Isle of the Dead (1945)

On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects ... See full summary »

Director:

Mark Robson

Writer:

Ardel Wray

Stars:

Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Boris Karloff	...	Gen. Nikolas Pherides
Ellen Drew	...	Thea
Marc Cramer	...	Oliver Davis
Katherine Emery	...	Mrs. Mary St. Aubyn
Helene Thimig	...	Madame Kyra
Alan Napier	...	St. Aubyn
Jason Robards Sr.	...	Albrecht (as Jason Robards)
Ernst Deutsch	...	Dr. Drossos (as Ernst Dorian)

Storyline

On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects one young girl of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka.

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Plot Keywords:

plague | quarantine | island | vampire | fictional war | 

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Taglines:

Stealthy, nameless terror empties tombs of those long dead!..buries those still alive!...leaves behind it DEATH...and worse!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Ilha dos Mortos

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filming began in July 1944, but was suspended when Boris Karloff required back surgery. It was completed in December 1944. After Karloff had recovered from surgery, but before the cast of Isle of the Dead could be reassembled, Val Lewton and Karloff made The Body Snatcher, which was released first.

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Goofs

General Pherides has two stars on his collar to denote his rank, whereas Doctor Drossos has epaulettes of knotted embroidery. The Hellenic Army of the Balkans War did not use insignia on collars to denote rank. Rank was indicated on epaulettes. A Lieutenant General's epaulette had two large silver stars on gold embroidery with red edging. A Captain's epaulette has three smaller silver stars on a striped epaulette (red-gold-red).

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Quotes

Thea: Laws can be wrong, and laws can be cruel, and the people who live only by the law are both wrong and cruel.

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Connections

Featured in 100 Years of Horror: Blood-Drinking Beings (1996)

User Reviews

One of Val Lewton's best horror movie

Scary, fascinating tale set in 1912 Greece. A bunch of people are quarantined on an island (which contains a graveyard) by the plague. A general (Boris Karloff) is in charge, but people dying from the plague, the isolation and close quarters begin to eat away at him. He starts to believe a young, healthy woman among them is a vorvolaka (a vampire). And there's the woman who has an extreme fear of being buried alive...

Quick paced and very literate horror film. There's lots of dialogue about faith, wars, superstition--all of it interesting. The settings are very dark, eerie with a spooky wind always blowing. There are scary moments throughout but they really shift into high gear during the final 15 minutes.

This movie gave me nightmares when I was little! The cast is adequate (except for Jason Robards Sr.--boy, was he annoying!) but Karloff and Katherine Emery were excellent.

Truly frightening old horror film. A definite must-see.