Directed by Joseph H.
Lewis, written by Al Martin
Starring Lionel Atwill,
Una Merkel, Claire Dodd, Nat Pendleton and Noble Johnson
1942
A mad scientist specializing
in – you guessed it – suspended animation – flees the city when his experiments
catch wind of the local cops, attempts to escape on a cruise ship and ends up
marooned on a tropical island with a rag-tag group of shipwreck survivors and a
superstitious tribe of cannibal natives.
The charm of this movie
is in the “one damn thing after another” way the plot progresses. We’re dropped
into the middle of a mad scientist movie one moment, on a cruise ship the next
moment and suddenly lost on an island the next. The not-so-charming parts
involve the less-than-enlightened treatment of the island natives, though it’s
always a joy to see the formidable Noble Johnson in a role. Lionel Atwill is
also good here, comfortable in his role as a particularly awful mad scientist,
but the VIP is Una Merkel in a top-billed comedic performance as one of the
castaways.
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