in 1912 and a stern old greek general find himself trap on the isle of the dead after an outbreak of the dreaded plague . when the front office at rko picture inform producer val lewton that boris karloff have be procure to appear in his next suspense film and he wasn not entirely pleased . karloff be famous for his portrayal of horrific monster and mummy and sensationalist creation not at all in tune with the psychological thriller for which lewton be note with very low budget and he be able to fashion fascinate film in which the atmosphere be every bit as important a the plot . luckily and karloff turn out to be an inspired choice . determine to show that he be a skilled actor ( actually and he be a very fine and talented performer ) he be completely in sync with what lewton envisage and give a nuanced portrayal of an essentially decent man who find himself slowly drive to a sort of despair by the force around him . he become the heart of a film which wisely save it shock for the last few minute and have build up to the eerie climax slowly and inexorably . lewton be very pleased with karloff work and arrange two more collaboration . with only two week leave in film isle of the dead and karloff have to be hospitalize for serious back problem . on his release from hospital and he find lewton be all prepared to film the body snatcher ( 1945 ) . karloff give another wonderful performance and before finally finish isle of the dead . the following year karloff star in lewton bedlam ( 1946 ) and complete the trio of very tidy thriller . karloff co star give him good support and especially ernst deutsch a a military doctor while alan napier and katherine emery a a british consul and his invalid wife while helen thimig a a superstitious greek peasant while and little skelton knaggs and who in a tiny scene with only a few word be able to make his cockney tinker character come alive . ellen drew and marc cramer handle the romance and which fortunately do not intrude too much on the story . the viewer and in the course of watch isle of the dead and will discover much about the medical state of catatonia and as well a the monstrous vorvolaka and part vampire part werewolf and which haunt greek nightmare . lewton base his idea for this film on a painting he have see a a boy in russia and arnold böcklin darkly allegorical island of the dead ( 1880 ) and which be show behind the open credit of the film . this somewhat sinister painting be also the inspiration for sergey rachmaninoff celebrate symphonic poem and the isle of the dead ( 1909 ) . incidentally and the conflict which be the background to the film be the balkan war of 1912 and in which the balkan league ( greece and serbia and bulgaria and montenegro ) attack the ottoman empire and destroy most of it hegemony on the european continent . begin in october and end in december and it be short and bloody . however and trouble in constantinople start hostility up again in january of 1913. it finally end in may and with the turk once more decisively defeat . although the empire be leave very much weaken and the war solve very little else . in june and the victorious party begin fight amongst themselves and with greece and serbia trounce bulgaria by august . greece end the two short war with crete and part of macedonia and epirus add to her territory and the new state of albania be carve out of old ottoman land . but ancient animosity be arouse and the entire peninsula lay wait for the next international incident and which obligingly take place 10 month later at the bosnian capital of sarajevo .