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How to sum up this movie simply? John Carradine and Frank Fenton fight over Gale Sondergaard and over gold that Sidney (Charlie Chan) Toler and Rick Vallin have hidden. Its all set in the tropics and has murder, comedy, musical numbers, explosions, deep sea diving, fist fights, romance, and somewhere in there is the kitchen sink. I think about the only things not in this movie are aliens and tumbleweeds. Its a wild movie, so please don't ask for a clearer explanation since it would take too long.

But the real question is how is it really? Its good, but not great. There's too much going on and at times it's a little too slow, which is kind of odd considering all that happens in the films 80 minutes. This is a classic "watch at 2 am movie" with lots of bad commercials and public service announcements interrupting it.

The cast is good across the board. Carradine seems to be enjoying having the lead in an adventure film. Sidney Toler, forever etched in my mind as Charlie Chan is wonderfully evil as Carruthers, and a joy to see him on the other side of the law.

This movie also has a shoot out used in It Came From Hollywood where two guys shot at each other, back and forth dying as they did so until the guns were empty. I thought it had been altered to seem awkward and badly done. Nope. The gunfight is here, exactly as it was seen in "...Hollywood".

As I said, its good not great. What it needs is commercials to help break up the slow bits.

Intriguing South Seas "epic" about a couple of roughs and their casino girlfriends that decide to steal gold they believe a customer to have on his private island. Trouble is that the customer tricks the two men et al so they will find treasure underwater only to be lifted after completion of said job. This little, low-budget film was directed by that once shining star Edger G. Ulmer - the director of 1934's The Black Cat. Like all of Ulmer's work, flashes of brilliance resonate throughout. Ulmer makes the most with a small budget. That being said, innovative use of struggling finance and truly imaginative uses of actors and camera angles do not necessarily make for a great film. Here they struggle to do just that - but come up somewhat short. Nonetheless, because of the talent here, Ulmer, John Carradine, Gale Sondergard, and Sidney Toler, and a quick, zippy pace, and some campy dialog, etc..- Isle of Forgotten Sins is better than one could or should expect. The leads of Carradine and love-interest Sondergard go against type, and while Carradine is always a thick slice of ham - he is always fun to watch. Toler, Charlie Chan himself, has a great time playing a heavy in the film. The girls that accompany the men are all knockouts. The story is where weakness - rising damp if you like - sets in. While the two chummy roughs fight between themselves over Sondergard and whatever else they can, neither is heroic in any real sense of the word. They are bad guys. Toler is a bad guy. So pulling for one over the other was difficult, especially since Toler seemed far more pleasant company. The other thing is that the low-budget really shows its depths when the "boys" dive trying to find the gold. The diver in the water is obviously a toy, gesticulating with its hand in the same motion over and over again. The scenes just look ridiculous. The boat and some of the exterior shots of the hotel, etc... look like miniatures too. The climatic ending also is rather excessive, but interesting.

Gale Sondergaard is the mistress of -- well, let's say it's a gambling house. It's a gambling house filled with girls. Sondergaard looks great and is fun in the role. Some of her employees are pretty and also act well. Veda Ann Borg, for one, is always good for some fun. Some of the girls are pretty. A few of the bit players, as was the case in the lesser studios, look like basset hounds with long hair.

John Carradine is kind of wasted in the role of the hero. He's fine but this was not his forte. Sidney Toler, so upstanding as Charlie Chan, is not nice here at all.

Edgar G. Ulmer does a fine job with this low-budget affair. I had never heard of it, and I thought I'd seen all his movies.

It's most fun when it stays within the genre, ruled over by Marlene Dietrich, of the good woman with a bad reputation working in a place with a terrible reputation. When it turns to adventure, it gets a little tiresome. But it's not a bad movie.

And Ulmer may have been the director who best, and most frequently, used classical and operatic music in his movies. Sure, some did when they were doing biopics of composers. But even here, we have an excellent score.

