Customer Reviews

Murders in the Rue Morgue [VHS]

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As the story goes, Director Robert Florey was all set to direct Frankenstein. But James Whale who had directed the critically acclaimed films Journey's End and Waterloo was allowed to choose any film he wanted for his next project and he chose Frankenstein, leaving Florey the door prize of Murders in the Rue Morgue. It wasn't all a booby prize however. Florey got a solid cast with Lugosi playing the bushy-haired, uni-browed Dr. Mirakle and Leon Ames playing medical student Pierre Dupin. Ames was a credible actor who made over 100 films and worked in TV including a three year stint on "Mr. Ed." Also in the cast was a young Arlene Francis who plays one of Mirakles early, tortured victims.

Set in Paris of the 1800's, The plot surrounds the Crazy Mirakle's plan to inject females with the blood of a gorilla to prove his theory that man evolved from the ape. While never specifically mentioned, he needs the subject to be a virgin. After one female doesn't work out Mirakle proclaims that it's because her blood was tainted by sin. Wow...talk about preaching celibacy! Mirakle uses a sideshow and his pet ape Eric to scout for new victims when he finds the beautiful Camille in the crowd with her boyfriend Pierre. Eric is attracted to Camille and even tries to choke Pierre when he gets too close to the cage.

Pierre begins investigating the mysterious bodies of women found floating in a river (after Mirakle dumps them through a trap door) and uncovers the devilish plot. This all leads to a standard, town mob hunting the monster as Eric has kidnapped Camille and races across the Paris rooftops with her, leading to the climax.

Besides a good cast, Florey also had Karl Freund along as cinematogragher who held the same position on "Dracula" and who directed the Mummy, also in 1932. Freund's foggy, mist-shrouded sets lend a potent atmosphere to the film. Oddly, the film uses the same music at the opening credits as "The Mummy".

The film has it's flaws though. There was a short, but completely out of place song in the middle of the film. Can you imagine the villagers breaking into song in "Frankenstein" or "Dracula"? It completely throws the tone of the movie off. Then there are the close up scenes of the ape where they cut in actual footage of a gorilla that looks nothing like the guy in the suit.

Overall, however, The film has enough going for it and Lugosi is always a treat to watch.

Showing a strong hommage to the silent "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and strangely anticipating "King Kong" in certain sequences, "Murders in the Rue Morgue" is an atmospheric thriller which remains surprisingly gruesome some sixty years after it was made. At the time of its release, the film was considered so grotesque that it ran into considerable censorship trouble in Europe, particularly in England. A very tight running running time (just over an hour) keeps the action flowing, and the laboratory scenes are particularly shuddery. A classic of the genre.

