Horror Island (1941)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Expected more

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Blistering performances.

Bill Martin (Dick Foran) is a man who is one step ahead of his creditors when he inherits something odd--a castle on a lonely island in the Caribbean. He decides to use this to his advantage and offers to take people on a treasure hunting expedition there...if they can afford the fare on his boat. However, once there it becomes obvious that there's already a treasure hunter there...and they seem willing to kill the boat load of people if necessary. As for the visitors, they are a motley crew...with everyone from a wanted man to a cousin wanting to buy the mansion to another crook! What's to come of all this?This is a slick little B-mystery film from Universal...and the studio was excellent at making these wonderful atmospheric cheap pictures. While never brilliant in any way, it is reasonably well made and entertaining.By the way, Foran's sidekick in the film is Fuzzy Knight...and fortunately Knight does NOT use his stuttering schtick at all in the movie...thank goodness!

1941's "Horror Island," double-billed with Lon Chaney's "Man Made Monster," was a quota quickie from Universal, shot and directed at breakneck speed by George Waggner, who graduated to "The Wolf Man" by the end of the year. A search for buried treasure at a remote island castle, which gives it a slightly different flavor than "The Cat and the Canary," punctuated by three murders adding to the fun. Reunited after "The Mummy's Hand" are likable Dick Foran and perky Peggy Moran, as vivacious and beautiful as one could expect (not unlike Paulette Goddard). Comic relief in capable hands, Leo Carrillo and Fuzzy Knight old hands at the game, Ralf Harolde and Iris Adrian also cast to type as a gangster on the lam and his flirtatious moll. John Eldredge was becoming a fixture at Universal that year- "The Black Cat," "The Mad Doctor of Market Street," and Hitchcock's "Saboteur." Included in the popular SHOCK! television package from the late 50s, "Horror Island" made five appearances on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater- June 25 1966 (following 1958's "House on Haunted Hill"), May 31 1969 (followed by 1943's "The Mad Ghoul"), Mar 22 1975 (following 1942's "The Ghost of Frankenstein" and second feature 1939's "The House of Fear"), Aug 6 1977 (following 1963's "Castle of Blood"), and May 21 1983 (solo).

A motley assortment of people go to Sir Henry Morgan's island for a treasure hunt. The group runs afoul of a creepy killer known as "The Phantom." Director George Waggner, working from an eventful and surprisingly witty script by Victor McLeod, relates the blithely dippy story at a constant snappy pace and maintains a breezy lighthearted tone throughout. Moreover, the cast have a ball with their colorful roles: Dick Doran as amiable down-on-his luck boat captain Bill Martin and Fuzzy Knight as Martin's oafish stuttering partner Stuff Oliver make for engaging leads, the pretty Peggy Moran brings a sweetly spunky charm to her role as the sassy Wendy Creighton, Leo Carrillo is a hale'n'hearty delight as jolly peg-legged skipper Tobias Clump, plus there are nice turns by John Eldridge as the shifty Cousin George, Lewis Howard as dour sourpuss Thurman Coldwater, Hobart Cavanaugh as the timid Professor Jasper Quinley, Walter Catlett as the pesky Sergeant McGoon, and Iris Adrian as brassy moll Arleen Grady. With his gaunt face, deep gravel voice, lean build, and flowing black cape, Foy Van Dolsen makes for a nifty villain as the Phantom. Elwood Bredell's crisp black and white cinematography makes inspired use of light and shadow. The lively film library score likewise does the trick. The revelation of the real bad guy's identity is a genuine surprise. Moreover, there's a good-natured sensibility evident throughout which makes this admittedly slight hour long quickie a lot of fun to watch. A pleasingly inane and immaterial diversion.

Horror Island was obviously made on a shoestring budget to accompany some bigger Universal film. I wasn't surprised it took only twelve days to shoot. In spite of this, however, Horror Island is an entertaining little flick that never really has time to get boring. The first half of the film is the best; and this is mostly thanks to Dick Foran. He plays a 'wheeling and dealing' businessman who has a lot of creditors on his back. This leads him to begin offering trips to a haunted island where his punters can look for buried treasure. After getting together a party of people through various means, they set off to the island...and the film goes downhill from there. There's some subplot about a mysterious phantom wanting the treasure for himself; but it seems like the writer didn't really know what to do once we get to the main bulk of the film and a lot of the early momentum is lost. Still, the film is always at least amusing and at only sixty minutes, there's not enough time for it to outstay its welcome. The whole thing is rather jokey and silly and I'm not surprised it hasn't endured as one of Universal's classics. Still, it's worth a look if you have an hour to spare.