Bezenby So, what were Italian crime movies like before they realised that they had to put Maurizio Merli in there, with the funky music and the slapping about of the dames and the violence and what not? Like this I guess, which starts of like the most boring film in the world and then actually manages to turn things around and be entertaining. Honestly. First time I tried to watch this I switched it off after the first half hour. Second time I fell asleep. Third times a charm! In Naples, some guy from the treasuary is sent to Capri to find out whose smuggling drugs in the area. Is it the sexy night club singer? Or that guy who keeps following him about? How about Boris Karloff? Probably, right? After rather a lot of talking, things pick up when the agent's daughter gets kidnapped by Karloff. Why you would bring your family on an assignment is beyond me, but that's what happened.Also, this guy was undercover but could be seen at any time boarding a ship full of armed cops but then they didn't realise that was him later when he turned up claiming to be from a gang in Genoa? I'm guessing the drug runners were sampling their product a bit too often.Things pick up further when a dog outsmarts Boris and finds the kid, some double crosses are thrown in for good measure and there's even a very slow car chase. Not bad for an ancient Euro crime film, could have done with a funky soundtrack and Massimo Vanni though.Capri doesn't appear to have changed in the slightest in the time between this film being made and me visiting there in 2001. Even Boris Karloff was still there!

Rainey Dawn This movie I liked "ok" it's really not worth watching except to watch Boris Karloff as the quietly wicked character Don Gaetano. Boris, like always, is good but the story and some of other actors are not all that grand.This film really is for die-hard Karloff fans... but maybe not so much so for fans of the older crime-dramas. If you do decide to watch this one just know the story and most of the actors are lame but Karloff is great! It's really one of those movies to watch if you can't find anything else better to watch or if you are really in the mood for something different to view from Boris Karloff.4/10

wes-connors "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

whpratt1 "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!