ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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Though Brando & Kilmer are credited first, the larger role is played by David Thewlis, a shipwreck survivor who is the latest arrival on the island. Brando — as Moreau — only appears at the half-hour mark and he doesn't last that long either (this reflects most of Brando's small roles since the seventies).

He wears strange make-up (to ostensibly ward off the sun) and strange hats, and speaks with an unfocused Brit accent. He was also quite heavy by this point. Kilmer plays Montgomery, his assistant, as half-asleep and, later, partially crazed (or drunk). He also mimics Brando during his later scenes which just comes off as silly.

But Thewlis doesn't come off much better. He's either puzzled or dumbfounded in most of his scenes. Fairuza Balk plays Brando's most successful creation — she looks pretty human, but used to be a cat. Ron Perlman is the Sayer of the Law — the most articulate of the manimals. Perlman was a natural for this since he played the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast TV series.



This was the latest adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel about trying to create a new breed or improving on evolution, preceded by the 1977 version and by the famous Island of Lost Souls from the thirties.

In the plot, Moreau & Montgomery control their creations with pain implants, but the Hyena-manimal eventually pulls his out, triggering a bloody revolt. Some of this is intriguing — Temuera Morrison plays another manimal, one which used to be a dog, and he's the house breed variety of manimal, always dressed in a butler's suit. This shows how social stratification is always around, with men and animals.

Morrison usually stands around with a strange grin on his bestial features, soon proving to be the most sly of the manimals.

But, director Frankenheimer, despite his talent and experience, isn't able to present a thought-provoking story for most of this, only some brief frightening scenes in the final act. The very end is anti-climactic.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10



____________ "The Island of Dr Moreau" Review


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ According to rumor, after the studio fired original director Richard Stanley, he convinced the makeup crew to turn him into one of the background mutants, so he could keep tabs on the making of his dream project. He supposedly did not unmask himself until the wrap party.

Note from me: This is a wild story!

~ Marlon Brando wore a small radio receiver to help him remember his lines. Co-star David Thewlis claimed "He'd be in the middle of a scene and suddenly he'd be picking up police messages and Marlon would repeat, 'There's a robbery at Woolworths'."

Note from me: And this story is hysterical!

~ Val Kilmer described the shoot as "crazy". Marlon Brando was still recovering from his daughter's suicide. The day production started, the French government set off an underwater atomic bomb near Tahiti, where Brando owned an atoll. Kilmer turned on the TV and learned that he was getting divorced.

Two days later, the studio fired director Richard Stanley due to their concerns over the film's direction. John Frankenheimer who was hired to replace Stanley, clashed with Brando, Kilmer, and studio executives from the start about the film's direction.

Note from me: Wow, this just gets better and better!

~ Richard Stanley had spent four years developing the project, only to be fired after four days.

Note from me: That had to be a terrible disappointment.

~ Val Kilmer frustrated director John Frankenheimer so much that, after shooting Kilmer's last scene in the movie, Frankenheimer allegedly said, "Cut! Now get that bastard off my set."

Note from me: I heard stories about how difficult Kilmer was. This sounds consistent with those stories.

~ It was Marlon Brando's idea for Doctor Moreau to wear an ice-bucket on his head in one scene. He came up with the idea out of boredom and because of the heat.

Everyone was too afraid to ask him to remove it. Brando, explaining the idea to John Frankenheimer, said Moreau had secretly mutated himself into a Dolphin Man, the bucket was to cover up a blow-hole in the center of his head, and the ice being poured in was to keep him hydrated.

Note from me: Holy mackerel, Brando mutated himself into a cuckoo bird! I'm almost tempted to watch this movie, now that I know how much ka-raziness went on behind the scenes!

~ When John Frankenheimer demanded more extras, some homeless hippies living in the nearby rainforest were brought in.

Note from me: "What is The Law?"

"Like, don't run on all fours, man . . . and like, don't eat meat, 'cause it's a real bummer, that's fer sure!"

~ Actors playing Moreau's creations would spend hours in makeup, only to find out that they weren't needed. At one point, a day's filming was canceled when Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer each refused to come out of their trailer until the other did.

Note from me: The actors should have done what the creatures in the 1932 version did — take both idiots to the House of Pain and make 'em scream like Charles Laughton!

