Having previously just watched director Reginald Le Borg's The Black Sleep which featured Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Tor Johnson, and in his last active film role, Bela Lugosi, I decided to watch his next movie which starred another horror movie icon: Boris Karloff. He plays Philip Knight, a television personality who regularly debunks certain myths on his show. He now is on assignment to do the same for a hotel magnate after one of four explorers of the title island-a Mitchell (Glenn Dixon)-comes back with a fixed stunned look. Coming along are Knight's secretary-Sarah Adams (Beverly Tyler), Barney Finch (Murvyn Vye), Matthew Gunn (Rhodes Reason), Claire Winter (Jean Engstrom), and Martin Schuyler (Elisha Cook, Jr.). I'll stop there and just say not much happens until the last 15 minutes. In fact, the most shocking thing that occurs involves a native pre-teen girl and one of the big plants. Of the performers, Karloff and somewhat Cook come off best though many of the others do well with the less-than-stellar material they're given. Still, like I said, the movie has its moments like this Karloff line that pretty sums up the near-universal appeal of horror films: "The public loves to be scared. Excites the imagination. Makes them believe in the existence of things unreal."
