WHAT is the law?
H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Dr. Moreau” strives for something more than South Seas gothic.
Translated for the screen most effectively in 1932 as “Island of Lost Souls” (which, by the way, Wells hated), the novel has never received a wholly faithful adaptation. The 1977 version, starring Burt Lancaster, Michael York, and Richard Basehart, hopes to skate by on some admittedly decent performances (especially once York begins to sprout hair) and John Chambers’ post-“Planet of the Apes” creature make-up.
Sure, the whole “Frankenstein” angle is intact, a warning against mad science for the sake of mad science, overweening brilliance courting madness and tragedy, the impetuous thirst for knowledge without long-term strategy or moral responsibility. But the story is also a political allegory, a nightmare commentary on colonialism, and a phantasmagoria of Darwinism, degeneration, and eugenics.
What does it mean to be human? Why do we need “law?” Are we indeed made in God’s image? What does it suggest when a creator lacks empathy?
I can’t guarantee that we’ll tackle all the big questions, but we will be tarrying in this inversion of paradise on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Join us for a vivacious vivisection of Dr. Moreau. We’ll be whipping you for your commentary, when we live-stream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST.
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To the House of Pain!
