul and his invalid wife; Helen Thimig as a superstitious Greek peasant; and little Skelton Knaggs, who in a tiny scene with only a few words is able to make his Cockney tinker character come alive.Ellen Drew & Marc Cramer handle the romance, which fortunately does not intrude too much on the story.The viewer, in the course of watching ISLE OF THE DEAD, will discover much about the medical state of catatonia, as well as the monstrous vorvolaka, part vampire - part werewolf, which haunts Greek nightmares. Lewton based his ideas for this film on a painting he had seen as a boy in Russia, Arnold Böcklin's darkly allegorical Island of the Dead (1880), which is shown behind the opening credits of the film. This somewhat sinister painting was also the inspiration for Sergey Rachmaninoff's celebrated symphonic poem, ‘The Isle of the Dead' (1909).Incidentally, the conflict which is the background to the film was the Balkan War of 1912, in which the Balkan League (Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria & Montenegro) attacked the Ottoman Empire and destroyed most of its hegemony on the European continent. Begun in October and ended in December, it was short & bloody. However, troubles in Constantinople started hostilities up again in January of 1913. It finally ended in May, with the Turks once more decisively defeated. Although the Empire was left very much weakened, the War solved very little else. In June, the victorious parties began fighting amongst themselves, with Greece & Serbia trouncing Bulgaria by August. Greece ended the two short Wars with Crete and parts of Macedonia & Epirus added to her territories and the new state of Albania was carved out of old Ottoman lands. But ancient animosities were aroused and the entire Peninsula lay waiting for the next international incident, which obligingly took place 10 months later at the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.
17 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Plague Island, 2 December 2002 Author: telegonus from brighton, ma
Plague victims are dropping like flies in this somewhat sluggish, Mark Robson-directed entry in the Val Lewton horror cycle. This one isn't as well-written as the earlier films in the series, and the isolation, while nicely suggested psychologically, fails to cast the spell of hopelessness and despair it ought to. The movie is too genteel to be frightening, and lacks the fine tuning of a director like Jacques Tourneur, who surely would have made more of it. Boris Karloff is quite good in the "lead", however, and the supporting cast is competent if unexciting. By today's standards, there's not much to be scared of here, and though it works up a nice head of steam near the end, it succeeds more as a mood piece than a horror tale.
21 out of 26 people found the following review useful: One of Val Lewton's best horror movie, 12 November 2002 Author: Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States
Scary, fascinating tale set in 1912 Greece. A bunch of people are quarantined on an island (which contains a graveyard) by the plague. A general (Boris Karloff) is in charge, but people dying from the plague, the isolation and close quarters begin to eat away at him. He starts to believe a young, healthy woman among them is a vorvolaka (a vampire). And there's the woman who has an extreme fear of being buried alive...Quick paced and very literate horror film. There's lots of dialogue about faith, wars, superstition--all of it interesting. The settings are very dark, eerie with a spooky wind always blowing. There are scary moments throughout but they really shift into high gear during the final 15 minutes.This movie gave me nightmares when I was little! The cast is adequate (except for Jason Robards Sr.--boy, was he annoying!) but Karloff and Katherine Emery were excellent.Truly frightening old horror film. A definite must-see.
17 out of 20 people found the following review useful: It's All Greek to Me!, 20 January 2002 Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC
Boris Karloff heads a group of internationals quarantined on a small Greek island during the Balkan War of 1912. A plague has visited the island and forces a group of unlike people to stay together in order to not spread the plague. Karloff plays a misunderstood, rather austere Greek general known for his coldness. Others on the island include Jason Robards Sr. as a man who prays to the Greek gods of old, beautiful Ellen Drew as a serving woman thought to be a "Greek vampire" by an older superstitious Greek woman, Alan Napier and Katherine Emery as an aristocratic English couple, and several others. Karloff is wonderful in a role that has nothing to do with anything he had ever or would ever play. His face is a character of its own. The rest of the cast is very good too(Robards is a bit annoying, however). Drew is lovely. The real star of the film is the atmosphere created in the film. Director Mark Robson, under the production savvy of Val Lewton, creates a film reeking with eerie settings, a feeling of isolation and all-pervading doom, and a somewhat slow-pace that ordinarily might seem sluggish but under Robson's direction adds only to the mood.
