The Island Of Doctor Moreau
Edward Prendick is an Englishman with a scientific education who survives a shipwreck in the southern Pacific Ocean. A passing ship called Ipecacuanha takes him aboard and a man named Montgomery revives him. Prendick also meets a grotesque bestial native named M'ling who appears to be Montgomery's manservant. The ship is transporting a number of animals which belong to Montgomery, most strangely a puma. As they approach the island which is Montgomery's destination, the captain demands Prendick leave the ship with Montgomery. Montgomery explains that he will not be able to host Prendick on the island. Despite this, the captain leaves Prendick in a dinghy and sails away. Seeing that the captain has abandoned Prendick, Montgomery takes pity and rescues him. As ships rarely pass the island, Prendick will be housed in an outer room of an enclosed compound.
The Island of Doctor Moreau
The island belongs to Dr. Moreau. Prendick remembers that he has heard of Moreau, formerly an eminent physiologist in London whose gruesome experiments in vivisection had been publicly exposed, and who fled England as a result of his exposure.
Suddenly, Dr. Moreau bursts into the colony looking for Prendick, but Prendick escapes to the jungle. He makes for the ocean where he plans to drown himself rather than allow Moreau to experiment on him. Moreau explains that the creatures called the Beast Folk were not formerly men, but rather animals. Prendick returns to the enclosure where Moreau explains that he has been on the island for eleven years and has been striving to make a complete transformation of an animal to a human. He explains that while he is getting closer to perfection, his subjects have a habit of reverting to their animal form and behaviour. Moreau regards the pain he inflicts as insignificant and an unavoidable side effect in the name of his scientific experiments. He also states that pain is an animalistic instinct that one who is truly human cannot have, cutting his thigh with a penknife with no apparent reaction, to further prove his point.
One day, Prendick and Montgomery encounter a half-eaten rabbit. Since eating flesh and tasting blood are strong prohibitions, Dr. Moreau calls an assembly of the Beast Folk and identifies the Leopard-Man (the same one that chased Prendick the first time he wandered into the jungle) as the transgressor. Knowing that he will be sent back to Dr. Moreau's compound for more painful sessions of vivisection, the Leopard-Man flees. Eventually, the group corners him in some undergrowth, but Prendick takes pity and shoots him to spare him from further suffering. Prendick also believes that although the Leopard-Man was seen breaking several laws, such as drinking water bent down like an animal, chasing men (Prendick), and running on all fours, the Leopard-Man was not solely responsible for the deaths of the rabbits. It was also the Hyena-Swine, the next most dangerous Beast Man on the island. Dr. Moreau is furious that Prendick killed the Leopard-Man but can do nothing about the situation.
As time passes, Prendick becomes inured to the grotesqueness of the Beast Folk. However one day, the half-finished puma woman rips free of her restraints and escapes from the lab. Dr. Moreau pursues her, but the two end up fighting each other, leading to their mutual deaths. Montgomery breaks down and decides to share his alcohol with the Beast Folk. Prendick resolves to leave the island, but later hears a commotion outside in which Montgomery, his servant M'ling, and the Sayer of the Law die after a scuffle with the Beast Folk. At the same time, the compound burns down because Prendick has knocked over a lamp. With no chance of saving any of the provisions stored in the enclosure, Prendick realizes that Montgomery has also destroyed the only boats on the island during the night.
Prendick lives with the Beast Folk on the island for months after the deaths of Moreau and Montgomery. As the time goes by, the Beast Folk increasingly revert to their original animal instincts, beginning to hunt the island's rabbits, returning to walking on all fours, and leaving their shared living areas for the wild. They cease to follow Prendick's instructions. Eventually the Hyena-Swine kills Prendick's faithful companion, the Dog-Man created from a St. Bernard. With help from the Sloth Creature, Prendick shoots the Hyena-Swine in self-defence.
Prendick's efforts to build a raft have been unsuccessful. Luckily for him, a lifeboat that carries two corpses drifts onto the beach (perhaps the captain of the ship that picked Prendick up and a sailor).[8] Prendick uses the boat to leave the island and is picked up three days later. When he tells his story, he is thought to be mad. So he feigns amnesia.