~ Richard Stanley said of Val Kilmer: "He'd do [the lines] but he'd throw it all away. And he kept insisting on odd bits and pieces of his wardrobe that didn't make sense, like a piece of blue material wrapped around his arm. It was like, 'Why is that around his arm, and will he take it off?'"

Note from me: This was like a Krazy Kontest between Kilmer and Brandon. I think it ended in a tie!

~ Assassimon, the baseball bat-wielding ape-creature, seems to be a remnant of an earlier draft of the screenplay in which some of the Beast People put together a baseball team.

Note from me: "What is The Law?"

"Not to run on all fours . . . or when the ball goes foul!"

____ The Island of Dr. Moreau | Dr moreaus death


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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Agreed. I thought it was an amusing story, but implausible. Thanks for challenging this trivia item, because it inspired me to do little research on the matter. Here's what I came up with.

I doubt that a small receiver like the one described in the trivia item had a range of more than a few hundred feet. The rain forest filming location was probably several miles (at least) from Cairns in North Queensland, Australia, so it seems unlikely that Brandon's radio would pick up police calls from the city.

The trivia item on IMDB was probably obtained from the Wikipedia article about the film, which includes the same story. The source of the story is supposedly a comment made by actor David Thewlis. I suspect he embellished the real story a bit.

Google says there are 14,000 Ham radios in Australia, whose population is spread out over the continent, with large uninhabited areas. Ham radios are very powerful and can reach other ham operators thousands of miles away.

Perhaps a ham radio transmission bled into Brandon's receiver — so, Mr. Thewlis punched up the yarn to make it funnier.

And just to be purely scientific about this, it's even possible that the ham transmission which Brando heard really did mentioned a robbery at a Woolworths. So, Mr. Thewlis' only inaccuracy was his assumption that it was a police call. lol:
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Well this film turned out to be such a fiasco that someone should produce a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of this film.

Oh wait, they did just that. ""Lost Soul:The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr.Moreau."

Much more drama in back of the camera than in front.

Intense clashes between the director and New Line Cinema, clashes between actors with one another, clashes of the film crew with actors, firings, departures, you name it and this debacle had it going on.

The movie is shot in the rain forest outside Cairns, N. Queensland, Australia. Inclement weather prevails.
Brutal heat, hurricane.

Bruce Willis was originally hired to play Edward Prendick. Willis leaves production to allegedly begin divorce proceeding with Demi Moore.

Actor James Wood departs from the production and actor Rob Morrow is hired to replace him.

Morrow exits production on second day due to the awful hostility and tension on the set.

Director Richard Stanley's long standing dream has been adapting the classic H.G. Wells novel he loved so much to a feature film. He spends four years developing the project.

New Line Cinema goes behind Stanley's back and offers the movie to Roman Polanski to direct.

Stanley gets support from Marlon Brando for Stanley to be the director.

Val Kilmer arrives for the shoot two days late. Demands his time on set be reduced by 40%.

Kilmer clashes with Brando and crew because he has received divorce papers.

Stanley's quirky and insular nature makes him not attend any studio meetings with New Line which frustrates the company.

Kilmer won't deliver dialogue as written; constantly criticizes Stanley's ideas.

New Line fires Stanley via fax on third day of filming.

Cast and crew shocked and dismayed over the firing.

Lack of Stanley not meeting with studio execs or communicating with New Line, and the fact that Stanley cannot get Kilmer under control are given as reasons for dismissal.

New Line promises to give Stanley his full fee on the condition he leaves quietly and does not speak to press regarding his firing.

Stanley mysteriously disappears.

New Line worried if he'll sabotage the production.

Actress Fairuzza Balk engages in shouting match with New Line execs and storms off set.
She intends to leave the production.

Bulk's agent informs her that such a move could ruin her career. Balk returns.

John Frankenheimer is hired by the studio to replace Richard Stanley as director.

Frankenheimer's direction style is gruff and dictatorial which is the antithesis of Stanley's style.

Cast and crew become hostile to Frankenheimer.

Man, someone put a curse on this film. Murphy's Law sure came into play here.

I recall seeing this movie when it came out. Found it disappointing but certainly never knew about any of the off-stage drama that went on in its production.