I Watch Films: Island Of Doomed Men

 

Island Of Doomed Men

A government agent goes undercover, goes to meet his partner who is promptly murdered and the agent arrested for it. This is fortunate as they were supposed to be investigating the owner of a tropical island who takes paroled men and uses them as enslaved miners on his diamond mine. The owner (Peter Lorre) has a beautiful wife who he is also keeping prisoner on the island.

Fairly predictable, the film is lifted by Lorre’s performance, and his elegant tropical villa where everything is exactly to his taste. Including inviting the new men for a nice dinner for some reason, to taunt them? Because it entertained him? Because he has no guests to his illegal slave mining camp island? I don’t know, and it’s interrupted by a failed escape so we never find out.

Watch This: Some exploitation of criminals action crossed with Lorre’s classic sinister soft-spoken villainy
Don’t Watch This: It’s a fairly simple undercover story with every character basically doing what you’d expect