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Given his reputation as the archetypal crazed villain, in his long film career Peter Lorre played relatively few such characters, but his Stephen Danel in "Island of Doomed Men" is powerful enough to imprint such an image in generations of movie-watchers. With typical grace and intelligence, Lorre crafts this pulp heavy into an intricate portrayal of the quintessential fascist bully, winning through intimidation, gratified at bending others to his will yet genuinely puzzled and hurt by his inability to earn the love of his cherished captive-wife. As with so many other films he appeared in, the mercurial actor brings something real and human to this typically false and silly Hollywood pantomime.

1940's "Island of Doomed Men" was among the 11 Columbia titles included in the SON OF SHOCK television package in the late 1950s, one of three to star Peter Lorre, followed by "The Face Behind the Mask" and "The Boogie Man Will Get You." 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 after several uncertain months of good behavior. Dead Man's Isle is the place where Danel employs parolees as slave labor to mine diamonds when not being flogged for disobedience, with only three armed guards (Charles Middleton, Don Beddoe and Bruce Bennett) and an electrified fence to protect his home ("to keep out the animals and snakes!"). Also held captive is Danel's beautiful wife Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson), habitually clinging to Sheldon despite her husband's protests and seeking aid from houseboy Ziggy (George E. Stone), whose pet monkey throws a fit at the sight of the boss ("keep that monkey away from me!"). The script's characters are fairly one-dimensional, much like Warners' 1939 Karloff vehicle "Devil's Island," but Lorre's quiet, soft-spoken presence is more unnerving than any bombastic, overdone performance, 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 fearfully do it with shaking hands, and the reactions of others matter more since Hollywood didn't dare show any depravity. The supporting cast is surprisingly strong but it's Lorre's show all the way, actually one of the few vehicles in which he's top billed as the main heavy (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 on Oct 1 1966.

The basic story of Island of Doomed Men seems to be based on the true story of Narvassa Island. The main difference was in real life, the men were mining guano, not diamonds and they were black contract workers from the Balitmore area, not paroled convicts. Like in the movie, the men were treated brutally like slaves. This eventually led to an uprising with several of the overseers murdered. Some of the black workers were then put on trial for murder but when the true story of what was allowed to occur was publicized, they were pardoned by President Harrison. Narvassa Island, located between Cuba and Haiti, was designated a wildlife refuge in the 1990s.

This delicious low camp kinkfest proves that studio-era censorship wasn't nearly as thorough as it's purported to have been. In what seems almost like a rehearsal for the tormented lustmurderer Dr. Rothe in "Der Verlorene," Lorre gives unexpected depth and nuance to the melodramatic villain Stephen Danel, with just a dash of his patented quirky humor. Though the film itself is crude and pulpy, with an extreme BDSM quotient (Danel's prisoners are kept in line with cat o' nine tails, as, it's strongly implied, is Mrs. Danel) Lorre's deft performance lifts "Island of Dommed Men" from the realm of the ridiculous into sublimity.

Special agent Sheldon (Robert Wilcox) is sent to a desolate island where Danel (Peter Lorre) keeps convicts for forced labour. Danel took his wife Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson) to the island, but the promise of a tropical paradise was not exactly true; meanwhile she hates him. Sheldon now has the double task to put an end to the slave trade methods of Danel and help Lorraine to escape, while the prisoners don't sympathize with him, either.

Peter Lorre (previously starring in the Mr Moto series) is a brilliant villain in this movie. With his quiet voice and mild manners, he becomes menacing like a devil in disguise. I remember Rochelle Hudson from "The Savage Girl", she also appeared in one of Lorre's Mr Moto movies. The problem of the movie is that the hero (Wilcox) doesn*t make a big impression; partly that is in the script because he has to keep his mouth shut not to reveal his identity to Danel. Still the movie is worth watching for its dominant villain.

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.

Peter Lorre was born to play Stephen Danel with lines like: "Mr. Smith, you shouldn't hold my wife like that." and "I told you not to keep the monkey in the house!" The poster for this film is an eerie green and Peter Lorre leers in way that makes you never want to go to his penal colony / island. This film is not available on DVD although it is a classic and very rarely shown on TV. What exactly is the relationship between Stephen Danel and the monkey? Why does the monkey upset him so much. We will never know. The film should be colorized by someone and excerpts should be made into a Kinks video. The film was re-released in the 1950s and only a few of the Peter Lorre biographies spend any text on this film. Casablanca was right around the corner. Bogart could have been on that island but they surely did not have the budget for him

Island of Doomed Men is directed by Charles Barton, written by Robert D. Andrews and features cinematography by Benjamin Kline. It stars Peter Lorre, Rochelle Hudson and Robert Wilcox.