In comparison to such Universal Poe "adaptations" as The Black Cat or The Raven, Murders in the Rue Morgue is almost faithful to the original-almost! Poe used the story as a showcase to introduce C. Auguste Dupin, the first literary detective, to the public. A financially independent recluse and spiritual kinsman of Roderick Usher, Dupin, who solves crimes for his own disinterested ratiocinative pleasure, is called in by the Parisian police whenever it runs up against a brick wall in its investigations. In this case, a woman and her daughter have been brutally murdered under suspicious circumstances, and Dupin is able to show-to the consternation of the authorities-that the culprit was a runaway orangutan belonging to a sailor, and not a human agent.
The studio eliminated Dupin as a character altogether, but retained the Parisian setting, placing the story in the 1840s, as well as the idea of a woman who has been mysteriously killed by an unknown assailant. However, into the straightforward framework of the Poe story, Universal inserted the proverbial 500lb. gorilla in more than one sense of the word, since what the movie boils down to is a woman copulating with a great ape, if anyone stopped to think about it-as I am sure some audience members did, even back then.
The simian in question now belongs to Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi), a mountebank and mad scientist evidently patterned after Dr. Caligari, although the name Mirakle has even deeper roots in the German past, reaching back to the stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann, as fans of Jacques Offenbach's great opera The Tales of Hoffmann will quickly realize. Mirakle's mad scheme is to prove a primitive evolutionary theory by "mating" Erik, his pet primate, with a human female. What would Peter Singer have said? Unfortunately, all of his attempts hitherto have been made with ladies of the street, and have failed when his subjects turned out to be sexually infected. But a light dawns after Mirakle encounters the beautiful, young, and presumably virginal Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox) when she visits his sideshow at a carnival. Doesn't Erik seem attracted to her? Hmmmm...
Most of the great horror films of the early sound period had a latent sexual content all too evident today. But while the Universal productions were for the most part relatively straightlaced for the pre-Code days, Murders in the Rue Morgue is almost improbably scabrous. Not only does it feature interspecies coitus combined with side glances at prostitution and venereal disease, but it includes a scene in which Mirakle tortures a woman bound to a rack that could have come straight out of Sade. (If I am correct, the same prop rack reappears in The Black Cat.)
Here the movie ventures into the netherworld of exploitation subsequently populated by hacks like Dwayne Esper, although it may have been primarily influenced by Allan Dwan's stylishly lurid Paris after Midnight, produced by Fox the year before, which had encountered problems of its own with the Hays Office. In The Monster Show, David J. Skal even goes off on a tangent trying to make Dr. Mirakle into an avatar of the Nazi butcher Dr. Josef Mengele. But the principal resources of Murders in the Rue Morgue are the sadism and racism that already figure explicitly in the Poe story, the staple ingredients of many a production in those years, not crypto-fascism.
This louche little opus was the work of Robert Florey, a rather enigmatic figure in the history of American movies. French born, Florey had a career that extended over several decades in Hollywood, co-directing the Marx brothers' first movie, The Cocoanuts (1929), and assisting Charlie Chaplin in the shooting of Monsieur Verdoux, among other chores. Florey had originally been scheduled to direct Frankenstein with Bela Lugosi as the monster, and had even shot some tests, before Universal prudently handed over the picture to James Whale and Boris Karloff, giving Florey and Lugosi this assignment instead. But one of Florey's brainstorms made its way into the final version of Frankenstein: the windmill in which the monster burns to death.
Certainly Florey provides a very atmospheric recreation of Paris in the era of Louis Phillipe. With the photography of Karl Freund and the stylized décor of Charles D. Hall, the film almost seems a homage to Ufa at moments, especially in the fairground scenes whose indebtedness to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari movie buffs will easily recognize. Yet Murders in the Rue Morgue, in spite of a chase over the roofs of Paris in the last reel, is curiously low on suspense, as comparison with The Mummy, directed by Freund in the same year for the same studio, reveals. Nothing in the Florey even remotely approaches the electric excitement of the scene in the latter movie in which a young archaeologist inadvertently revives the mummy by translating the Scroll of Thoth. An even more interesting comparison would be with Edgar G. Ulmer's later Bluebeard (available on DVD), also with a nineteenth century Parisian setting, made on a much tighter budget than the Florey, but which gets far more imaginative mileage for its money.
Bela Lugosi is good as Dr. Mirakle, but the role does not afford him the opportunity to display his idiosyncratic talents to the extent that his parts in Dracula, White Zombie, or The Black Cat did. Otherwise, the cast is disappointingly bland for such a wildly overwrought subject. But the credits do contain one surprise: the name of John Huston, who shares credit with Tom Reed and Dale Van Every for writing the screenplay of this least Hustonian of movies. Talk about strange bedfellows!

"Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1932) was a consolation prize for Bela Lugosi and director Robert Florey, who lost out on "Frankenstein." This very loose Edgar Allan Poe adaptation leans toward Caligari-styled expressionism, but gets bogged down in needless romantic and comic relief. Except for Lugosi's bravura performance as Dr. Mirakle, the acting is terribly weak for a Universal chiller. However, there is a brief appearance by Arlene Francis as one of Bela's victims. The film would have been stronger without the post-production tampering and cries for a major re-edit.

