Island of Doomed Men (1940)

Peter Lorre is the whole show here, and his soft-spoken line delivery is frequently awesome ("You should have remembered that I am a very light sleeper"), but he doesn't have much to play against; his favorite pastime is psychologically terrorizing his younger wife (Rochelle Hudson). The film is slickly produced (and the DVD print is in pristine condition), but the script is too simple, too pat; it doesn't have enough complications in it. **1/2 out of 4.

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!

Peter Lorre plays sadistic Stephen Danel lording over Dead Man's Island. Danel uses paroled convicts as slaves digging in his diamond mine. Undercover Government agent Mark Sheldon(Robert Wilcox)is framed for murder, so Danel can arrange for him to be transferred under his custody to his remote island. It doesn't take long for Sheldon to set his eyes on Danel's beautiful wife Lorraine(Rochell Hudson). Plans are made to escape with one of Danel's workers. The glamorous Lorraine is fed up with her prison of a marriage and wants to escape too. The attempt is foiled by Danel's spy, Brand(Don Beddoe). All will not be lost as the undercover agent convinces several of the diamond diggers they are not totally doomed, because Danel can easily be out numbered. Will anyone, even just one, get off Dead Man's Island alive? Lorre is outstanding in this role. The movie is well paced under the direction of Charles Barton. Other players include: George E. Stone, Charles Middleton, Earl Gunn, Stanley Brown and Kenneth MacDonald.

1940's "Island of Doomed Men" was among a handful of Columbia 'B' films that ended up part of the SON OF SHOCK television package in the late 1950s, one of two to star Peter Lorre, followed months later by the even better "The Face Behind the Mask." The ill-fated actor Robert Wilcox ("The Man They Could Not Hang") is cast as Mark Sheldon, undercover agent from the Department of Justice, who certainly picks a roundabout way to conduct his investigation: convicted of a murder he didn't commit, orchestrated by the very man he's investigating, Lorre's Stephen Danel, winding up exactly where he intended to be all along, Dead Man's Isle, where Danel employs parolees as slave labor to mine diamonds when not being flogged for disobedience. Also held captive is Danel's beautiful wife Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson), who habitually clings to Sheldon despite her husband's protests. The script's characters are fairly one-dimensional, much like Warners' Karloff vehicle "Devil's Island" (1939), but Lorre's quiet, soft-spoken presence is more unnerving than the bombastic, overdone performance that could have resulted, making those moments when he does lose his cool quite chilling (what was it about that monkey anyway?). Every time he needs a light, someone is there to do it, albeit fearfully (the reactions of others reveal much, since Hollywood couldn't show any depravity). The supporting cast is surprisingly strong, but it's Lorre's show all the way (he and Rochelle Hudson had previously co-starred in "Mr. Moto Takes a Chance"). Despite its SHOCK! pedigree, "Island of Doomed Men" aired just once on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Oct 1 1966, following 1961's Mexican-filmed "The Living Head" (also in its only broadcast).