Brando's role as Moreau was supposed to be expanded, but following his daughter's suicide, Brando retreated to his private island, leaving production in limbo, not knowing when or even if he would show up. Brando also did not want to learn his lines, so he requested them through an earpiece and/or improvised his dialogue. Original director Richard Stanley was dismissed by New Line Cinema after problems arose during production, including a major hurricane, with Frankenheimer being brought in to replace him. The film received generally negative reviews and was considered a box office bomb.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas survives a plane crash in the Java Sea and is rescued by a passing boat. Aboard, Dr Montgomery tends to him and, after telling him the boat has no radio, he promises Douglas the captain will take him to Timor. However, when they arrive at Montgomery's destination, referred to as "Moreau's Island", he instead advises Douglas to disembark so he can use the radio on the island.
The mutants have now taken over the island. Azazello shoots a drunken Montgomery dead at the village and Hyena-Swine's faction rampages around the island. Azazello hangs Aissa before being executed by Hyena-Swine, having outlived his usefulness; but Douglas manages to survive by telling Hyena-Swine to impose his leadership and be "God Number One" among the others of his faction, especially those who helped him kill Moreau, causing Hyena-Swine to kill his supporters. While he's distracted, M'Ling, another one of Moreau's sons, triggers an explosion that causes Hyena-Swine to lose his gun and allows Douglas to escape. Hyena-Swine, finding himself outnumbered and defenseless, retreats into the burning building where he burns alive.
The Sayer of the Law, Majai, and Assassimon see off Douglas as he leaves on a raft. The Sayer of the Law tells Douglas that the hybrids are wanting to return to their natural state of being and believes it is better, so as to end their creator's work. In closing narration, Douglas reflects on the comparable savagery that can emerge in humans and claims that he leaves the island "in fear".
With Brando supporting him, Stanley was confirmed as director, and he was also able to recruit two more major stars: Bruce Willis as Edward Prendick, a U.N. negotiator who washes up on Moreau's island after his plane crashes, and James Woods as Montgomery, Moreau's chief assistant. Buoyed by these developments, Stanley enthusiastically launched into pre-production, collaborating with special effects creator Stan Winston on the creation of makeup and costumes for Moreau's hybrid creatures and preparing the location and sets. As the time for principal photography approached, however, problems began to multiply: Bruce Willis dropped out of the film (Stanley says in Lost Soul that the actor was divorcing his wife, Demi Moore, at the time, but the couple did not announce their separation until the summer of 1998,[12] with the divorce made final two years later).
He was replaced with Val Kilmer, who, to Stanley's dismay, demanded a 40% reduction in the number of days he was required on set. Stanley solved this problem when he had the idea to switch Kilmer from the protagonist to the supporting role of Montgomery, who had far less screen time.[11] However, this meant James Woods had to leave the production. New Line hurriedly recruited former Northern Exposure star Rob Morrow for the lead role. Another significant setback occurred not long before filming began, with the suicide of Brando's daughter Cheyenne - the devastated star retreated to his private island, leaving Stanley and his producers in limbo, not knowing when or even if he would show up.[11]
When Edward Prendick is rescued from a shipwreck, he is left on a nearby island and soon discovers the home of the depraved Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist conducting unspeakable animal experiments with hideous, human-like results.
After his plane crashes in the Java Sea, U.N. negotiator Edward Douglas (Thewlis) is rescued by a passing ship, where he receives medical attention from Dr. Montgomery (Kilmer). Montgomery is heading home to the mysterious Moreau island, where he persuades Douglas to also disembark.
In pre-production, a remote location in Queensland, Australia was chosen to represent Moreau's island and Stan Winston's effects team busied themselves live-casting extras for the animal hybrids, including Nelson de la Rosa, one of the smallest men on earth and a huge star in his native Dominican Republic.
Marlon Brando's role as Dr. Moreau was supposed to be expanded, but after his daughter, Cheyenne, committed suicide, Brando retreated to his private island, leaving the film production in limbo, not knowing when or even if he would show up. Brando also did not want to learn his lines, so he requested them through an earpiece and/or improvised his dialogue. Original director Richard Stanley was dismissed by New Line Cinema after problems arose during production, including a major hurricane, with John Frankenheimer being brought in to replace him. The film received generally negative reviews and was considered a box office bomb.
The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 novel by H. G. Wells. Its story centers on Edward Prendick, the narrator, who is shipwrecked at sea and rescued by Dr. Montgomery. The good doctor takes Edward to the island where he works, a land so ominous that they quickly abandon him. Edward is soon introduced to the island's ruler, the Mad Doctor Moreau, and discovers Moreau's horrifying society of surgically-altered beasts that walk, speak, and struggle to live like men. The more he's around these beast-men, the more uncomfortable he becomes in his own society. 041b061a72