"An undercover government agent arrives on an Italian island in order to investigate a drug-smuggling ring. The agent quickly establishes some contacts on the island and appears to be well along in the case when a complication arrives. His wife and daughter visit him, thus destroying his cover, and the head of the ring, a kind older man with a dark secret, kidnaps his daughter," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis."The Island Monster" has a drug-smuggling Boris Karloff (as Don Gaetano) and his gang kidnapping the daughter of leading man Renato Vicario (as Mario Andreani). Franca Marzi (as Gloria D'Auro) provides ample feminine distraction, which Mr. Vicario has promised his wife he'll avoid, romantically. The film's horrendously dubbed-in-English version is, at least, outstanding in that respect.* Il mostro dell'isola (1954) Roberto Bianchi Montero ~ Renato Vicario, Franca Marzi, Boris Karloff

Thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment, this rare Karloff appearance remains a mystery no longer. Admittedly, the English dubbing varies from atrocious to only slightly less than passable, but it is probably no worse than the Italian version, and at least a commendable effort is made to try to imitate Karloff's distinctive voice. Not very successfully, it's true, but at least the dubbers took a tilt at it.However, what will disappoint fans the most is that, despite the title, this is a not a horror film at all. It's what I call a Clayton's horror film. Clayton's is a non-alcoholic beverage that was extensively promoted a few years back as "the drink you have when you're not a having a drink!" Thus a Clayton's horror film is the horror film you have when you're not having a horror film, because this one is actually a "who is the mystery leader of a vicious gang of smugglers?"Aside from Karloff (whose role is not all that extensive, despite his early entrance, although he does do a fair bit of running about), the only players that impel much interest are avuncular Giuseppe Chinnici as the helpful marshal and the exotic Franca Marzi as the singer you have when you're not having a singer (maybe she sings in the Italian version, but in this one she doesn't warble so much as a note). Miss Marzi is a rare commodity in movieland, an actress who's not afraid of continuously styling her hair in an unbecoming fashion or being constantly photographed from most unflattering angles.Although he started back in 1943, director/writer Montero didn't really hit his stride until the 1960s when he made a series of reach-me-down, semi-documentaries on sexy themes. Interestingly, the best scenes in this effort are those on the marshal's ship where the camera is cleverly placed to three-dimensionalize the action (and Maestro Innocenzi adds to the allure of sun, sea and sky with his rousing title theme).All told, passable entertainment, provided you're not expecting too much and are prepared to make generous allowances.

"Monster of the Island" was filmed in Rome on the Island of Ischia near (Napoli). In the 1950's the demand for Horror films was at an all time low. Boris Karloff had recently performed in a Broadway play, "Peter Pan" as Captain Hook and he and his wife moved from their New York apartment to London, to begin a new television series,"Colonel March of Scotland Yard". He also accepted an offer to appear in "Monster of the Island", a rarely seen Italian film. This film is about police in Rome who are concerned about narcotics traffic on the island of Ischia. Andreani (Franco Marzi), an agent for the government, is assigned to unmask the identity of the ringleader and destroy the smuggling ring. Working undercover, Andreani meets Gloria (Renata Vicario), a cafe singer who knows the members of the gang. The agent is also befriended by Don Gaetano (Boris Karloff), an elderly philanthropist who continues to finance a nursery he founded. The smugglers kidnap Andreani's child (Patrizia Remiddi), threatening to murder her if the agent's investigation continues. This is an entirely different role for Karloff. However, Boris never gave a poor performance in this film or any major project he was assigned to, even if the dubbing of his voice in a foreign language was not correct or the script is poorly written!

MORD39 RATING: 0 out of ****I caught this foreign dud as a kid on television, under the alternate title of THE ISLAND MONSTER. It is without a doubt the lowest ebb of Karloff's career.Those expecting a horror film will be dumbfounded, as this bomb is about a criminal dealing with drug smuggling (as far as I can tell) and kidnapping a little girl. I've seen my share of badly dubbed movies, from the Godzilla features to the European horror imports...but this one wins the award for all-time lousiest dubbing in a foreign film. Karloff didn't dub his own character, but the guy who did sounds like he's doing a cheap Boris impression! The voice of the distressed little girl must have been dubbed by a woman in her thirties or forties...it's a riot!!!I guess if you want to laugh at the terrible English version, you can get a giggle or two out of this. It's not an easy film to find, but rest assured that if you never see it you shouldn't lose too much sleep; it's so atrocious that it makes the last bunch of Mexican features that Boris and Jack Hill worked on look like classics.