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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HORROR FROM THE 1950'S, April 2, 2005
I love "PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE".My VHS copy is battered,battered...I hope that, soon ,we'll have a DVD version available.I saw this film in 1955-with 3D glasses-when I was a small boy ( 9 years old) at an old movie theatre still standing today in my home town.It was one of the first horror films that I saw and until today it gives me the willies.KARL MALDEN(with a beard)as the scientist-cum-zoo keeper who allows an equally deranged "Thing" to terrorize the streets of Paris is magnificent(I really like his over-the-top performance).Directed by veteran filmmaker Roy Del Ruth,was scripted by Harold Medford&James Webb and is loosely based on the famous short story by Edgar Allan(ALLAN,not 'Allen') Poe,"THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE".Steve Forrest(Dana Andrews's brother)impersonates the detective created by Poe:Dupin.Claude Dauphin,a distinguished french stage&cinema actor portrays a typical police inspector from the Surete and Patricia Medina is wildly pursued by Malden's "Thing".How beautiful she was.I'm still terrified by two scenes of "THE PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE",but I will not reveal it;you'll have to see for yourself.Definitely,a great horror flick.There's no Rue Morgue in Paris.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very fun flick...but better in the original 3-D format, March 19, 2004
This has always been one of my favorites, though some of the acting is a bit hammy. It's atmospheric, with lush color and probably one of the best gorilla suits ever seen. I was finally able to see it in the original polarized 3-D version last year at the World 3-D Expo in Hollywood, which was a real treat. Star Steve Forrest attended the screening! The film isn't nearly as interesting when robbed of the stereoscopic aspect; but the price is right. If you have the chance, try to catch one of the rare 3-D screenings..
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intensely Creative and Entertaining Mystery, July 6, 2006
The set designs provide the real atmosphere in this film based on Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders In The Rue Morgue" as a series of beautiful women are brutally murdered and the suspect is chased through the gas lighted streets and rooftops of turn-of-the-century Paris after each killing. You can imagine this film tried to catch the feel of 1953's HOUSE OF WAX. Both films were made in 3-D. However, PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE lacks the intensity and absorbing morbidity of that film. Composer David Buttolph scored both films but his brilliant score for HOUSE OF WAX is unfortunately unequaled here lacking a certain fear factor that this film terribly needed. PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE has certain campiness about it bolstered by the performances of Karl Malden's exaggerated sociopathic zoologist and Claude Dauphin's perfunctory and languorous police inspector. On the other hand, Steve Forrest performance as a dedicated and resourceful psychology professor is very energetic and charismatic and really gives this film much needed vivacity. Steve Forrest is the main suspect of the murders under Dauphin's inept investigation and this is the catalyst that moves the story as we once again have "the wrong man" accused of these crimes and the audience clearly knows better. Steve Forrest is probably one of Hollywood's biggest failures. When an actor possessing such charm, charisma and screen presence fails to go on to greater things one questions the overall system. But that is another issue. Here, Steve Forrest saves this film along with Bernard Tuttle's atmospheric art designs. Roy Del Ruth's directing is somewhat pedestrian with the exception of the knife throwing sequence at the beginning of the film. The images of an intensely unhinged looking Paul Richards, the knife thrower, tossing those blades towards his female partner on stage are brilliantly filmed and very suspenseful. This scene immediately captures the interest of the viewer. Richards has the look of a man on the verge of insanity and that foreboding look will usher in the killings that will follow. Juxtaposed to this are Steve Forest and his students out on the town in the audience watching the act and enjoying the gaiety of the surroundings unknowingly innocent to the fact that they will be drawn into the vortex of these murders. Remarkably this film works well and never fails to entertain. I like it.
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