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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Disappointing Continuation

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is one of the oddest poverty row melodramas, a throwback to silent films and early pre-code when a hidden dot on the map of the world became a refuge for the scum of the earth. It's a hot spot on the map of horny sailors and pirate types, run by slinky Gale Sondergaard in perhaps her only leading role. She's in cahoots to locate lost gold from a sunken ship with sleazy John Carradine, but outside efforts by others and mother nature herself threaten to snowball their plans.In spite of the exotic locale, outrageous plot, pretty girls and a few songs, this is actually pretty creaky, risen by Sondergaard's presence. The fact that she's supposed to be romantically interested in tall, lanky Carradine is beyond unbelievable. Also featured in this pot boiler are Sidney Toler as the main villain, Frank Fenton as Carradine's more handsome rival for Sondergaard, and Veda Ann Borg as one of her toughest "ladies". One of the most laughable sequences comes when two of the main characters use each other for targets in spite of the fact that they are each filled with bullet holes, and each of them are determined to get in the last shot. Obvious stock footage and cheap special effects are supposed to dramatize the monsoon. In the end, the actors are as soggy as the script.

This film was re-titled "Monsoon" for re-release, which may be why it is incorrectly identified on the TreeLine Films DVD collection "Hollywood Legends" (2004). On their shoddy 50 Movie set's DISK 3 / SIDE A, TreeLine gives the synopsis for the likewise titled "Monsoon" (1952) starring George Nader, but what you get is "Isle of Forgotten Sins" (1943) starring John Carradine. In the end, it's six of one, and half a dozen of the other.Herein, Mr. Carradine (as Mike Clancy) and seafaring pal Frank Fenton (as Jack Burke) brawl over madam Gale Sondergaard (as Marge Willison) while Captain Sidney Toler (as Carruthers) shows off the same facial expressions he uses under the "Charles Chan" make-up. And, he looks rather flabby in his bathing trunks. If you're looking for something impressive by director Edgar G. Ulmer, don't start with the "Isle of Forgotten Sins".** Isle of Forgotten Sins (8/15/43) Edgar G. Ulmer ~ John Carradine, Frank Fenton, Gale Sondergaard, Sidney Toler

This is a horrid little film from P.R.C. Studios and I have to assume the P.R.C. stands for "Producing Real Crap". By no sane person's standards should anyone have given this turkey a 10, though somehow this has happened. P.R.C. is one of the lowest-budget film studios of its day and its best movies were below the quality of rival Monogram Studios (and that's saying a lot!). There films are known for having rotten sets, poor scripts and second-rate acting--they were for many in the movie industry the "purgatory" of Hollywood!! As usual, this film shows all the usual earmarks of a P.R.C. production, though its stars are a tad better than usual--as Sidney Toler and John Carradine (both veterans of the low-budget Bs) were on hand to give this movie a little bit of clout--but only just a bit. That's because Toler had just finished the Charlie Chan series at Fox Studios and hadn't yet signed with Monogram to finish the series--so he was free and in need of cash. Carradine, never really an established actor but a familiar face in low-budget films added a bit of color.Sadly, despite the low budget, the story wasn't very good either. The film is set on a tropic isle, though the natives look like extras from California and have, for the most part, American accents and hairdos. However, they are supposed to be seductive dancing girls working at a dive frequented by sailors. Two of them (Toler and his partner) are responsible for "losing" some treasure on a recent cruise. The truth is that they deliberately wrecked their boat so they could later claim the treasure. Oddly, they arrive just after there is a HUGE bar fight. So, what would you expect at this time? Yep, one of them plays Beethoven on the piano in this dive(!).Two other guys (Carradine and his sometimes friend) spend most of the time imitating Popeye and Bluto, as they fight and fight for no reason in particular. Later, though, Carradine gets the idea of trying to steal Toler's treasure. My favorite part of this (because it was so bad) was the world's longest close-range gun battle. Shot after shot after shot are fired at pointblank range--talk about lousy shooting!! In the end, it's one twist after another but thankfully the action is all ended when a monsoon hits and wipes out this god-awful island.The bottom line is that the print looks lousy, the plot stinks, the acting is generally grade-Z and the special effects are really, really bad. What's to recommend this film? Nothing. So why did it earn a 10?!

This Producers Releasing Corporation distribution straight from poverty row has just about everything you could imagine or want to see and hear in a B picture second biller: barroom brawls, sunken treasure, a treasure map, an underwater grotto, double-crosses, fist fights, hold ups, restless natives, menacing drums, a big storm, and a flashlight-wielding marionette in a diving suit. But wait, there's more: classical music, torch songs, island ballads, synchronized swimming, beautiful girls wearing sarongs, Gale Sondergaard and above all, Sidney Toler naked to the waist and dripping wet in a bathing suit. If you have a taste for B movies, this is truly must see entertainment!