16 out of 19 people found the following review useful: My favourite Val Lewton film, 22 March 2006 Author: A_Roode from Halifax, Nova Scotia
When searching and looking up movies on the IMDb I'll often come across movies and think to myself that 'this one should be a little bit higher,' or 'that one should be a little bit lower' -- generally speaking I'm pretty comfortable with the ratings that I see. Every now and then though I find a rating that just absolutely mystifies me. Did the people who voted watch the same movie that I did? The number is an extreme from where I think the film actually belongs. For me, Val Lewton's 'Isle of the Dead' is one of those films. It currently has a rating of 6.4 and when I saw that I was stunned to say the very least.I first saw this movie on late night BBC (I was living in England at the time) a couple of years ago. It has stayed with me ever since. I love old movies and horror movies are one of the kinds of film that I actively seek out and watch. 'Isle of the Dead' had a lot of competition if it wanted to have any lasting impact with me. It left a great impression and is the reason that years later I've sought out the rest of Val Lewton's work. 'Isle of the Dead' remains my favourite and I truly hope that people will give it another look.Let me start with the setting. When I originally watched it I thought it was so fresh and original to set a horror film during the Balkan's war in 1912. I can't think of any other films that have done that before or since. You get a very morbid opening scene that reveals a great deal about Karloff's character. He doesn't instruct a sub-ordinate to commit suicide, but he publicly humiliates them and pushes a revolver towards them after making it quite clear that their military career is over. He has an extreme sense of duty, justice and obligation. Fail, in his eyes, and you'll pay a deep price. He's also very protective in his nature -- especially of the men who he commands. He is modern in his approach. Reason and logic are his weapons but superstition and a sense of obligation are his foundation. This is the man who will be trapped and quarantined on an island with a group of travellers and strangers while a plague, or something more sinister, slowly kills each of them off.The movie is extremely claustrophobic and very well done. They can see the mainland but can't go to it. They are trapped in their own rooms -- alone -- or in the house with the other quarantees. The doctor will try to save them. Science, reason and logic -- the General's core -- will protect them. But when that core begins to fail, he is influenced by superstition, folklore and hysteria ... and acts accordingly. It is a terrific part for Karloff and the General is a great character study. The psychological depth is wonderful. There MUST be a rational explanation for the deaths. They try, and fail, to fight plague-like symptoms by using plague preventative techniques. He is so wedded to finding rational solutions that when confronted with their failure, paradoxically, he decides that the rational solution must be supernatural agents at work.'Willing Suspension of Disbelief,' seems to be an unfamiliar concept for some of the film's naysayers. The film is unbelievable because people from different countries appear to be able to converse -- without difficulty -- in one language. It is in Greece and the only non-Greek characters are a British diplomat and his wife (may we presume that being a diplomat to Greece, knowledge of how to speak it MIGHT be advantageous?) an American reporter covering the war and a Greek general (since he doesn't have an interpreter, MIGHT he not have some knowledge of the language?), an ex-pat archaeologist who has been there for over a decade (he's probably had NO opportunity to pick up ANY of the language then, eh?) and a travelling student who is eager to return home (that classical education of Greek likely being of no use to him). People don't like the costuming either -- Karloff's wig being such a distraction that it makes the film unenjoyable for them. I really have no way of responding to what seems like an infinitesimally small and nit-picky criticism. The core of the story is whether or not as a horror film and a character study it successfully builds tension and depth from beginning to end. Do consequences of actions have meaning? The tension is high from the opening scene and the stakes only get higher through the film until the final bloody conclusion. The scares are fantastic -- particularly one in the shadows and who comes out of them. There is a tremendous scene with a coffin that is the very height of anxiety, despair and cinematic tension. Is that scene predictable? OF COURSE it is! That's what makes it's eventual occurrence so intense! It is a huge pay-off that is advertised with great skill and execution. This is one of the best films that Mark Robson ever directed and I think he graduated to A-list director largely because of it.'Isle of the Dead' is under-watched, under-rated, and a gem of cinema intense in it's own beauty. It might be my favourite horror film of the 1940's through 50's.
10 out of 12 people found the following review useful: Not quite what the title etc suggests it would be but still enjoyable, 17 August 2005 Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK
It is 1912 and Greece is deeply involved in the Balkan War. General Nikolas Pherides is in charge of a group of soldiers – driving them to breaking point in what some might call a cruel, twisted sense of patriotism. On a visit to the grave of his wife with visiting American Oliver Davis, Pherides finds the graves vandalised and demands answers from the local residents. He gets them but also accepts their offer of a bed for the night to save them making the long journey back to the troops. However during the night the plague is found on the small island and quarantine is declared to protect the troops. However they quickly find that the plague is not the only danger on the mysterious island.Although the plot is unnecessarily busy considering the short running time, this is an effective enough drama although I would have liked more of the atmospheric horror to it. The plot involves the plague, suspicious characters, a driven man and possibly the undead; it builds well on the air of mystery and atmosphere although it never really gets close to some of the better Val Lewton films. Likewise the plot, although easy to follow, is not as simple and effective as it could have been and the various threads tend to slow down the film rather than compliment the atmosphere. The atmosphere is still good, although Robson has given it more of a melodramatic use of shadow at times rather than a tense use. That said, some moments are quite chilling and it'll still work on that basis.Cramer is the main character despite the lower billing; he is a fairly standard, square jawed actor and he isn't that interesting as a result. Karloff is where the show is at and, although he is not playing a monster to the same degree as he often would, he is still very interesting and his performance is good. Support is so-so from the rest of the cast; Drew and Thimig are pretty good but Napier, Robards and Emery are not given the same chance to really shine.Overall this is an enjoyable film but not the one to come to if you want to see the best that Lewton had to offer. The plot is more drama than atmospheric horror but it does still do this well at points. The cast are mostly good but they do tend to get in the way of Karloff, who is missed every time he goes off the screen.