Had I known who the romantic leads are in this film I would have made it a point to see it years ago. How often do you get the opportunity to see Gale Sondergaard and John Carradine play characters better suited to Humprhey Bogart and Lauren Bacall? ISLE OF FORGOTTEN SINS is a thoroughly enjoyable South Seas adventure with Carradine and Sondergaard, cast completely against type, doing terrific work for low budget miracle worker Edgar G. Ulmer. Add Frank Fenton as Carradine's battling buddy, Sidney Toler as their jovial adversary, Rik Vallin as Toler's classical piano-playing second mate and Veda Ann Borg as a treacherous native girl, clever use of a puppet (!) for the deep sea diving scenes and a climactic monsoon -- what more do you need?

NOTE: The running time of this film is usually listed as 82 minutes. The video print I watched (from VCI Video) ran 76 minutes, and did not appear to be missing anything major.

Edgar G. Ulmer had a deserved reputation for making something out of nothing--the best example being the terrific "Detour"--but there was so much "nothing" in this film it was impossible to make "something" out of it. As noted in other reviews, Carradine and Fenton are professional divers/adventurers in the South Seas who plot to steal a sunken treasure chest out from under the noses of the men who scuttled the ship it was on. Not a bad premise, actually, but what's done with it can't all be blamed entirely on the lousy script by longtime B-picture hack Raymond L. Schrock, since Ulmer himself had a hand in it. The fact is that this isn't one of Ulmer's better-directed films; it's pretty much by-the-numbers hackwork that could have been done by Elmer Clifton, Sam Newfield or any of PRC's stable of schlock directors, although there are a few Ulmer "touches", notably his use of classical music throughout the picture. PRC's cheapness shows through in every frame, from the laughably chintzy "special effects" to the tinny score to the murky photography to some of the worst-staged fight scenes--and an especially pathetic gun battle--you're likely to see. In true PRC fashion, no thought was given to try to make the stuntmen resemble the actors they were doubling even a little bit--Carradine's stuntman is much shorter, quite a bit heavier and has much darker hair than he does.

The upside to the picture is that the bargirls who figure in the story are pretty and spend most of the picture strolling around in sarongs, which is a pleasant diversion from the cheesiness going on around them. Carradine actually does a good job--another reviewer said he "phoned in" his part, which really isn't true--and Gale Sondergaard seems to be having a good time, but Sidney Toler apparently forgot this isn't a Charlie Chan movie and keeps his eyes squinted and his delivery in that Chan "singsong" voice throughout the picture; he isn't even remotely convincing as a villain. Frank Fenton as Carradine's partner isn't particularly good, but Rick Vallin--a decent enough actor who unfortunately spent most of his career toiling away at the bottom end of the Hollywood food chain, as he is here--isn't too bad as Toler's "partner", although he doesn't really have all that much to do. Veda Ann Borg is always a welcome sight but just doesn't cut it playing a monosyllabic native girl who talks like an Indian in a '30s Z-grade western ("Me see you talk him!").

Overall it's pretty low-rent, as would be expected from PRC, and definitely not one of the better ones Edgar G. Ulmer made for that studio. Worth a one-time look, but not more than that.

ISLE OF FORGOTTEN SINS (1943) aka MONSOON is another of those South Sea Adventures so beloved by Hollywood in the 'GOLDEN AGE' of the studio system. The best of those films was THE HURRICANE (1937) which we rated IMDb Ten**********Stars. Thats why this film gets Two**Stars for it is only twenty (20%) percent as good.

The film though resembles more TYPHOON (1940) IMDb Six******Stars. That PARAMOUNT production was nominated for a Academy Award for Special Visual Effects. No chance of that with this film. The only thing PRC has in common with PARAMOUNT is they both start with a 'P'! Like TYPHOON this ends with a big special effects scene done with all the skill PRC could muster. Which means there is nothing 'special' about it at all. I have seen children do better in their bathtub.

