''Horror Island'' is a 1941 American
mystery
Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
*Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange''
Films
* ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film
* ''Mystery'' ( ...
and
horror film directed by
George Waggner
George Waggner (September 7, 1894 – December 11, 1984) was an American actor, director, producer and writer. He is best known for producing and directing the 1941 film '' The Wolf Man''. For some unknown reason, Waggner sometimes configured his ...
. It was based on the short story "Terror of the South Seas" by Alex Gottlieb. It stars
Dick Foran
John Nicholas "Dick" Foran (June 18, 1910 – August 10, 1979) was an American actor, known for his performances in Western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.
Early years
Foran was born in Flemington, New Jer ...
,
Peggy Moran
Peggy Moran (born Mary Jeanette Moran, October 23, 1918 – October 24, 2002) was an American film actress who appeared in films between 1938 and 1943.
Early years
Born in Clinton, Iowa, Moran was the daughter of Earl Moran, an artist wh ...
,
Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (; August 6, 1880 – September 10, 1961), known professionally as Leo Carrillo, was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.
He was best known for playing Pancho in the television ...
,
Eddie Parker,
Dale Van Sickle,
John Eldredge
John Eldredge (born June 6, 1960 in Los Angeles) is an American author, counselor, and lecturer on Christianity. He is known for his best-selling book '' Wild at Heart''.
Life and work
Eldregde received his undergraduate degree in theater from ...
, Lewis Howard,
Hobart Cavanaugh
Hobart Cavanaugh (September 22, 1886 – April 26, 1950 ) was an American character actor in films and on stage.
Biography
He was born in Virginia City, Nevada on September 22, 1886. Cavanaugh attended the University of California.
He worked in ...
,
Iris Adrian
Iris Adrian Hostetter (May 29, 1912 – September 17, 1994) was an American stage, film actress and dancer.
Life and career
Adrian was an only child, born in Los Angeles, California, to Florence (née Van Every) and Adrian Earl Hostetter, who ...
and
Fuzzy Knight
John Forrest "Fuzzy" Knight (May 9, 1901 – February 23, 1976) was an American film and television actor. He was also a singer, especially in his early career. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1928 and 1967, usually as a cowboy h ...
. Foy Van Dolsen plays the monstrous villain "Panama Pete", alias "The Phantom". The plot has assorted colorful characters going to a mysterious island to seek a pirate's hidden fortune.
The film cost $93,000 and was made between filming on March 3, 1941. It was made to be the second-half of a
double feature with ''
Man-Made Monster''. On its release it was considered mediocre by critics, recommending it to juvenile audiences.
Plot summary
Bill Martin, graduate of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, is the proud owner of a small boulder of an island off the coast of
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
called "Morgan's Island". It is a deserted useless rock to Bill, but by pure chance he stumbles across a treasure map pointing to his island. The map is presented to him by a peg-legged old sailor, Tobias Clump, after Bill and his friend "Stuff" Oliver saves the man from drowning. Clump was pushed into the water by a "phantom", who got away with part of the treasure map. Clump tells them that the map shows the way to infamous buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan's twenty million dollar treasure. Soon after this, Bill's cousin George offers to buy the whole island for the amount of $20,000, but Bill isn't willing to sell. Instead he brings the map to a reputed cartographer named Jasper who claims that the map is fake—it's a very well-made forgery. Letting go of the thought of the legendary treasure, Bill instead thinks of making some money by starting a "treasure hunt" cruise to his island, for fifty dollars apiece. He involves Stuff in the plans and together they start out for the island to plant a fake treasure for the tourists to find. On their way they are involved in a traffic accident, and by "accident" meet the posh Wendy Creighton and her boy toy, Thurman Coldwater. Since Bill is a little short of money he persuades Wendy to take his treasure cruise.
When the ship is ready to leave on the cruise, Bill, Stuff, Wendy and Thurman are accompanied by cousin George, Jasper, a small-time gangster by the name of Rod Grady, his wife Arleen and a private investigator, McGoon, who has tried to find evidence that the cruise is a fake and uses false advertising. Before the ship even leaves the harbor a bomb is secretly delivered. However, someone accidentally drops the bomb over board just before it explodes. The ship sails and is soon lost at sea, until Bill discovers that a magnet has been placed on the compass to deliberately put them off track. It becomes obvious that someone is trying to sabotage the trip to the island. Once the ship is on the right course again it takes only six hours to cover the distance to Morgan's Island. It doesn't take long before bad things start to happen to the group. In the old abandoned castle a cross-bow almost kills Clump and a suit of armor nearly crushes Wendy. Bill mistakes the accidents for Stuff's planned surprises, part of the "haunting" experience included in the treasure hunt.