Paris ~ 1845. A mad scientist seeks to prove the radical theories of the origin of mankind by finding the link between humans and apes. Bela Lugosi is Dr. Mirakle, posing as an eccentric sideshow charlatan. His demonic features and distinctive accent add to his menace. Mirakle roams the streets, searching for specimens. He needs human blood to mix with the blood of his sideshow attraction, Erik the Ape. His victims are the prostitutes of Paris. Streetwalker Arlene Francis (years before "What's My Line?"), stripped to her underwear, is strapped to an X-shaped cross and despoiled wtih Erik's blood. The implied sexual bondage of this scene is unexpected in a '30s film. The director also used this segment for some cryptic religious symbolism. Mirakle finds his victim tainted because her blood is as black as her sins. He folds his hands and kneels in silent homage, just before he dumps her dead body in the river. Mirakle meets the virtuous and pristine Camille at his sideshow and decides she is an ideal specimen for his dark designs. As Mirakle and Erik stalk Camille through the tenements, we find the Poe connection of this strange little thriller. The dark images and twisted lines of the sets suggest Mirakle's insane vision. The foggy gloom of the spooky night is effectively captured on film by the legendary Karl Freund. The special effects, such as they are, are primitive. Erik is obviously a man in a gorilla suit, and head shots of a real ape were used for the close-ups. This prompts some clumsy continuity chuckles. This rather peculiar movie isn't for everybody, but collectors of old horror flicks and Bela Lugosi fans should be pleased. ;-)

This l932 Universal shocker could've been one of the great ones--but an atrocious script and a no-talent cast sabatoge it so that it remains today a fascinating curio from the golden days of Hollywood horror. Make no mistake: this is still a must see movie if just for the stunning photography and lighting of master cameraman Karl Freund.

Bela Lugosi is wonderfully evil and sinister and the sets are outstanding--all of them shrouded in perpetual fog or rain. But that terrible script. For instance, after the monster ape has murdered one woman and carried off another, the excitement stops cold for nearly l5 minutes because of a ridiculous sequence where the hero is questioned by the police as to his possible invovement. Yet, anyone watching him pounding on the door of his girlfriend while she shrieks as the ape kidnaps her would know that he has nothing to do with her dissapearance. Then there's that wretched comic relief which further dulls the excitement. The heroine, portrayed by now forgotten Sidney Fox is probably the most irritating of any female actress ever used by Universal. Her high, nasal voice and insipid grin throughout further increases her display of no talent. In real life, she was reported to be the mistress of Carl Lammele Jr. and for a very brief while got first shot at Universal's top female roles. In real life, she committed suicide in l934. One watches this visually beautiful relic from the past and wishes James Whale had directed it--instead of Frenchman Robert Florey--who had been originally set to direct Frankenstein while Whale was to direct "Murders in the Rue Morgue." Fate stepped in, though, and permitted Whale to give to the world one of the greatest of all movie monsters.

While certainly not the best short story produced by the legendary Edgar Allan Poe the basic outline, although greatly altered in parts makes an ideal vehicle for the talents of horror veteran Bela Lugosi. Fresh from his triumph as "Dracula", the role of demented scientist Dr. Mirakle was a role Lugosi was ideally suited to and he makes the most of his screen time here in an otherwise partly weak production that is big on atmosphere and menace but lacking in real action to keep the story moving. The film compensates for its often slow pace with some splendid camerawork courtesy of Karl Frund who created an almost surreal Paris setting that was heavily influenced by the earlier German Expressionist filmmakers that brought the classic story of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", so memorably to life. Visually a treat for the viewers eye with its elongated architecture, dark lighting and rich attention to detail, the deficiences in the basic story can be often overlooked in this first of many versions of this famous Edgar Allan Poe story.