The participants of this film were either needing a fast buck or had fallen on hard times starting with Director Edgar G. Ulmer. Yes, the same Director who created the classic THE BLACK CAT (1934). None of that originality is presented here. Sidney Toler must have wanted to stretch himself from his CHARLIE CHAN roles at MONOGRAM. Hard to tell if this was good move on his part. John Carradine obviously was in it for a fast buck and phoned in his role. As for Gale Sondergaard she must have made somebody very angry at the major studios. At that time she had already won the Acadamy Award for Best Supporting Actress and would be nominated again. Though it was interesting to see her in a sarong and show off her attractive and feminine figure. That is the sole reason to see this film.

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!

1943's "Isle of Forgotten Sins," more familiar by its rerelease title "Monsoon," may have been bottom of the bill program fodder, but had 'A' budget aspirations, by PRC standards. One year before collaborating on "Bluebeard," director Edgar G. Ulmer and star John Carradine do the honors in a most unlikely setting, the South Seas, where heroes fight over women, and villains fight over sunken treasure. Casting the lanky, cadaverous Carradine as a two fisted action hero is akin to casting Bela Lugosi in the title role of 1934's "The Return of Chandu," no doubt both actors had a grand time getting the girl. In this case, 'the girl' is played by Gale Sondergaard, madam for a kind of South Seas brothel (the 'isle of forgotten sins'), with the sluts on hire including such luscious lovelies as Tala Birell and Veda Ann Borg (who also played Carradine wives in Monogram's 1943 "Revenge of the Zombies," and the 1958 episode of THE RESTLESS GUN, "More Than Kin"). As the villain with the sickly smile, Sidney Toler was in between Chan studios, finishing at Fox in Oct 1941, not beginning his Monogram series until Sept 1943. Only a viewer partial to the cast would really enjoy the overlong, high camp shenanigans, fatally shot on a shoestring budget. The climactic monsoon naturally can't compare with Carradine's own in "The Hurricane."

Isle of Forgotten Sins is one of those rarities I discovered at my local library. In this case, this was one of Edgar G. Ulmer's low-budget poverty row pictures he made for PRC. John Carradine and Frank Fenton are rivals for gambling club owner Gale Sondergaard but they put aside their differences for a chance to get sunken treasure. Ms. Sondergarrd and her girls (which includes a crafty Veda Ann Borg) come along but all of them seem to be pawns for Sidney "Charlie Chan" Toler and his partner Rick Vallin. Also briefly appearing is Bill Edmonds-Mr. Martini in It's a Wonderful Life-as the island chief. Enjoyably and breezily fast-paced (whenever possible) B-movie that benefits from Ulmer's expert direction and a suitable underscore by Leo Erdody (who like me was born in Chicago, Ill.) mixed in with some public domain classical music. The composer is billed by his last name here. If there's some quibble, it's how some scenes obviously reveal how some boat scenes use a toy model and the underwater ones reveal the diving suit, which is also a small plaything, being manipulated. Otherwise, great fun with even some singing from one of the girls not marring the storyline too much.

While I would not consider director Ulmer's cult reputation as overrated, I cannot deny having been disappointed by some of his work which is generally deemed as above-average; one such title is THE STRANGE WOMAN (1946) and another would be the film under review. Tropic-island adventures are usually good-looking, action-packed and spectacular – but this is (typically for Ulmer) a low-budget and studio-bound production which resorts to repetitive, if highly energetic, fisticuffs for excitement...while the climactic monsoon (the film was re-issued under that name, by the way, borne also by the copy I watched) is dealt with so quickly one could be excused for taking it as an afterthought had it not been anticipated in the dialogue! Though the casting of the principals looks promising on paper, it is rendered futile by miscasting (John Carradine as a lusty man of action!) and undernourished or otherwise clichéd characterization (Gale Sondergaard and Sidney Toler respectively)! This is not to say that the film is not agreeable to watch throughout its terse 82-minute duration as an example of an efficient potboiler from this era. Interestingly, the South Sea saloon setting, deep sea-diving backdrop and rivalry over sunken treasure recalls or looks forward to three fine John Wayne vehicles i.e. SEVEN SINNERS (1940), REAP THE WILD WIND (1942) and WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948) respectively – comparisons to which do not really do favors to Ulmer's much more modest effort...