Federal agent Mark Sheldon (Wilcox), by a strange quirk of fate, is framed for murder and sentenced to serve time on the Pacific Island penal colony he was to investigate anyway! Once there he finds harsh conditions and the camp run by a sadistic task master named Stephen Danel (Lorre). Catching the eye and befriending Danel's beautiful wife, Lorraine (Hudson), herself a prisoner of Danel's tyrannical behaviour, Sheldon knows he must act quick if he is to survive the Island of Doomed Men!

Neither good nor bad, Barton's film is standard fare that features strong themes fighting to impact during the relatively short running time (just under 70 minutes). Much of it is a sweaty prison drama driven by Lorre doing another one of his insane antagonist portrayals. Within the narrative is sadism, spouse and animal abuse, bondage and corruption of power, but these are just shards of potency in an otherwise very talky piece. Performances around Lorre are adequate and Barton and Kline have a decent eye for mood via the black and white photography.

Not very memorable and not nearly as throat grabbing as thematics suggest it could have been, but enjoyable while it's on and certainly one for Lorre completists. 6/10

Okay so this is NOT "Island of Lost Souls" or "The Big House" but I do think that fans of Peter Lorre would enjoy it. No need to hash out the plot here, and yes of course this is nothing more than a 1940s B-Movie. Nonetheless, if you grew up decades ago and have fond memories of staying up late and watching the old horror movies and science fiction monster movies on TV over the weekends, then watching this movie might be an enjoyable way to spend a late Friday or Saturday night, even though it's more of a "semi-noir" movie instead of a horror film.

ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN was shot in 1940 with WWII already raging in Europe. Lorre, who had first grabbed international attention with his lead role in Fritz Lang's M in Germany, just before the Nazis came to power and he fled for France and then the UK, must have appreciated playing a part very reminiscent of the dictatorial figure of Hitler, ordering his wife and servants about on pain of various types of physical punishment ranging from whipping to getting shot.

Lorre serves up a truly magnificent performance as someone totally blinded by power. His somnolent eyes carry menace and even his uneven teeth look creepy! He is well supported by Rochelle Hudson, as the wife who realizes the mistake of gold digging and marrying for money only to end up an inmate in her own abode; and Wilcox, as secret agent Sheldon, aka John Smith, also provides convincing acting support. Curiously, Sheldon gets his operation orders in a manner that must have been a blueprint for the Mission Impossible series 20 years later.

Acceptable B quality cinematography, reasonably solid script despite the predictable ending, and Charles Barton's typically effective direction render 69' minute long ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN most watchable.

G-Man Robert Wilcox goes "undercover" as "Mr. Smith" to expose brutal conditions on an island -- somewhere in the Pacific Ocean? -- where paroled men perform slave-labor in a mine owned by Peter Lorre. In the process, Wilcox falls in love with Lorre's wife, Rochelle Hudson, who's just as much a prisoner on Dead Man's Island as he is. Timed to run just over an hour, this tightly-constructed B-movie is a fine example of its genre -- brisk, efficient, and always entertaining, though it does take awhile to actually reach the island in question. As expected, Lorre dominates the proceedings with one of his trademark performances in which he manages to be both creepy and cultured, smooth and sadistic. He even adds a homoerotic undertone to his scenes with Robert Wilcox, particularly the one in which he watches a shirtless Wilcox being bound to a post in preparation for a late-night flogging. "Don't overdo it, Captain," Lorre warns the man with the whip. "There's a lot Mr. Smith ought to tell me and he may want to tell me before you finish. Oh, and be sure that he's able to work tomorrow." Curiously, Lorre departs the scene before the whip starts cutting into Wilcox's back, but you can be sure he'll derive a great deal of pleasure in thinking over the young man's pain and suffering. Incidentally, this is one of the few movies, (along with "Damn the Defiant!"), in which two men are given separate floggings during the course of the story. Earlier in the movie, Lorre oversees the flogging of a prisoner played by Stanley Brown. It's Wilcox's flogging, however, that is of real interest. Along with Alan Ladd's meeting with a cat-o'-nine-tails in "Two Years Before the Mast," this scene qualifies as one of Hollywood's most memorable floggings of the 1940s and it ranks 16th in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies." Wilcox, of course, looks much too strong, determined, and virile to faint dead away after just fourteen blows with a whip, but his loss of consciousness provides a convenient way for the scene to come to an end.

ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN is a typical B-movie of its type in which an FBI agent is tasked with going undercover as a prisoner on a penal colony on a remote Pacific island. The place is run by Peter Lorre, delivering a typically ultra-creepy performance as the softly-spoken boss who runs the place with an iron fist. In many respects this is similar to THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, the classic adaptation of the Wells novel with Charles Laughton, but shorn of any supernatural content. It's nonetheless atmospheric and violent at times, with Rochelle Hudson adding allure and plenty of suspense as we witness some of humankind's darkest behaviour.

With a title like that, and the prospect of Peter Lorre presiding over his own private island of slave labourers, you'd think this couldn't fail; but actually watching this movie is like watching paint dry. Glossily photographed by Benjamin Kline, the elegance of the home surrounded by an electrified fence that Lorre shares with his bored high maintenance wife Rochelle Hudson (probably standing sets from other productions) manages to make the film seem even more inert than it already does, since it makes what passes for action on his premises seem even more detached from the supposedly rugged desert island setting than already seemed possible.

Although Lorre could in better films underplay very seductively, here he just looks bored, except whenever he sees George E. Stone's pet monkey, when he suddenly and abruptly goes berserk. Just as Clint Eastwood's mistreatment of Pamelyn Ferdin's pet turtle Randolph brought about his doom in Don Siegel's 'The Beguiled' (1971), so Lorre's Achilles' heel proves to be Stone's monkey.

Initially it was the title of Island of Doomed Men that caught my attention. Then when I then noticed Peter Lorre I knew I had to check it out. Lorre and to a lesser degree Wilcox, brought something of real interest to the film with solid performances, Lorre in particular stands out. Unfortunately, the story set-up is oddly sequenced and then becomes so straightforward in its delivery that the viewer has a challenging time really getting into the proceedings. I think this film had some potential to be so much more than what it ended up being. Nevertheless and despite quite a few shortcomings, the Island of Doomed Men is still a watchable film.

I love these 1940's b/w thriller movies for the nostalgic atmosphere of Hollywood. Too many reviewers on here seem to want a documentary by analysing the holes in the story. Who cares? It's 80 minutes of fantasy with a stand out villain in the great Peter Lorre. Here he definitely looks like he's on something extremely relaxing in his tea, as his evil eyes, ever so slowly, almost close, then even more slowly open again, all the while quietly speaking in a voice to chill the devil.

A government agent goes to the island, after a somewhat convoluted plot about getting locked up for murder and released a year later (??) He infiltrates the island in order to investigate rumours of the owner, Lorre, using convicts as slaves to mine for diamonds, and who treats them savagely if they are awkward.

He has a beautiful trophy wife thrown into the mix, Rochelle Hudson, who would still look great on the screen today, and a servant with a pet monkey that he hates.

All very 1930/40 melodrama with familiar supporting actors, but all glued together by the formidable Peter Lorre.

American convicts are worked to death in a diamond mine owned by one Stephen Danel (Peter Lorre) on a small remote island, undercover agent Mark "64" Sheldon manages to get sent there with the aim of breaking up Danel's evil racket. Once there he is told by a fellow con/slave "There's only one way out of here - make them kill you!" As usual Lorre gives a wonderful performance and here he rightly gets top billing, Robert Wilcox is pretty good as Sheldon too. Danel is married to the beautiful Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson, another good reason to watch this movie) but theirs is a very unhappy marriage. Lorre once again is very creepy though this is a crime drama, not a horror movie. Despite its low budget the movie is atmospheric, has some good performances, cinematography and a tense finale, it sails through its 67 minutes running time. Great title too!

Mildly entertaining, but a weak plot was poorly scripted. As has been mentioned several times, why go to all that bother of infiltrating Mark Sheldon - when a team of inspectors could have been sent in; there seemed to be very few guards to resist them.

Mrs Danel was impossibly glamorous for her surroundings, though I appreciate the need for some sex interest.

I hadn't come across Robert Wilcox before; he reminded me of Tyrone Power with a touch of Glenn Ford. War service interrupted his career; indeed he made only three films afterwards, with alcoholism presumably inhibiting his being cast in anything significant.