Tonight's Movie: Island of Lost Men (1939) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

I've raced through the new Anna May Wong Collection recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber!

I've been motivated by my love for "B" movies, the fact these films are all quite short, and my interest in the intriguing Wong -- not to mention the fact I really enjoyed the first two movies in the set.

The films I've previously reviewed were DANGEROUS TO KNOW (1938) and KING OF CHINATOWN (1939).

The final film in the collection, ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939), is a remake of WHITE WOMAN (1933), which starred Charles Laughton, Carole Lombard, Kent Taylor, and Charles Bickford. WHITE WOMAN is also available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

In ISLAND OF LOST MEN Wong plays Lily, a nightclub entertainer who is actually named Kim Ling. Kim Ling is secretly looking for her missing father (Richard Loo), a Chinese general who disappeared into the Malaysian jungle.

"Lily" claims to be on the run from the law and asks Gregory Prin (J. Carrol Naish) if she can stay at his remote plantation; her true motivation is to follow a lead on her father's whereabouts.

Prin is an utter creep, and the decrepit assortment of "characters" at his home seem as though they're out of SAFE IN HELL (1931). However, Kim Ling is reassured to find Chang Tai (Anthony Quinn) at the plantation; he's also working undercover to find her father, who may be somewhere deeper in the jungle...

ISLAND OF LOST MEN was the only film in the set I frankly didn't enjoy that much. It's well done but spooky, including things like the death of one of the characters being announced when a bag with his head in it is dumped out onto a floor. You never actually see anything, but the mere idea of it...ugh.

This 63-minute film has plenty of other spooky things and will doubtless appeal to those who are less squeamish than I am. It's just not my kind of thing.

In the film's defense, it has a perfect ending, with Prin and another villain, Tex Ballister (Broderick Crawford), getting what they deserve thanks to the machinations of a character played by Eric Blore, of all people. Blore is more typically known for playing butlers!

Wong and Quinn are appealing as the leads but had relatively brief screen time compared to Naish and Crawford. Naish I honestly found hard to watch; everything about him was unpleasant in this, from his makeup as a mixed-race character to his voice to his persona. He wasn't even a villain I loved to hate; I just hated him!

The supporting cast also includes Ernest Truex, Richard Loo, William Haade, and Philip Ahn.

The movie was directed by Kurt Neumann and filmed in black and white by Karl Struss.

The print is excellent. There was one brief passage which was a bit soft but for the most part the film looks and sounds great.

Disc extras consist of a commentary track by Bryan Reesman and Max Evry plus a trio of trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

Although this film wasn't to my personal taste, many will enjoy it, and I really liked the other two films in the set. It's quite amazing to me that this trio of films is now available on Blu-ray in great condition, and I recommend the collection.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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