Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Steineded How sad is this?

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

kevin olzak 1943's "Isle of Forgotten Sins," more familiar by its rerelease title "Monsoon," may have been bottom of the bill program fodder, but had 'A' budget aspirations, by PRC standards. One year before collaborating on "Bluebeard," director Edgar G. Ulmer and star John Carradine do the honors in a most unlikely setting, the South Seas, where heroes fight over women, and villains fight over sunken treasure. Casting the lanky, cadaverous Carradine as a two fisted action hero is akin to casting Bela Lugosi in the title role of 1934's "The Return of Chandu," no doubt both actors had a grand time getting the girl. In this case, 'the girl' is played by Gale Sondergaard, madam for a kind of South Seas brothel (the 'isle of forgotten sins'), with the sluts on hire including such luscious lovelies as Tala Birell and Veda Ann Borg (who also played Carradine wives in Monogram's 1943 "Revenge of the Zombies," and the 1958 episode of THE RESTLESS GUN, "More Than Kin"). As the villain with the sickly smile, Sidney Toler was in between Chan studios, finishing at Fox in Oct 1941, not beginning his Monogram series until Sept 1943. Only a viewer partial to the cast would really enjoy the overlong, high camp shenanigans, fatally shot on a shoestring budget. The climactic monsoon naturally can't compare with Carradine's own in "The Hurricane."

frankfob Edgar G. Ulmer had a deserved reputation for making something out of nothing--the best example being the terrific "Detour"--but there was so much "nothing" in this film it was impossible to make "something" out of it. As noted in other reviews, Carradine and Fenton are professional divers/adventurers in the South Seas who plot to steal a sunken treasure chest out from under the noses of the men who scuttled the ship it was on. Not a bad premise, actually, but what's done with it can't all be blamed entirely on the lousy script by longtime B-picture hack Raymond L. Schrock, since Ulmer himself had a hand in it. The fact is that this isn't one of Ulmer's better-directed films; it's pretty much by-the-numbers hackwork that could have been done by Elmer Clifton, Sam Newfield or any of PRC's stable of schlock directors, although there are a few Ulmer "touches", notably his use of classical music throughout the picture. PRC's cheapness shows through in every frame, from the laughably chintzy "special effects" to the tinny score to the murky photography to some of the worst-staged fight scenes--and an especially pathetic gun battle--you're likely to see. In true PRC fashion, no thought was given to try to make the stuntmen resemble the actors they were doubling even a little bit--Carradine's stuntman is much shorter, quite a bit heavier and has much darker hair than he does.The upside to the picture is that the bargirls who figure in the story are pretty and spend most of the picture strolling around in sarongs, which is a pleasant diversion from the cheesiness going on around them. Carradine actually does a good job--another reviewer said he "phoned in" his part, which really isn't true--and Gale Sondergaard seems to be having a good time, but Sidney Toler apparently forgot this isn't a Charlie Chan movie and keeps his eyes squinted and his delivery in that Chan "singsong" voice throughout the picture; he isn't even remotely convincing as a villain. Frank Fenton as Carradine's partner isn't particularly good, but Rick Vallin--a decent enough actor who unfortunately spent most of his career toiling away at the bottom end of the Hollywood food chain, as he is here--isn't too bad as Toler's "partner", although he doesn't really have all that much to do. Veda Ann Borg is always a welcome sight but just doesn't cut it playing a monosyllabic native girl who talks like an Indian in a '30s Z-grade western ("Me see you talk him!").Overall it's pretty low-rent, as would be expected from PRC, and definitely not one of the better ones Edgar G. Ulmer made for that studio. Worth a one-time look, but not more than that.

David (Handlinghandel) Gale Sondergaard is the mistress of -- well, let's say it's a gambling house. It's a gambling house filled with girls. Sondergaard looks great and is fun in the role. Some of her employees are pretty and also act well. Veda Ann Borg, for one, is always good for some fun. Some of the girls are pretty. A few of the bit players, as was the case in the lesser studios, look like basset hounds with long hair.John Carradine is kind of wasted in the role of the hero. He's fine but this was not his forte. Sidney Toler, so upstanding as Charlie Chan, is not nice here at all.Edgar G. Ulmer does a fine job with this low-budget affair. I had never heard of it, and I thought I'd seen all his movies.It's most fun when it stays within the genre, ruled over by Marlene Dietrich, of the good woman with a bad reputation working in a place with a terrible reputation. When it turns to adventure, it gets a little tiresome. But it's not a bad movie.And Ulmer may have been the director who best, and most frequently, used classical and operatic music in his movies. Sure, some did when they were doing biopics of composers. But even here, we have an excellent score.

Jay Kauffman From it's wonderful opening with the credits on the sand to the Monsoon ending (and the use of Wagner's music for the underwater sequence; the opening of the Rheingold which actually takes place under water) this a great way to spend a little over an hour with two of Hollywoods most entertaining actors; Sondergaard and Carradine are both cast against type and are wonderful. As are Toler, Borg and Birell. A lot of fun!!!!I have the Alpha release which is worn but fine.