Bezenby So, what were Italian crime movies like before they realised that they had to put Maurizio Merli in there, with the funky music and the slapping about of the dames and the violence and what not? Like this I guess, which starts of like the most boring film in the world and then actually manages to turn things around and be entertaining. Honestly. First time I tried to watch this I switched it off after the first half hour. Second time I fell asleep. Third times a charm! In Naples, some guy from the treasuary is sent to Capri to find out whose smuggling drugs in the area. Is it the sexy night club singer? Or that guy who keeps following him about? How about Boris Karloff? Probably, right? After rather a lot of talking, things pick up when the agent's daughter gets kidnapped by Karloff. Why you would bring your family on an assignment is beyond me, but that's what happened.Also, this guy was undercover but could be seen at any time boarding a ship full of armed cops but then they didn't realise that was him later when he turned up claiming to be from a gang in Genoa? I'm guessing the drug runners were sampling their product a bit too often.Things pick up further when a dog outsmarts Boris and finds the kid, some double crosses are thrown in for good measure and there's even a very slow car chase. Not bad for an ancient Euro crime film, could have done with a funky soundtrack and Massimo Vanni though.Capri doesn't appear to have changed in the slightest in the time between this film being made and me visiting there in 2001. Even Boris Karloff was still there!

HEFILM I'm sure there were cheap crime movies made by the dozens in Italy, the only reason this one got dubbed-by an impersonator, is Karloff's role in it. True this is not a horror film though the title is mentioned in the film. The title sequence looks like something from a 1930's B movie serial, though these are the English language titles so can't blame the Italians for that part of it.Boris appears early on then vanishes for quite a while. It's this non Boris section that makes the least sense as it takes forever for them to actually kidnap the child which is then the focus of the rest of the plot. A good amount of real locations help the film rise above rock bottom production values. The post sound job is really awful with missing sounds and music cutting in and out.There are a few flashes of style but when Karloff is around it's rather shocking, given the overall poor quality, to see him running around, clubbing a guy in the head, shooting guns and carrying a kid up and down hills, rowing a boat in the open sea, and seemingly quite spry. The impersonator at least tries to sound like Boris which is better than the Italian versions of the otherwise--to say the least--much superior Italian versions of Karloff's Bava-directed films. And unlike several Christopher Lee American dubs of Spanish and Italian and German films where the dubber doesn't sound at all like Lee or ever try to which is totally distracting. So though the dubbing is terrible here at least it sort of sounds like Boris and lets his performance be a little less distracting.So once the kidnapping plot starts and Boris appears regularly the film gets better and though it doesn't exactly build in excitement it at least ends better than it started. So leaves a better taste in your mouth.A dog has a significant role which is fun, though odd. Better, or at least professional, post sound work and a more active music score would have helped. Probably the only reason most will see this is for Karloff and though this shows a gutter period before his 1960's work, he's at least got a part to play and a very active role when he's on screen unlike the total rip off scant appearances in those terrible Mexican films.Reasons to see it? Boris non horror completest and The Dog. The dog's dubbing is the best in the film. Oh, PD version I saw was watchable, not good but OK for what it is. Overall the whole movie and presentation is a few significant--if small-- notches above bottom of the barrel.

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!