Set in Paris in 1874 "Murders in the Rue Morgue", tells the unsettling story of a demented scientist and part time side show hypnotist Dr. Mirakle who has been conducting bizzare experiments to do with man's evolutionary process.He believes that he can prove the link that he feels links man's development from apes by the successful mixing of the two species blood. To find specimens for his experiments however Mirakle takes to roaming the mist shrouded streets of Paris at night preying on prostitutes who he then lures to his laboratory. Once they are in his grasp he conducts his sinister experiments whereby he mixes their blood with that of his caged ape Erik who is featured in his sideshow. When predictably the experiments fail Dr. Mirakle unceremoniously dumps the unfortunate women's bodies through a trapdoor into the river Seine below. Alarm starts to rise when the bodies begin to appear at the morgue with the same tell tale surgical marks on their bodies. After his failed attempts Dr. Mirakle chances upon a young girl Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox), who with her fiancee Pierre Dupin (Leon Ames), happens to attend the Doctor's performance with Erik the ape one night at the sideshow. Dr. Mirakle is totally smitten by the young girl and sees her pure qualities as ideal in his experiments to become the "bride of the gorilla" which he believes have failed so far because of the tainted blood of the prostitutes he has been using. When his repeated attempts to make contact with Camille fail, even after he sends her a lavish new bonnet to replace the one Erik stole from her during the performance Dr. Mirakle takes matters into his own hands. After the sideshow moves on he remains in Paris and plots to kidnap Camille for his own use in his experiments. Employing Erik to kidnap the girl the ape breaks into Camille's apartment killing her mother and taking the unconscious girl back to Dr. Mirakle's Laboratory. Pierre in the meanwhile has suspected Mirakle of foul play all along and goes in pursuit of his fiancee's kidnapper. With the aid of the Paris police they manage to break into Dr. Mirakle's laboratory but not before Mirakle is himself killed by Erik who claiming Camille as his own climbs up onto the Paris rooftops in a futile attempt to escape with his prey. Pierre manages to follow him over the dangerously angled rooftops and in the thrilling climax that recalls the famous last scene of "King Kong", shoots Erik and is reunited with Camille.

In many ways "Murders in the Rue Morgue", has a quite sordid and surprisingly sexual nature to it and at the time of release ran into a number of censorship problems that resulted in the story being edited and watered down in parts from its original form. The idea of blending the blood of young women with an ape was bound to be looked upon as quite depraved and unseemly and even today the scenes in Dr. Mirakle's lab where he has the young prostitute (Arlene Francis),tied to an "X" frame while he opens her veins is quite sexually charged and very disturbing. The scene of the girl screaming in pain is not minimalised at all and is without a doubt the most disturbing image from the film. Dr. Mirakle's complete lack of feeling or even sympathy for his unfortunate victims also lends this film a sinister edge as well. Bela Lugosi was horrifically made up for this role with curly ruffled hair and eyebrows that join in the middle and combined with his piercing eyes creates an unforgettable horror image. Director Robert Florey here works wonders with a slow moving story and in all their work together teams well with Bela Lugosi. Earlier deprived of helming the classic "Frankenstein", here he definately has a lesser story to work with but makes the most of projecting a sinister quality in particular with Lugosi's character. The film's great age is betrayed in its special effects with the disjointed shots of Erik the Ape who is obviously a man in a gorilla suit for the long shots and then in the closeups is a real ape of a lighter colour who bares no resemblance to the ape in the longshots. That aside it's a production strong on atmosphere and fairly low of suspense from Universal's golden age of horror that will still please film buffs. The basic story has proven popular with film makers and has been remade at least 3 times in later years.

While Bela Lugosi will always be remembered for his more famous roles such as "Dracula", "The Raven", and "White Zombie", his work in this film given the characters limitations, is first rate and goes a long way towards explaining why he will always be considerd one of filmdom's horror greats. The premise of this story may surprise you with its very blatant sexual elements but all in all it is an enjoyable if not top rate horror effort from Universal Studios, the legendary home of Hollywood's unforgettable horror films and stars. Enjoy

The unibrow mad scientist is a mad Darwinian who wants to prove Man's link to the ape by injecting blood from a handy ape to a woman, thus creating a new hybrid species. Don't let the fact that Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) works at a carnival parttime make you think he's less sinister. No sirree.