8 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Under-appreciated gem, 24 October 2000 Author: GKersh from Wisconsin
Wonderfully atmospheric film with a unique sense of place and well-drawn characters. Karloff's performance here is excellent, yet very different from his work in other films. You may be disappointed if you go in expecting something like his horror classics for Universal. This one is suggestive rather than shocking, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the subtle horrors of Cat People, The Innocents, or even Rosemary's Baby. Because of its literate script and interesting character development, Isle of the Dead may also appeal to others who don't usually like horror.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Not dead, but liminal., 20 July 2006 Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This isn't Val Lewton's best, although it's by no means a failure, given the strictures of the production -- budget, schedule, and so on.The story has a handful of people quarantined on a Greek island so as not to spread the plague. Half of them die of the disease, two are murdered by a crazed woman who was prematurely buried, and one is a suicide. Only the gentlemanly host and the two young lovers survive.The acting varies in quality, with Boris Karloff being noticeably more professional than anybody else, as the stern, protective General whose skepticism about vorvolaka (some kind of night-time demon from the grave) is finally ground away by the stress and by the whispers of the old crone who believes in the superstition.Unfortunately, the script lets everyone down. Halfway through the film, the wind changes and the plague is forgotten. The rest of the story has to do with that escapee from the premature burial who runs around with a miniature version of Poseidon's trident, using it to the distress of the others.It wouldn't be bad if the two sources of horror were somehow fused and hinged together -- the plague and the vorvolaka -- but they're not. The superstition actually arises out of an illness that has nothing to do with plague, as the film makes clear from the start. We wind up with the impression that we're watching the same actors in the same wardrobe on the same set -- but making two different movies.The direction by Mark Robson is okay, and Lewton will have his little touches. The eeriest scene is a simple one -- a vulnerable woman in a peasant dress following the chirping of a bird through a dark and windy forest. Night. And she's all by herself. And there's a madwoman with a sharp object somewhere. Little Red Riding Hood all ready to be eaten.But that's about it. Whatever scare factor is built into the movie comes from the images on screen, not from the story.What always surprises me about Val Lewton's productions at RKO is that, even when they're no more than middling, they are B movies that manage never to insult the audience. They are never done by the number, or at any rate not by any numbers that exist outside of Val Lewton's head.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Merely okay, 20 October 2002 Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN
Not the best of the Val Lewton horror series, but it has its moments. When I think about it, the plot seems very good. A small group of people quarantine themselves on a small Greek island when they discover that one of them has the plague. Boris Karloff stars as a Greek general who becomes cruel when trying to keep order. After the army doctor dies, he becomes superstitious along the lines of an old woman who is also on the island. Somehow, the characters and the situation never come off especially well. It's never bad, but it's never great, either. The finale is quite effective, however. 7/10.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: The last 15 minutes make it worth watching; for Lewton completists more than anyone, 2 November 2007 Author: bribabylk from United States
I just saw this over the Halloween holiday on TMC...interesting find, but not great. As there are already 35 comments for this movie, I'll also direct anyone reading this to find Telegonus' review, as I think his concise summation really best captured the strengths and weaknesses of the film, but will give my two cents as well: I thought it was an interesting premise, with a novel location--can't think of too many other films set during the Balkan War of 1912--complex dynamics between the characters, and a well-executed change-of-pace role for Karloff. It was kind of a cross between Poe's "Usher" and the movie "The She-Wolf of London"; but overall it was too talky, which diluted some of the suspense.The best bits that help earn this movie a place in the horror category, are when a catatonic woman awakens to find herself sealed up in a makeshift coffin left in a cave: you just see the outside of it, and hear her terrified screams and frantic clawing; the film returns to this shot more than once over the following days before a bit of lucky moisture warps the wood and allows her to escape, homicidally insane. And the other scene really worth mentioning is in the last ten minutes, when the heroine, a beautiful Greek serving girl, suspected of being a vampire, and threatened with destruction by Karloff--how's that for a switch?--who's also going batty, wanders out into the woods to investigate some weird calls and sounds. She eventually makes her way to the cave, and calls out for the formerly entombed woman: it's really just a moment, and it's dimly shot--there's just a suggestion of movement and a faint blur of white, but it really is the money shot of the movie, quite spooky and startling. I'm sure it must have had even more of an impact on the moviegoers of 1945. It's the kind of quick scene which makes me wish I had been recording it so I could watch that part again and really dissect it.
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