A good (but not great) remake of the 1933 classic based on the HG Wells novel goes into further detail rather than the short original starring Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen and Bela Lugosi, still considered the quintessential version of the novel. Not the smash-hit they thought it would be when this first came out, it's still much better than the 1996 version with Brando and Val Kilmer. This one stars Burt Lancaster and Michael York, and it is a picturesque, often violent but basically loyal version without trails and without unnecessary shocks. It's a very direct film too, showing York and another man on a boat, obviously exhausted, coming to on the island out of the blue where the other man collapses and dies. York manages to make his way to the camp of Lancaster and learns very quickly that there's a lot more going on the island that a bunch of people just wanting to live in the tropics.

No sooner has he arrived than York has attracted the attention of the beautiful Barbara Carrera, said to have been taking in by Lancaster when she was just a child. She's instantly smitten with York, but there's obviously something off about her. She doesn't get a lot of footage, but what is showing of her has her quite striking, especially when she was carrying a small exotic cat who doesn't mind Carrera holding it runs away when York tries to pick it up. When he gets a chance to explore the island, York comes across a seemingly group of wild men, stalking him and make him feel threatened. He has discovered that there are creatures there that seems to be half man, half beast, led by the sayer of the law, played beautifully by Richard Basehart.

It's another analogy how man should not go into territories that they are not meant to fiddle with, and while Lancaster seems sane on the surface (more so than Charles Laughton did),he's obviously pills with a God complex that makes him feel that he can mess with nature. Of course, when you mess with nature, nature will mess with you back. Beautifully filmed and with excellent performances, this probably holds up better now than it did then, most likely because critics didn't like the idea of classics being messed with and remade, and they could usually get away with ridiculing films from American International. Compared to their other sci-fi films from this series ("Food of the Gods" and "Empire of the Ants", this one is a classic. The tension builds after one of the man beasts begs to be put out of its misery, a scene that is really heartbreaking. Hopefully with a classic version and an above-average remake (and one disaster),the story can be put to rest.

Shipwreck survivor Andrew Braddock (a solid and engaging performance by Michael York) washes ashore on a remote island run by determined, obsessive, and remorseless scientist Dr. Paul Moreau (splendidly played with firm resolve and conviction by Burt Lancaster). Braddock discovers that Moreau has created a grotesque, yet pitiable race of half-man, half-beast creatures and plans on using him as a guinea pig for his unscrupulous genetic experiments. Director Don Taylor, working from a smart and compact script by John Herman Shaner and Al Ramrus, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, does an adept job of creating a spooky and mysterious mood in the opening third, and makes inspired use of the lush tropical setting. The uniformly sterling acting from a top-drawer cast constitutes as another substantial asset: York and Lancaster are terrific in the leads, the luscious Barbara Carrera is suitably enticing and enchanting as the sweet Maria, Nigel Davenport does well as Moreau's loyal, hearty assistant Montgomery, Richard Basehart excels as the stern, wise Sayer of the Law, and Lancaster's longtime friend and acrobatic partner Nick Cravat has a nice part as meek, mute servant M'Ling. The make-up f/x by John Chambers and Tom Burman are excellent and convincing. Gerry Fisher's glossy, sparkling cinematography gives the picture a beautifully bright look. Laurence Rosenthal provides a robust and stirring score. Moreover, there's even a provocative subtext about the fine line between man and beast. The movie delivers quite a few memorably powerful moments: an eerie nighttime Viking funeral for a slain mutant, Braddock fighting his baser animal impulses by drudging up poignant childhood memories, and the enraged beastmen revolting against their cruel oppressor Moreau during the lively, exciting, and harrowing climax. An intelligent and effective film.

There are many who will miss the fire and malevolence of Charles Laughton's Dr. Moreau from the Island Of Lost Souls. But this version of the H.G. Wells novel The Island Of Dr. Moreau has an awful lot to recommend it. For one thing it is closer in plot to the story that Wells actually wrote. And unlike the Laughton version which came out in 1932 and was set in that year, this one is set at the turn of the last century when the book actually came out.

Still there's Burt Lancaster as the scientist banned like Dr. Frankenstein for his fiendish experiments now confined on an island with Nigel Davenport another disgraced medico and trying to study what is the actual cause of evolution. Like in the other two versions he's getting all kinds of animals to experiment and ratchet up evolution, creating these freaks of nature whom as he says always seem to revert.

His most successful experiment is with Barbara Carrera and newly arrived marooned sailor Michael York gets her mojo going. It's one of the reasons that York is kept alive as he soon discovers. But there's more in store for him.

Laughton's classic was completely created on the back lot of Paramount Studios. This one has the advantage of some really lush location shooting on the Virgin Islands in the real tropics where Wells set his story. And I also think Michael York in his prime is far more the sex object the character was supposed to be than Richard Arlen in the Laughton version.

This is a good version of The Island Of Dr. Moreau and miles better than the version Marlon Brando did in the 90s.