Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Island Of Doomed Men has Peter Lorre in the lead as the lord and master of his own private island where he has convict labor assigned there and has them digging for diamonds. It doesn't look like the men are finding a lot of diamonds, but Lorre is sure living well, complete with trophy wife in Rochelle Hudson.In a rather stupidly handled plot Robert Wilcox plays a government agent sent to investigate. He's convicted on a real murder charge though. I attribute the clumsy handling to some bad editing.Not a great picture, but Lorre carries the whole thing with a Doctor Moreau like character. He may not be doing experiments on animals, but he's sure getting his jollies.Peter Lorre fans will like this.

Despite the low rating, this is a must for fans of low-rent cinema of the 1940s. It stars Peter Lorre seemingly doing a spoof of himself. This is the period just before he started to bloat — I imagine just after the Mr. Moto franchise left him without a steady gig. It also features — wait for it — Charles Middleton, aka Ming the Merciless, in a grubby career-ending part as the island's whip master. This is a bigger part than you might imagine, since the only activity on the island seems to be whipping, the object of which is to get a bunch of extras to rat on other extras who may be talking to the Department of Justice about the evil activities taking place on the island — basically, a lot of whipping. Filmed on a shoe-string budget that makes Monogram's most dismal releases look like Cecil B. Demille productions, this corker of a film may be best viewed under the influence of your favorite intoxicant. Without that spiritual aid, you probably won't be able to suffer past the opening, where a secret agent applies for a job in the Department of Justice, which seems to be located in a set originally created for an SRO hotel. Good luck, movie fans!

From 1936-1939, Peter Lorre made a string of highly successful Mr. Moto films. While technically B-films, they were much better made than typical films of the genre. However, Lorre tired of making these highly repetitive films and told friends he wanted out of the series. When it was canceled in 1939, Lorre was thrilled but his plans of getting more complicated and satisfying roles did not materialize when he moved to Columbia Pictures. ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN is one of these films and it's pretty obvious the studio isn't putting much effort into the movie, as I think the plot was written by penguins. Talented penguins, perhaps...but still the movie made little sense at all.It begins with a guy agreeing to be an undercover agent for the government. He is to infiltrate an island in the US where something strange is amiss. Now they easily could have just got a search warrant to do this. But, given that penguins were writing the film, the agent takes the rap for a murder he didn't commit and spends a year in prison for this. He apparently hopes that he'll be paroled to this island, as many parolees are sent there when they finish the term.There are some more serious problems with this idea. First, they only have him serve a year before getting paroled--but he was convicted of MURDER and he refused to divulge who he really was. They would never parole anyone in a case like this. Second, what if he wasn't paroled to the island? He would have spent an entire year in jail for nothing! Third, why not just have scuba divers or paratroopers or cops in boats come to the island?! Talk about a contrived plot! Once on the island, the agent discovers that evil Peter Lorre has set up his own private prison and staffed it with guys on parole as slave labor. What about the men having to report to their parole officers? This was never explained, but Lorre was using them to mine for diamonds and they were treated abominably. Now, another question I had was that if Lorre was discovering huge diamonds there, he was a very wealthy man. So, why not just PAY people to mine for the diamonds?! Why set up your own version of Devil's Island and savagely beat and kill the men?! Eventually, Lorre gets what's his and the island's slaves are released. Unfortunately, by then, I really didn't care. Overall, watchable but rather dumb. Lorre's career only took a turn for the better when he moved the following year to Warner Brothers. With films like ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN, I could see why his stay at Columbia was short.

Peter Lorre is perfect in this role, a calm, controlling madman with a terrifying temper bubbling underneath. Flashes of his temper are the highlights of the movie. Whomever played his wife could've probably been out-acted by a beanbag, but she's pretty, so it's ok. The other main man was okay, and I was rooting for him like I was supposed to. I guess the underlying question is: Could an island of slavery actually exist? Just kidding. The movie is not that deep, or worthy of further thought. The underlying question actually is: What does Peter Lorre have against monkeys?