This very minor Universal horror film from 1942 is significant for it was the last time Lionel Atwill received a starring role in a film. He was on the outs after this due to the sex scandal that ruined his career and health. He played only minor roles after this and died 4 years later of cancer.

The film is very easy to be hard on and Universal has obviously regarded it so low, that it has never made it to video, despite the millions they still make off their classic horror films. What kills the film is a lack of mood or suspense. It is super-pedestrianly directed by Joseph H. Lewis.

What makes the film are the change-of-pace settings including a doomed cruise ship and an exotic island. The actors are all excellent too, even if Nat Pendelton and Una Merkel get a little tired with their comic relief act.

Ultimately, Atwill rules and is as menacing and sinister as ever. He revives a dead native and is revered as a god by the island tribe. He very selfishly dictates how the other ship survivors will live as only Atwill so slimily could (Sounds like a reality show plot). The other standout is Noble Johnson as the village leader. He is given more dialogue than he ever had in his many previous horror films and he ultimately gives Atwill a run for his money. It was nice to see him in a larger role.

Don't expect too much - this is a B film. Atwill fans will delight in seeing his last great lead performance. Atwill may have never had a definitive mad doctor film, but I've always regarded him as the maddest doctor of them all.

1941's "The Mad Doctor of Market Street" was the second time Lionel Atwill starred as a crazed scientist after receiving top billing over Lon Chaney in "Man Made Monster," but settled for second below Una Merkel here, who was coming off one of her best known roles, playing the ditsy daughter of W.C. Fields in "The Bank Dick." Una's likability survives intact, despite her unfunny material (can't say the same for Nat Pendleton). Nearing the end of her screen career was lovely Claire Dodd, busy at Universal that year ("The Black Cat" and Abbott and Costello's "In the Navy"), while cowardly scoundrel John Eldredge is in familiar form ("The Black Cat" and "Horror Island"). Even Noble Johnson ("King Kong") appears as a dignified native chief, not easy under such studio bound conditions. Atwill's Ralph Benson escapes a murder charge in San Francisco, only to wind up a prisoner on a South Sea island, until a demonstration of his technique on suspended animation on a supposedly dead native woman makes him 'God of Life' among the savages, who grant him his every wish. I certainly can't blame him for coveting Miss Dodd, just as he eyed beautiful Anne Nagel in "Man Made Monster" (here reduced to a cameo as his first victim's widow). Writer Al Martin earlier scripted Lugosi's "Invisible Ghost" (also directed by Joseph H. Lewis), and in 1957 turned out "Invasion of the Saucer Men," a rare science fiction comedy. Included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50's, and aired 3 times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Dec 18 1965 (following 1959's "The Hideous Sun Demon"), Dec 28 1974 (followed by 1970's "Night of the Witches"), and Sept 3 1977 (the first feature), paired with the only screening of 1934's "Secret of the Château" (a Claire Dodd double feature!).

As some of you may know, for the longest time I was only familiar with the more popular of the classic Universal horror/sci-fi films; recently, however, I managed to get my hands on a number of their lesser and/or non-monster outings – needless to say, few if any of these proved as rewarding in the long run…though they were never less than entertaining, something which the vintage Hollywood product could always be relied upon to deliver.

This, then, marks Lionel Atwill’s last starring role as a result of his fall from grace in a trial which exposed scandalous behavior in private – and which would subsequently relegate him to Poverty Row or virtually nothing parts in Universal chillers! In any case, he gives the titular role his all – in fact, I don’t think I’d seen Atwill being so arrogant (spouting lines such as “I’ll be the most important man to have ever walked the earth” with complete immodesty, as if it was second nature to him!) and wild-eyed since the delightfully Pre-Code MURDERS IN THE ZOO (1933). Incidentally, I may be attributing undue importance to the fact but I wonder whether the script intended to give his character’s ‘control’ over death a religious undertone – at one point, Atwill mentions that he’ll be able to bring back to life someone who’d been dead for three days (a reference to Jesus Christ?), while the unwilling ‘guinea pig’ hero is buried in the rocks and the entrance to the tomb covered by a huge stone (as we’re told in the Bible that Lazarus was)…!

Not knowing all that much about the film beforehand, I was surprised to see this turn out to be more of a jungle adventure (especially given the title) – following the opening moments set in the city and a brief stint on board ship which, pretty soon, ends up submerged and the only six survivors eventually land on a tropical isle. Atwill is a “pseudo-doctor” whose notorious experiments with suspended animation (recalling the Boris Karloff vehicle THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES [1940]) has landed him in professional disrepute, not to mention in hot water with the Law – I’m sure the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on the beleaguered actor!; anyway, he flees on a cruise-liner traveling all the way to New Zealand and, as I said, ends up ashore in uncharted territory with a bunch of other passengers. This doesn’t stop him from continuing his experiments (for one thing, finding the locals convenient and gullible subjects) – actually, he’d been traveling incognito but, when the native leader’s woman goes into a coma from a heart attack, he can’t resist impressing them with his life-giving ‘magic’…after which they name him “God Of Life” and, naturally, he appoints himself there and then supreme ruler of the island (these obvious Fascist attributes more than anything expose it as a product of the war years)!

The film falls into a category best described as comedy-horror or, if you like, horror comic; neither element is really all that successful – though the former (provided by Una Merkel, top-billed despite her character being clearly of secondary interest[!], and Nat Pendleton) isn’t overly intrusive, the latter is too familiar to generate much suspense…while the jungle setting eschews the fog-laden atmosphere usually representing the ‘in-house’ Universal style! The remaining members from the civilized world are a selfish ship’s officer who leaves the others behind when attempting to flee the isle in a canoe – only to be killed by a native, and the obligatory romantic couple (Merkel’s niece and another former crew member of the sunken liner) – typically, the two had gotten off on the wrong foot but are slowly drawn together…especially after Atwill is persuaded into taking a wife by the native woman he ‘resuscitated’ and, naturally, singles out the heroine for this role. By the way, the film’s biggest laugh is an unintentional one: during Atwill and Claire Dodd’s marriage, following the native custom, some doubt is deliberately thrown by his companions on the unethical activity he leads, which causes the celebrations to cease abruptly – at which, perplexed, Atwill asks the native leader to order his men to “dance…or something” (as delivered by the actor in his inimitable high-strung fashion, it not only shows all too clearly the character’s disdain of their lot but definitely edges the film into camp territory; I know I couldn’t stop giggling for a good five minutes afterwards!).

His status on the island takes further beating when the native who killed the escaping officer also turns up dead; the hero – belatedly introducing himself as being well versed in medicine himself (a plot point so contrived as to smack of lazy scripting!) – knows that Atwill’s miracles were performed on people who only had the semblance of death, so that he’ll never be able to reap results in this particular case (though, up until this time, it was never intimated that he could be a charlatan but rather came across as typically misguided but genuinely obsessed!) and the natives will turn on him as a result…which they do in a fiery climax that barely registers (incidentally, some rather important exposition in the fast-paced 61-minute film is entirely by-passed or taken for granted). Tying with my comments about the same director’s CRIMINALS WITHIN (1943), which I’ve also just watched, Lewis’ hand is apparent here via his choice of odd angles on a number of occasions (though the shot of an intense Atwill approaching the camera, holding a chloroformed cloth to subdue an intended victim, is unfortunately diluted through sheer repetition!). By the way, the music for the film – credited solely to “Musical Director” Hans J. Salter – includes recognizable cues from Frank Skinner’s classic SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) score (Universal shamelessly, and habitually, re-cycled these…as hardened genre fans are surely aware!).