Island of Lost Souls is a 1932 American science fiction horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton. Based on H. G. Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau and produced by Paramount Productions, the film stars Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen and Kathleen Burke. The film is about the sailor Edward Parker (Arlen), who finds himself stranded on the island occupied by the scientist Dr. Moreau (Laughton). Parker agrees to stay until the next boat arrives, while Laughton introduces him to Lota (Burke), who unknown to Parker, is actually part-panther. It is revealed that all the islands inhabitants are experiments by Dr. Moreau to create humans from animals, and tries to persuade Lota to have sex with Parker to continue his experiments. The film was Paramount's follow-up to their successful horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Several writers worked on scripts for the film including Joseph Moncure March, Cyril Hume, Garrett Fort and Philip Wylie. While stage actor Charles Laughton was already invited to Hollywood by Paramount, they did not have the film set up for him originally leading him to work on other projects in 1932. For the role of Lota, the Panther Woman, a contest was run across the United States to cast an unknown in the role for the film. From thousands of applications, the final group was Lona Andre, Gail Patrick, Verna Hillie and the final winner: Kathleen Burke. The film began production on October 1, with some scenes shot on location in Catalina Island. During production, Bela Lugosi joined the cast, with the actor having declared bankruptcy during the same month. Production ended in early November. Island of Lost Souls was released in several edited forms since its release in October 1932, with several edits removing dialogue and scenes involving Dr. Moreau. The film was banned in several countries including Great Britain, Germany, Italy, India and New Zealand. Theatrical, television and home video releases have often been truncated, until the release of the film by the Criterion Collection in 2011, which was described by the companies president as one of the hardest restorations they had ever done. Contemporary critical reception was mixed, noting the horrific nature of the film. Retrospective reviews have often complemented Laughton's, with the general reception being mixed: some reviews proclaimed the cinematography while other reviews noted the disturbing themes for the film. Plot Shipwrecked traveler Edward Parker is rescued