Monsoon (1943 film)
| Isle of Forgotten Sins | |
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Original lobby card
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| Directed by | Edgar G. Ulmer |
| Produced by |
Leon Fromkess (in charge of production) Peter R. Van Duinen (producer) |
| Screenplay by | Raymond L. Schrock |
| Based on | original story by Edgar G. Ulmer |
| Starring |
John Carradine Gale Sondergaard |
| Music by | Erdody |
| Cinematography | Ira Morgan, A.S.C. |
| Edited by | Charles Henkel, Jr. |
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Production
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| Distributed by | PRC |
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Release date
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Running time
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82 min/74 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Isle of Forgotten Sins is an American South Seas adventure film released on August 15, 1943 by PRC, with Leon Fromkess in charge of production, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (also credited with original story) and featuring top-billed John Carradine and Gale Sondergaard whose performance in one of 1936's Academy Award for Best Picture nominees, Anthony Adverse, earned her the first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Isle of Forgotten Sins was subsequently reissued in a version cut from 82 to 74 minutes and retitled Monsoon. It proved to be the final film role for German-American actress Betty Amann as well as the last feature for producer Peter R. Van Duinen's Atlantis Pictures, a unit whose films had a higher budget then most of PRC's releases. Third-listed supporting actor Sidney Toler worked on this PRC title between the finish of his Charlie Chan films at 20th Century Fox and just before their resumption at Monogram Pictures. The film features several songs (with Carradine singing "Whiskey Johnny"), an underwater sequence using a marionette and a tropical monsoon climax. The pre-release working title was Island of Forgotten Sins.
Somewhere on one of the English-speaking South Sea Islands, at an indefinite present time, with no mention of the fact that it is the middle of World War II, Marge (Gale Sondergaard) is the proprietress of a nightclub/restaurant/gambling hall/brothel called "Isle of Forgotten Sins". In the morning, she knocks on the doors of the individual rooms of her sleeping hostesses, Olga (Betty Amann), Bobbie (Patti McCarty), Mimi (Marian Colby), and Christine (Tala Birell) announcing, "get up, the Southern Queen is here". Riding in a launch from the ship is an inspector from the "Criminal Investigation Bureau" who compares a fingerprint card with a photograph of "Betty Nelson" to one with a photo of a somewhat older "Marge Williams", shows it to the commissioner (unbilled C. Montague Shaw) and tells him, "we'll go there tonight". Marge, surrounded by eight hostesses, is asked by one, "what can we do to please him?" and answers, "he doesn't want to be pleased, he's looking for an excuse to close us up". As the sarong-clad girls leave, one of them, Diane (Rita Quigley) tells Marge, "oh, I suppose it's silly of me but I feel so self-conscious in this costume" and Marge responds, "I know how it is when your modesty's taking a beating, don't let it get you down".
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