Weird Universal horror picture – a combination of mad doctor movie and The Admirable Crichton. It doesn’t work, being too slow and dumb, but there are things to enjoy: Lionel Atwill, for instance, as the doctor determined to experiment with suspended animation, which results in him killing patients. The cops are after him so he heads on a cruiser to New Zealand (it’s also going to Australia) – he kills a detective on board, the ship runs into trouble, he winds up on a tropical island with some survivors. The performs an operation on a local girl which results in him being considered a god.
The cast is top lined by comic relief players Una Merkel and Nat Pendleton, both tiresome, and there are some 4F romantic leads (a not very pretty girl and not very handsome boyfriend). Once it gets to the island the film runs out of ideas – why doesn’t Atwill have all the white people killed (apart from the girl who I guess he lusts after). Mad doctor + south seas = not really good meal. Director Joseph Lewis tries a few different things, like extreme close ups and sweeping camera work.
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