Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Robert Florey

Writers:

Edgar Allan Poe (story)
Robert Florey (adaptation)

Release Date:

21 February 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Innocent Beauty - this was her wedding eve. On the wall a shadow . . the beast was at large grinning horribly-cruelly. What was Her Fate ?

Plot:

In 19th Century Paris, the maniacal Dr. Mirakle abducts young women and injects them with ape blood in an attempt to prove ape-human kinship...

Plot Keywords:

Medical Student | Ape | Police | Paris | Laboratory

Cast

Sidney Fox	...	Mlle. Camille L'Espanaye
Bela Lugosi	...	Dr. Mirakle
Leon Ames	...	Pierre Dupin (as Leon Waycoff)
Bert Roach	...	Paul
Betty Ross Clarke	...	Mme. L'Espanaye
Brandon Hurst	...	Prefect of Police
D'Arcy Corrigan	...	Morgue Keeper
Noble Johnson	...	Janos The Black One
Arlene Francis	...	Woman of the Streets

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Danish | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Many censors cut parts of the death scenes of the woman of the streets, eliminating her stabbing and her being tied to the cross beams.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the sequence in which the gorilla carries the girl across the rooftops, a few of the shots make it very clear that he's holding a stiff-necked female mannequin and not a real person.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) (#1.21)" (1979)

Soundtrack:

Romeo and Juliet Overture

It's a Mirakleous Performance

Having decided not to do the Frankenstein monster, Bela's next film for Universal was this rather stagey thriller about a demented doctor trying to mix the blood of an ape with a virgin. The story is a bit far-fetched, and Lugosi is as over-the-top as he can get, but for the most part the film is good, solid entertainment. The film is a bit slow, and its has no music in the background. Add to this some stoic acting on the part of the cast as a whole(Lugosi excepted of course)and some frequent, flat direction from Florey(say that a few times quickly). Florey shows flashes of brilliance(many of them coming through the magic of Karl Freund's camerawork) with scenes such as Lugosi's pitch in the carnival tent, Lugosi murdering a street prostitute, and the finale of Paris above ground. Florey is also remarkably mundane in many scenes too, adding little depth to many of the characters as well as not creating enough suspense where always needed. Florey does deliver more often than not, however. This film is a good example of the traditional Universal horror film, as well as vehicle to display the talents of one Bela Lugosi. Look for Arlene Francis(of What's My Line fame) as a prostitute tied to a cross of woodbeams(possibly one of the best sequences in the film).