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 really only fair, but it does have its moments, and it works all right as light entertainment. The story has plenty of adventure and intrigue, though it has a few too many leaps of logic as it tries to pack an awful lot into a relatively brief running time. Gale Sondergaard, John Carradine, and Sidney Toler give the cast some good leads, and they help keep things going despite some stretches of weak dialogue.

The main part of the story has Carradine, as a diver, and his partner/rival (Frank Fenton) matched in a deadly battle of wits with Toler and his accomplices. Sondergaard plays the owner of a disreputable haven for seafarers, who is close to Carradine's character. The story features a couple of interesting turns, and the approaching monsoon adds some extra drama.

Sondergaard gets a lot of screen time in the earlier scenes, but her character gradually fades into the background, and becomes a spectator for most of the last part. It's unfortunate, since she is easily the most accomplished performer in the cast. Carradine and Toler both give entertaining light performances, exaggerating their characters somewhat. The relationship between the two divers, with its conflicting rivalries and loyalties, could have been made a much more significant part of the movie. Fenton's screen presence isn't strong enough for him to be much of a complement to Carradine, and as a result some of their exchanges are not as sharp as they could have been.

The action sequences and the sense of danger are usually effective enough. Overall, it's a fairly solid B-feature, and would probably be worth seeing for most of those who like the genre.

Mid stream in his Charlie Chan gig Sidney Toler switches to villainy as Captain Krogan in this B clunker pasted together by cult favorite Eddie Ulmer. His absolutely vile character here ironically contributes to the film's entertainment as he eschews the meditative detective role he is so famous for in favor of leering greedy degenerate.

South Seas adventurer Mike Clancy (John Carradine) blows into town to see his brothel running honey (Gale Sondergard) when he gets word there's a 3 million dollar booty at the bottom of the sea that the shady Captain Krogan knows where it is but unable to access without Clancy's diving expertise. They enter into a deal with Krogan who intends to double cross. The madam and her band of hookers also go along to both complicate the deal and improve the scenery.

Isle of Forgotten sins is no Hurricane (39) but it does have a rousing tsunami to Deus ex Machina matters and a cast of unrepentant greedy characters wrapped up in the glitter of gold from the perverse captain to the bevy of hookers with flowers in their hair. Ulmer offers a couple of slight of hand moves and snappy dialogue to get around censors but the lobby cards for this piece of flotsam and jetsam featuring babes in sarongs and the leering desires of Toler is probably where the real genius was to be found.

In between assignments as Charlie Chan, Sidney Toler found time to play the villain in this South Seas adventure, Isle Of Forgotten Sins. And the hero of the piece, would you believe John Carradine.

It must have tickled his fancy to for once be the hero and get the girl. And what a girl. None other than the spiderwoman herself Gale Sondergaard. In this film and only a minor league one like PRC would get away with having Sondergaard play a brothel madam.

Anyway Carradine and his pal Frank Fenton recognize Toler now a prosperous planter as a captain who scuttled his ship with a big shipment of gold on it. So they and Sondergaard and her girls decide to go after it.

All I'll say is that they are only half smart and a shaky half at that. Lots of stock storm and tropic isle footage with an ending that had potential, but was ruined in the execution.

Isle of forgotten sins but called monsoon in roku... the 1943 one. They kind of snuck this one past the censors. It's pretty obvious (but not spoken) what marge's girls do for a living. So taboo at the time. Gale sondergaard was the perfect vamp in so many classics...she was great in wyler's "the letter". In the south seas ( the back lot), the women run a "gambling house" wink, wink..that the officials are trying to shut down. And of course there are two men fighting over marge. In the worst staged fight ever filmed. Then a dead body! And sunken treasure! So much going on. Toler is krogan, who shows an odd smile now and then, for no reason...? John carradine popped up in some pretty huge films, but not usually the lead, never any oscars. Funny.. there's subtitles, but the sound is so rough, it skips and misses a lot. At about twenty five minutes in, the (roku version) captions show "fu** over his gold", but the actor actually says "fork over his gold"! It's okay. One demerit for picture and sound quality. One for frequent use of backdrops and stock footage. Story written and dircted by edgar ulmer. His big hit was black cat, back in 1934. He later resigned rather than make a musical with shirley temple, if the imdb trivia can be believed. He worked for years at producers releasing corp, the lowest of the low budgets. But it's still a wacky, fun adventure.

