Horror Island (1941)
I have found that “Horror Island” (1941) is a nice little pick me up. It has its adventurous heart in the right place, and the real horror of the island “treasure hunt” spookshow castle is the novelty gags and gimmicks (along with a voice device used to send out vocal ooga booga scare sounds and playful provocations to stir up tension and fear as part of the “package”) until the fun search for supposed hidden loot brings not just a group of clients seeking “thrills and chills” but a “phantom” in top hat and cape looking for the aforementioned booty. I have a synopsis and complete character/actor list of the film from removed user comments when I purchased the Universal Classics set back in 2010 (gosh, it doesn’t feel that long ago when I discovered it at a reasonable price considering the titles involved).
With how disheartening the country and world are right now, I sought much needed relief, and “Horror Island”, with its welcome cast of fun energy and personality, fit the bill nicely. The duo of Foran and Moran, I already mentioned in my user comments, already having worked on “The Mummy’s Hand”, returning together as another pair often playfully bantering with flirty exchanges. The phantom actually serving as *one* antagonist, while someone else among the bunch assembled at the island eventually emerges as a surprise killer actually writing in chalk on a wall dwindling numbers after each death, is a touch I thought added some punch to the plot. But this is never more than a briskly paced pursuit of treasure, with suspicious characters among the group revealing their identities as the plot unfolds. It’s barely 60 minutes and there’s even a sleepwalking antiquities professor, along with a robber and his moll using the trip as an escape opportunity that goes awry. Foran’s slippery methods to talk folks out of taking him for further financial hardship is amusing as is Moran’s back and forth with him, knowingly charmed by his maneuverabilities.
Bill Martin(Dick Foran)has been a failure at almost every small business he has started, his pal, Stuff(Fuzzy Knight), always wondering when the two would find real jobs so that they could get themselves out of debt. Martin has the deed to an island and castle, deciding to try his hand at a new business venture, inspired by a peg-leg "pirate", who discovered a treasure map found in a corked bottle floating in the ocean. The mysterious "The Phantom", a shadowy man in a black top hat and cape, attacks Peg-Leg and takes a part of the map. Martin accidentally crashes into the car of Wendy Creighton(Peggy Moran), owner of a yacht club, sweet-talking her into coming on board his boat, the Skiddoo along with other customers who fork over 50 bucks for the treasure hunt trip to his "ghost castle" for "adventure and thrills". Also along for the ride is Bill's cousin George(John Eldredge), who wants to purchase the island, Professor Jasper Quinley(Hobart Cavanaugh), who authenticates maps(calling the one in Martin's possession a fake)and walks in his sleep, Thurman Coldwater(Lewis Howard), a friend of Wendy's(bored almost immediately, seemingly only on the trip as a favor to Wendy), Sergeant McGoon(Walter Catlett; a policeman who charges Martin of false advertising in regards to ghosts being on his island), Rod Grady(Ralf Harolde; actually a criminal on the lam)and Rod's wife, Arleen(Iris Adrian; with eyes for George). The Phantom(Foy Van Dolsen)immediately attempts to harm members of this expedition using a crossbow and suit of armor, while also speaking across an intercom set up by Martin and Stuff to spook the customers as to frighten them off the island so he could get his hands on actual treasure possibly inside the castle. Like in other Universal features, the castle has secret passages and members of the treasure hunt fall prey to a killer. A terrific cast(Moran and Foran were together in the best Mummy sequel, THE MUMMY'S HAND)works wonders and the treasure hunt, not to mention the whodunit that develops when one among the group starts picking off individuals(after each murder, the killer uses chalk on a wall to decrease the number still remaining), is entertaining. HORROR ISLAND is over before you know it and benefits from the wonderful chemistry between Foran, Moran, and Knight. I consider HORROR ISLAND the kind of enjoyable B-movie fare perfect for a Saturday afternoon when you have some time to kill, but it's more of an adventure than a horror film. I think HORROR ISLAND would team very well with the other Foran vehicle, THE MUMMY'S HAND..I just wish he had made a few more for Universal studios, he is quite charming and has a nice presence on screen, as does the lovely and vivacious Foran. Probably the most pleasant surprise in the Universal Movie Archives set released not long ago.
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