Starring Alf Blutecher, Louis Brody, Hanni Weisse, Erich Kaiser-Titz, Nien Tso Ling
Directed by Urban Gad
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After discovering his former fiancee is alive on an island, a young man sets off with a friend to find her, and discovers the island is home to a scientist turning animals into half-human creatures.
This German silent film offers an early film adaptation of H.G. Wells' Island Of Dr. Moreau, although it's not a close adaptation in the least, focusing more on newly created characters, and only borrowing the premise of Moreau's experiments from Wells' novel. That being said, the "manimal" creatures featured in the film have more than serviceable makeups, and though they're not heavily featured in the film, they do predictably figure in the disastrous climax. Most of the film is centered around comedy and conflict between the young man and his two fiancees, as he wants to have his cake and eat it too when reuniting with his first love on the island, although already engaged to another. There's some unfortunate racial stereotypes, notably in the character of the Chinese assistant to the Moreau character, who's addicted to opium. However, the film is paced well, and is certainly not boring, although one wishes they had done more with Wells' striking ideas.
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