Val Lewton's career received a boost when RKO signed Boris Karloff, who adored the producer and gave him a lot of protection, resulting in three great films. This one is set in an exotic time and place for Western audiences - the Balkan Wars of 1912, with Boris as a Greek general stuck on an island.
Lewton has learned his lesson from Mademoiselle Fifi - this is another story about a group of disparate characters stuck together (there's even a girl who refuses to eat with a general), but this time there's a constant threat (plague), there's an American for audiences to identify with, and most importantly all characters are different: a grave robbing archeologist, feisty girl, smart doctory, shifty diplomatc.
This had more resonance for me post Covid, with its cut off people yelling at each other. There's a conventional romance and it could've done with a few more jump scares maybe?
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