Some B-Movie Names like Edgar G. Ullmer, John Carradine, Gale Sondergaard, and Sydney Toler Promise More than this Sloggy Sea-Going Island-Adventure can Deliver.

A Bevy of Beauties and a Lengthy Fist-Fight Highlight the Opening and Things Look Good and Deliver.

But the Second Act is so Boring, Corny and Lethargic with Lengthy Underwater Scenes Utilizing a Puppet, that the Movie Stops Dead in the Water and Never Recovers much Momentum.

It's Worth a Watch to See Carradine as a Leading Ladies Man, Sondergaard as a Madame, and Sidney Toler the Main Villain.

Ulmer's Direction is Professional and Competent and a Decent Try Considering.

But the Film is Drowned by too Many Twists and Alliances and a Middle Section that is Deadening.

Note...Re-Released as "Monsoon"

From it's wonderful opening with the credits on the sand to the Monsoon ending (and the use of Wagner's music for the underwater sequence; the opening of the Rheingold which actually takes place under water) this a great way to spend a little over an hour with two of Hollywoods most entertaining actors; Sondergaard and Carradine are both cast against type and are wonderful. As are Toler, Borg and Birell. A lot of fun!!!!I have the Alpha release which is worn but fine.

John Carradine and Frank Fenton drink a lot and get in fist fights, some over Gale Sondergaard who's a bar owner/madam (?) of a bunch of American bar girls/hookers(?) on a little south sea island. A scene at the beginning when Gale wakes up the girls fascinates me for some reason. Veda Ann Borg is very campy as a two-faced "native" girl. Gale -- that big kitty -- does a great acting job in this silly, fun mishmosh.

In this picture we have a cast of veteran actors, namely: John Carradine, (Mike Clancy) known for his acting as a vampire with Boris Karloff and also Sidney Toler, (Capt. Kruger) who played the role as Charlie Chan in many 1940's serials. Then, Gale Sondergaard, (Marge Wilson) who appeared in many horror films and also with Basil Rathbone in Sherlock Holmes. In this picture the cast is all involved in trying to find 30 million dollars in gold on a sunken ship and believe it or not Sidney Toler plays the bad guy. If you like real old black and white films starring these actors, this is a film you will not want to miss viewing. Enjoy.

This is a quirky hotch-potch of extreme adventure and romantic drama, starting off splendidly at the "Isle of Forgotten Sins", an institution of very attractive ladies threatened with being closed down by authorities, with Gale Sondergaard brilliant as the mistress in charge of a set of very young pretty ladies not to be trifled with, one having a gun and using it. To this blatantly romantic place John Carradine returns with his rival and buddy Frank Fenton to their favourite Gale, and there is a splendid fight between them tearing the whole place to shreds. This colourful beginning could have introduced some interesting Conradian intrigue, but instead it goes gold-hunting the hard way by diving for a wreck. The following intrigue is very thin, and there is only a tremendous storm helping it up. There are many ridiculous elements, it's a cheap B-feature made on a poor budget, which you can see on all the boat scenes - the waters are constantly as stale as in a bath tub. But there are some exotically curious ingredients as well. On this god-forsaken lewd island among bums and wenches a pianist appears playing off-hand Pathétique by Beethoven and a difficult Chopin waltz just like that. He is actually one of the crooks and ends up badly. The music is impressing all through, by a certain Leo Erdödy, and a typical mark by the director Ulmer - he was Austrian and always used advanced music in his films.

It all transcends from a general mess of disasters and murders and reckless fortune huntings into a comedy, and John Carradine should be happy with Gale Sondergaard having the last word.