The phantom that stole part of the treasure map from Clump reappears and warns Wendy and tells her that she will die if she stays on. She doesn't take this seriously, but the phantom appears once more, this time in her bedroom at night, and warns her again. Everyone believes that someone is pretending to be the ghost in an effort to scare them all off. Bill starts looking for the joker, and encounters Jasper as he is sleepwalking in the castle corridors at night. Tobias goes missing and when Rod and Arleen try to escape the castle and leave the island they discover that the boat is gone. A man in a cape kills Rod in front of Arleen, but when she gets back to the rest of the group the private investigator McGoon suspects her of being the killer. Bill suspects Tobias, who is still missing, and a "footprint" from a peg-leg is found near Rod's body. It turns out there is big reward set for the dead gangster, "dead or alive". Tobias reunites with the group and tells of a key he has found. It is supposed to unlock a torture chamber in the castle, where Sir Henry Morgan's treasure is hidden. The group enters the chamber but finds only a single gold coin. As they return to the castle's main hall there is a note on the table saying "nine left". The cross-bow fires again, but misses Clump by an inch, killing the phantom instead. It turns out the phantom was no other than an old shipmate of Clump's. On the phantom's body they find the rest of the treasure map and a fake peg-leg.
Bill, Stuff and Clump go to find the treasure, leaving George and Wendy to themselves in the castle. They find a new note saying "eight left" and when George tries to find the anonymous killer, Wendy is abducted by an unknown person. When the rest of the group is back at the castle they find George murdered inside one of the armor suits. Bill realizes that Jasper must be the killer, but when Bill confronts him with Rod's gun in his hand, it turns out the gun is unloaded and Jasper gets the advantage. Bill, Stuff and Wendy escape, but only to find themselves trapped in a secret passage inside the castle walls. As they get rescued by Clump, it turns out the passage leads directly to
Sir Henry Morgan
Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming wea ...
's treasure. Jasper follows and finds them, forcing them on to the treasure chamber. As they open the final passage door an axe falls down to kill Jasper. The rest of the group enter the treasure chamber and opens the chest, only to find the skeleton of Sir Henry Morgan himself. Disappointed the group members make their way back to the surface, where they meet a government agent, who offers to buy the whole island from Bill in order to build a naval base. After all the mysteries are solved, Bill and Wendy become a pair, making Bill worth $7,000,000.
Cast
Cast adapted from the book ''Universal Horrors'':
Production
''Horror Island'' was developed to be the accompanying half of a
double feature with ''
Man-Made Monster''. It was developed under the working title of ''Terror of the South Seas''.
An article in the ''
Hollywood Reporter'' from January 1941 stated that writer Samuel J. Warshawsky was assigned by supervising producer
Joseph Santley
Joseph Mansfield Santley (born Joseph Ishmael Mansfield, January 10, 1890 – August 8, 1971) was an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, and producer of musical theatrical plays motion pictures and television shows. He adopted ...
to work on the screenplay for this film, but its undetermined if either man contributed to the released film.
It was made on a budget of $93,000. Filming began on March 3 and ended in the middle of March.
Release
''Horror Island'' was released by Universal Pictures Company, Inc. on March 28, 1941.
It was released on DVD as part of a "Universal Horror: Classic Movie Archive" DVD set on September 13, 2009.
The release includes ''
The Black Cat'', ''
Man-Made Monster'', ''
Night Monster
''Night Monster'' is a 1942 American black-and-white horror film featuring Bela Lugosi and produced and distributed by Universal Pictures Company. The movie uses an original story and screenplay by Clarence Upson Young and was produced and direc ...
'' and ''
Captive Wild Woman
''Captive Wild Woman'' is a 1943 American horror film directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film stars Evelyn Ankers, John Carradine, Milburn Stone, and features Acquanetta as Paula, the Ape Woman. The film involves a scientist, Dr. Sigmund Walters, w ...
''.
It received a blu-ray release from
Shout! Factory as part of their Universal Horror Collection Vol. 3 on December 17, 2019.
This release includes ''
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
'', ''Man-Made Monster'' and ''The Black Cat''.
Reception
The authors of ''Universal Horrors'' reflected on the contemporary reception of the film, noting that "many of the daily news critics and trade reviewers shrugged ''Horror Island'' off as a mere trifle, no more, no less; any criticism that it yielded stronger than this was just plain overkill". Archer Winsten of ''
The New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' declared the film "a nicely paced quickie" whose problem was "that it tries so hard to be scary, funny, and mysterious that the component parts never come together". Theodore Strauss echoed this statement, noting that "it's not much fun nor very frightening, but it's innocent and any one can play". Both Strauss and an anonymous reviewer in ''
Harrison's Reports'' noted it would play well with children. Kate Cameron of ''
The New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in t ...
'' declared that the film was "replete with all the claptrap of the mystery film
..Pretty Peggy Moran plays Wendy nicely and Dick Foran is the gullible Bill Martin to the life".
From retrospective reviews,
Hal Erickson of
AllMovie commented that ''Horror Island'' "remains an enjoyable outing from fade-in to fade-out", noting that "the identity of the "mystery" killer is fairly obvious from the outset, though the screenplay cheats a bit by rendering the villain helpless during one of the murders".
References
Footnotes
Sources
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External links
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{{George Waggner
1941 films
1941 horror films
1941 mystery films
American mystery films
American black-and-white films
Universal Pictures films
Films directed by George Waggner
Films set in castles
Films set on islands
Cultural depictions of Henry Morgan
1940s American films