Diagonaldi Very well executed

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

wes-connors "An undercover government agent arrives on an Italian island in order to investigate a drug-smuggling ring. The agent quickly establishes some contacts on the island and appears to be well along in the case when a complication arrives. His wife and daughter visit him, thus destroying his cover, and the head of the ring, a kind older man with a dark secret, kidnaps his daughter," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis."The Island Monster" has a drug-smuggling Boris Karloff (as Don Gaetano) and his gang kidnapping the daughter of leading man Renato Vicario (as Mario Andreani). Franca Marzi (as Gloria D'Auro) provides ample feminine distraction, which Mr. Vicario has promised his wife he'll avoid, romantically. The film's horrendously dubbed-in-English version is, at least, outstanding in that respect.* Il mostro dell'isola (1954) Roberto Bianchi Montero ~ Renato Vicario, Franca Marzi, Boris Karloff

MartinHafer In the mid to late 1950s, many international actors starred in Italian films that were dubbed--so it didn't matter that actors like Anthony Quinn, Richard Basehart, Broderick Crawford or Boris Karloff didn't speak the language. However, it is very odd to see these films in English because when they are re-dubbed the original English speaker's voice is usually replaced with some voice actor. Here, despite seeing Boris Karloff, you instead hear a voice coming out of him that just doesn't sound like him--it's close but just doesn't sound like him--probably because often the voice and lips are out of sync. I can get used to this, but really wished they'd just subtitled the movie instead. But what I can't understand is when they use horrible voice actors for many of the other voices--ones that sounded bizarre. In this film, at times, it seemed like random people off the street did the voice-overs--especially since some could barely read their lines and the voice of Mario's child is absolutely horrid!! This child who appears about four has a voice that sounds like it comes from a teenager--talk about weird! Now in the case of the first three actors listed above, they appeared in some amazing Fellini movies. Unfortunately for Mr. Karloff, this was definitely NOT a Fellini movie--not even a Murry Fellini film! Instead, it's a very low-budget movie about cops and the mob--exactly the type of film in which you'd never expect to find Karloff. Sadly, in addition to the extremely lousy voice acting, the film has a rather annoying musical score (though the film is unusual in that there is very little incidental music), cheap sets and a rather thin plot.While old Boris gets top billing, he really isn't the star of this dull suspense film and he is largely wasted. Instead, the main character is Mario--an undercover cop who's trying to infiltrate the mob. Unfortunately, Mario's wife is an idiot and she arrives in time to help spoil her hubby's cover--perhaps she liked the idea of mobsters bumping off her spouse, but I just think she was supposed to be a moron. Regardless if the wife was or wasn't the one to tip them off, the mob seems to know right away who he is and so they dispatch a sweet Italian dish to seduce the fellow. When the wife discovers this "other woman", the marriage is in trouble. And, to make things worse AND to ensure their wicked plans work, they also kidnap Mario's child.The rest is rather uninspired and dull--certainly NOT one of Boris Karloff's brighter moments on film. Despite this being a very poor production and a waste of time, one reviewer actually gave it a score of 10!! Considering all the problems with the film and an IMDb score lower than 3, you should just assume that one really high score was made by a maniac!

JohnHowardReid Thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment, this rare Karloff appearance remains a mystery no longer. Admittedly, the English dubbing varies from atrocious to only slightly less than passable, but it is probably no worse than the Italian version, and at least a commendable effort is made to try to imitate Karloff's distinctive voice. Not very successfully, it's true, but at least the dubbers took a tilt at it.However, what will disappoint fans the most is that, despite the title, this is a not a horror film at all. It's what I call a Clayton's horror film. Clayton's is a non-alcoholic beverage that was extensively promoted a few years back as "the drink you have when you're not a having a drink!" Thus a Clayton's horror film is the horror film you have when you're not having a horror film, because this one is actually a "who is the mystery leader of a vicious gang of smugglers?"Aside from Karloff (whose role is not all that extensive, despite his early entrance, although he does do a fair bit of running about), the only players that impel much interest are avuncular Giuseppe Chinnici as the helpful marshal and the exotic Franca Marzi as the singer you have when you're not having a singer (maybe she sings in the Italian version, but in this one she doesn't warble so much as a note). Miss Marzi is a rare commodity in movieland, an actress who's not afraid of continuously styling her hair in an unbecoming fashion or being constantly photographed from most unflattering angles.Although he started back in 1943, director/writer Montero didn't really hit his stride until the 1960s when he made a series of reach-me-down, semi-documentaries on sexy themes. Interestingly, the best scenes in this effort are those on the marshal's ship where the camera is cleverly placed to three-dimensionalize the action (and Maestro Innocenzi adds to the allure of sun, sea and sky with his rousing title theme).All told, passable entertainment, provided you're not expecting too much and are prepared to make generous allowances.

whpratt1 "Monster of the Island" was filmed in Rome on the Island of Ischia near (Napoli). In the 1950's the demand for Horror films was at an all time low. Boris Karloff had recently performed in a Broadway play, "Peter Pan" as Captain Hook and he and his wife moved from their New York apartment to London, to begin a new television series,"Colonel March of Scotland Yard". He also accepted an offer to appear in "Monster of the Island", a rarely seen Italian film. This film is about police in Rome who are concerned about narcotics traffic on the island of Ischia. Andreani (Franco Marzi), an agent for the government, is assigned to unmask the identity of the ringleader and destroy the smuggling ring. Working undercover, Andreani meets Gloria (Renata Vicario), a cafe singer who knows the members of the gang. The agent is also befriended by Don Gaetano (Boris Karloff), an elderly philanthropist who continues to finance a nursery he founded. The smugglers kidnap Andreani's child (Patrizia Remiddi), threatening to murder her if the agent's investigation continues. This is an entirely different role for Karloff. However, Boris never gave a poor performance in this film or any major project he was assigned to, even if the dubbing of his voice in a foreign language was not correct or the script is poorly written!