Moreau Gay?
Heavily implied?
share[deleted]
MovieChat Forums > Island of Lost Souls Discussion > Moreau Gay?
Charles Laughton's portrayal of Moreau did seem rather camp, but I think those effeminate mannerisms and speech inflections were meant to suggest decadence and depravity, and would have been seen as such by 1930s audiences. Laughton gave a similar, though brief, performance as Emperor Nero in The Sign of the Cross (1932).
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
LOL! I thought the same thing myself...
shareOK, I rolled up my sleeves and figured I'd get to the bottom (no pun intended) of this. The following comes from the IMDB mini-biography of Lawtons' wife, Elsa Lanchester:
She continued stage work and became associated in 1927 with a rather self-possessed but keenly dedicated actor, Charles Laughton. He appeared with her in three of four films Lanchester did in 1928. Three of these were written for her by H.G. Wells. They did a few plays as well and wed in 1929. According to Lancester, after two years, she discovered he was homosexual but they remained married until his death in 1962.
Kind of blows Scotbpens' theory out of the water. His "gayness" seemed a bit too authentic to be an act. Maybe this explains why Lawton performed the same way as Emperor Nero.
Throwing a little more fuel of the fire of Nero being a flamer (LOL), if you happen to catch an UN-censored print of Sign of the Cross, notice carefully that Nero has a naked male slave draped languidly against his throne during some of the scenes at the forum.
Similarly, the infamous milk bath scene with Claudette Colbert as Poppea carries a strong suggestion of a lesbian coloring.
"If you don't know the answer -change the question."
You can't simply attribute to this Laughton having been gay himself. It has no bearing. He gave many a performance in which he played firmly heterosexual men - and did a fine job. If there's any sense of campness about the performance, it's there for a reason - he put it there. From what I've seen of Laughton so far, and I'm by no means a scholar, he is much too good an actor to let something like this slip in a performance. In his down time, sure, but not on screen, not without cause.
shareis Richard Arlen straight in the movie? it seems he is. he has a fiance, but he doesnt have sex with the panther woman while i was watching movie.
is Kathleen Burke straight in the movie? she seems to be, but maybe she's into bestiality because she was originally a panther.
Is Bela Lugosi straight in the movie? he lives with all the male beasts, but i didnt see him having sex.
gaygaygay blahblahblah
Lolz!
shareLolz!
shareAnother person desparately looking for some kind of "gay sub-text" in an older movie.
Charles Laughton himself was gay, or least bi-sexual. That doesn't mean every character he played in every movie he was ever in is supposed to be gay.
Exactly.
Plus, how is it implied 'heavily' or otherwise? He explains why Lota will not mate with him but he's clearly lascivious towards her. His 'ultimate' expression, his triumphant project, wasn't a perfect 'man-beast', it was a panther woman.
People are just keen to find homosexuality everywhere. Like they're obsessed or something.
"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."
One of the experts speaking on the DVD extras mentioned how Laughton was "channeling" Oscar Wilde, whose trial - so said H.G. Wells - influenced the novel. Whether or not he was gay, he certainly was a sexual "other".
I want to shake every limb in the Garden of Eden
and make every lover the love of my life
not necessarily a sexual "other".
Moreau's appearance- the strange beard, the moustache, the stumpy body- in many ways makes him look more like one of the animals he has transfigured than the "conventional" humans in the film.
There is no reference to the character Moreau being gay either in the novel or film. Charles Laughton plays him as crazed, flamboyant, and psychotic. ....why that would suggest he's gay, I don't know....most crazed, flamboyant, and psychotic men are straight. Laughton's performance here is another testimony to his range as an actor. Compare this with his performance in The Hunchback Of Nortre Dame or the Roman senator in Spartacus...he was an incredibly talented actor.
share