After killing off a prostitute or two, quite gruesomely in the Universal Pictures tradition, [spread-eagled woman on a large wooden "X" played by Arlene Francis) he goes after Camille (Sydney Fox). She's just a bit too "delightful" and insipid in this role.

The story frankly is not that great and somehow based on E. A. Poe's story, Murders of the Rue Morgue.

What is great about it is the atmosphere and the (for the time) experimental shots and effects done with lens and camera. The quick succession of crowd shots, closer and closer, will remind the viewer of TV, decades before the first now-familiar black & white idiot box now in most homes.

Bela's performance is a bit overdone. The make-up was intended to make him look crazy but in fact is silly -- the mussed up hair and the unibrow is a bit much.

The whole police investigation, while meant to be humorous, greatly slowed the film. Rather than listening to "the voice" and witnesses saying it was in German, Dutch or Italian, Pierre's girlfriend is getting prepped for some monkey-business. Our hero should have broke free and ran!

I understand the great horror director James Whale was once considered to direct this film, but thankfully chose to do Frankenstein instead!

Not his best -- but fascinating to any student of film.


The Bela Lugosi Collection (Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven / The Invisible Ray / Black Friday)

This 1932 horror classic is revered by cinephiles today. In its own day, it was something of a flop. Directed and adapted from the original Poe tale by Robert Fleury, it had been altered in ways that would seem to guarantee box office success. Like the previous year's FRANKENSTEIN, the film centered around a mad scientist attempting to unlock the mystery of life (with a nod to theories of evolution, likely still controversia amongl--and vaguely horrific for-- the moviegoing public itself). Throw in a little romance (that did not occur in Poe's source tale) involving a dashing young medical student (Leon Ames! Who'da thunk it?) and the young lady who will become the victim of said mad scientist and his gorilla accomplice, and you should have a hit on your hands.

And you had Bela Lugosi, fresh from his success in DRACULA, onhand to play the bizarre Dr. Mirakle. How could you go wrong? Well, id did. Who really knowswhy films bomb or succeed? But here's one theory. FRANKENSTEIN at least stuck to the creation of human life from reassembled HUMAN body parts. That may have been easier for some audiences to take than implied, uh, monkeying around between species. The nature of Mirakle's plot here is actually a little vague. Does he hope to see progeny produced from a liaison between human and ape. Or is he simply trying to prove, as some have suggested, that there is "kinship" between the species? Well, the fact that he can communicate with "Erik" the ape, already proves that.

The movie is something of a grab bag of themes and.well, just vague notions that were percolating culturally at the time. As noted, it lifts a bit from FRANKENSTEIN, while it anticipates KING KONG. Casting Bela Lugosi after his success as Dracula was, on the one hand, just smart casting. But it was also trading on an image that he had created of a particularly malevolent, foreign (no one can figure out where Dr. Mirakle comes from) Old World force of evil. (And that might have a certain resonance among a somewhat xenophobic American audience.) Even the name "Dr. Mirakle" is an apparent nod to E.T.A. Hoffmann and to the Bizet opera based on his tales. But perhaps its biggest artistic debt is to THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and to German Expressionist cinema in general. For the time, those rooftop scenes are pretty darn spectacular--and spooky. Karl Freund's cinematography and the art direction more than make up for the bad gorilla costume and the occasional hammy acting.

As a distillation of all that brewing in the collective unconsciousness of the early 20th Century, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE a fascinating artifact.

The Bottom Line:

Murders in the Rue Morgue, based on what is arguably the world's first detective story, is one of those "classic" universal horror films that's not actually a classic; it's mercifully short but the denouement is underwhelming, the acting hammy, and the characters underdeveloped.

2/4