Isle of the Dead is one of producer
Val LewtonVal Lewton was an American film producer and screenwriter, who is best known for a sequence of nine brooding horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s....
's horror films made for RKO Radio Pictures. The movie had a script inspired by the painting
Isle of the DeadIsle of the Dead is the best known painting of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin . Prints of the work were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century...
by
Arnold BöcklinArnold Böcklin was a symbolist Swiss painter.-Life and art:He studied at Düsseldorf where he became a friend of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. Originally a landscape painter, his travels through Brussels, Zurich, Geneva and Rome, exposed him to classical and Renaissance art, and the Mediterranean...
, which appears behind the title credits, though the film was originally titled "Camilla" during production. (Another of Lewton's films,
I Walked With a ZombieI Walked with a Zombie is a horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur. It was the second horror film from producer Val Lewton for RKO Pictures; the first was the very successful Cat People, also directed by Tourneur...
, has the painting hung in the main room of the movie.) It was written by frequent Lewton collaborator Ardel Wray; directed by
Mark RobsonMark Robson was a Canadian-born film editor, film director and producer in Hollywood.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec, he moved to the United States at a young age. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles then found work in the prop department at 20th Century Fox studios...
, the fourth of five pictures he directed for Lewton; and starred
Boris KarloffBoris Karloff was a British actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein, 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, and 1939 film Son of Frankenstein...
, the first of three pictures he made with Lewton (although the second released).
The story is set on a Greek isle during the
First Balkan WarThe First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies, and achieved rapid success...
in 1912–1913, when a plague forces a
quarantineQuarantine is voluntary or compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease...
on the island's visitors.
Isle of the Dead is one of producer
Val LewtonVal Lewton was an American film producer and screenwriter, who is best known for a sequence of nine brooding horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s....
's horror films made for RKO Radio Pictures. The movie had a script inspired by the painting
Isle of the DeadIsle of the Dead is the best known painting of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin . Prints of the work were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century...
by
Arnold BöcklinArnold Böcklin was a symbolist Swiss painter.-Life and art:He studied at Düsseldorf where he became a friend of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. Originally a landscape painter, his travels through Brussels, Zurich, Geneva and Rome, exposed him to classical and Renaissance art, and the Mediterranean...
, which appears behind the title credits, though the film was originally titled "Camilla" during production. (Another of Lewton's films,
I Walked With a ZombieI Walked with a Zombie is a horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur. It was the second horror film from producer Val Lewton for RKO Pictures; the first was the very successful Cat People, also directed by Tourneur...
, has the painting hung in the main room of the movie.) It was written by frequent Lewton collaborator Ardel Wray; directed by
Mark RobsonMark Robson was a Canadian-born film editor, film director and producer in Hollywood.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec, he moved to the United States at a young age. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles then found work in the prop department at 20th Century Fox studios...
, the fourth of five pictures he directed for Lewton; and starred
Boris KarloffBoris Karloff was a British actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein, 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, and 1939 film Son of Frankenstein...
, the first of three pictures he made with Lewton (although the second released).
Plot
The story is set on a Greek isle during the
First Balkan WarThe First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies, and achieved rapid success...
in 1912–1913, when a plague forces a
quarantineQuarantine is voluntary or compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease...
on the island's visitors. As they die one by one, a young woman is accused of being a
vorvolakasThe vrykolakas , variant vorvolakas, is a harmful undead creature in Greek folklore. It has similarities to many different legendary creatures, but is generally equated with the vampire of the folklore of the neighbouring Slavic countries...
, a sort of vampire.
Production
Filming began for about two weeks in July 1944 until production was suspended when Karloff required a back operation. It was completed in December 1944. In the interim, after Karloff had recovered from the surgery but before the cast of
Isle of the Dead could be reassembled, he and Lewton made
The Body SnatcherThe Body Snatcher , is a horror film directed by Robert Wise based on the short story The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film's producer Val Lewton helped adapt the story for the screen, writing under the pen name of "Carlos Keith"...
. The film had a troubled production, and the central female character of the original script (named "Catherine") was deleted entirely from the tale.
Reception
The film premiered in New York City on 7 September . The cost of
Isle of the Dead at completion was $246,000, the highest yet for a Lewton horror film, but with domestic rentals of $266,000, and foreign rentals of $117,000, it made only $13,000 in profit for RKO. It was re-issued in 1953 on a
double bill----The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.----The double feature, also...
with
Mighty Joe Young, and made its television debut in 1959.
Cast
- Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff was a British actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein, 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, and 1939 film Son of Frankenstein...
as Gen. Nikolas Pherides
- Ellen Drew
Ellen Drew was an American film actress.Born Esther Loretta Ray in Kansas City, Missouri, Drew worked various jobs and won a number of beauty contests before becoming an actress...
as Thea
- Marc Cramer as Oliver Davis
- Katherine Emery as Mrs. Mary St. Aubyn
- Helen Thimig as Madame Kyra
- Alan Napier
Alan William Napier-Clavering was an English character actor. He is best known for playing Alfred in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.-Early life and career:...
as St. Aubyn
- Jason Robards Sr. as Albrecht
- Ernst Deutsch
Ernst Deutsch aka Ernest Dorian was an Austrian actor.- Awards :* He won the Volpi Cup for best actor at the 1948 Venice Film Festival for his part in Der Prozess.- Honours :...
as Dr. Drossos
- Sherry Hall as Col. Kobestes
- Erick Hanson as Officer
- Skelton Knaggs as Andrew Robbins
External links
- Isle of the Dead Movie The Karloff/Lewton film: images, Boecklin paintings, & history.
- Toteninsel.net: an encyclopedia in progress dedicated to A. Böcklin's Isle of the Dead: copies, parodies, inspirations.