Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film)
Encyclopedia
Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932
horror film, loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe
's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue
". Bela Lugosi
(one year after his performance as Dracula
) portrays a lunatic scientist who abducts women and injects them with blood from his ill-tempered caged ape. Karl Freund
's cinematography
and Robert Florey
's direction have been praised by critics, characterized as "expressionistic" by Leonard Maltin
. Despite the film being pre-Code
, violent sequences prompted Universal
to cut its running time from 80 minutes to 61 minutes.
This film was produced as a compensatory package for Lugosi and Florey, after both were dropped from Frankenstein
(1931
). Lugosi had originally been cast as Dr. Frankenstein, and the film was to be directed by Florey. Lugosi was subsequently demoted to play the monster, however, which he claimed to have turned down. Florey was soon fired as director in favor of James Whale
.
Box office results were disappointing, and Lugosi's original Universal contract for Dracula
was not extended. Today, however, the film is generally well-regarded by critics and is considered a cult classic
.
. A mad scientist
, Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi
), abducts young virgin women and injects them with ape
blood, in order to create a mate for his talking sideshow ape Erik (Charles Gemora
, the gorilla performer).
Young Pierre Dupin, a young naive medical student and detective (Leon Ames
-credited as Leon Waycoff- in the role of Poe's standard detective icon, C. Auguste Dupin), his fiancee Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox
, in the role of an original character in the short story), and their friends Paul (Bert Roach
) and his girl Mignette (silent film actress Edna Marion
, in her last film role) visit carnival sideshows, including Mirakle's sideshow where he exhibits Erik. Both master and servant are enchanted by Camille, whom Mirakle plans to become Erik's mate. He invites her to come and take a closer look on Erik, who grabs Camille's bonnet. Dupin tries to get it back, when Erik tries to strangle him. Mirakle backs him off and offers Camille to replace the bonnet. But Camille is reluctant and suspicious to give the doctor her address, so, when they leave, Mirakle orders his servant Janos (Noble Johnson
) to follow her.
One of Mirakle's victims, a prostitute, is found dead in a river (a homage to another Dupin-Poe tale, "The Mystery of Marie Roget
"), and is fished out and taken to the police station. Dupin wants to examine the girl's blood, but the morgue keeper (D'Arcy Corrigan
) won't allow. A bribe convinces him to draw some of the blood himself and deliver it to Dupin the next day. Dupin discovers in the blood a foreign substance, also found in the blood of other victims.
Mirakle visits Camille and asks her to visit Erik again, but when she refuses, he sends Erik to kidnap her. Dupin happens to be passing out of the flat, hears her screams, and tries to enter the room but it is locked. The police arrive when the ape has already retreated and Dupin is arrested. Neither Madame L'Espanaye (Betty Ross Clarke
) nor her daughter are found. The police prefect (Brandon Hurst
, in a role based on the character G—from Poe's Dupin stories) interviews three witnesses: Italian
Alberto Montani (Agostino Bogato), German
Franz Odenheimer (Herman Bing
) and a Dane (Torben Meyer
). All of them state that they had heard Camille screaming and also someone else talking in a strange language (The German thinks it was Italian, the Italian thinks it was Danish and the Dane thinks it was German). Camille's mother is found dead, stuffed in the chimney (the fate of Camille herself in the original story) and her hand clutching ape fur. Dupin points out from the fur that Erik himself may be involved.
The police, along with Dupin, run to Mirakle's hideout. Before they arrive, Erik turns against his master and strangles him. He grabs Camille when the police arrives and they chase him. Erik, pursued, is cornered on the roof of a small dockside house. He confronts Dupin, who shoots the animal dead and eventually saves his fiancee from the peril.
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
horror film, loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
". Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
(one year after his performance as Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
) portrays a lunatic scientist who abducts women and injects them with blood from his ill-tempered caged ape. Karl Freund
Karl Freund
Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. was a cinematographer and film director most noted for photographing Metropolis , Dracula , and television's I Love Lucy .-Early life:...
's cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
and Robert Florey
Robert Florey
Robert Florey was a French screenwriter, director of short films, and actor who moved to Hollywood in 1921. In 1950, Florey was made a knight in the French Légion d'honneur....
's direction have been praised by critics, characterized as "expressionistic" by Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
. Despite the film being pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
, violent sequences prompted Universal
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
to cut its running time from 80 minutes to 61 minutes.
This film was produced as a compensatory package for Lugosi and Florey, after both were dropped from Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
(1931
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
). Lugosi had originally been cast as Dr. Frankenstein, and the film was to be directed by Florey. Lugosi was subsequently demoted to play the monster, however, which he claimed to have turned down. Florey was soon fired as director in favor of James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
.
Box office results were disappointing, and Lugosi's original Universal contract for Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
was not extended. Today, however, the film is generally well-regarded by critics and is considered a cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
.
Plot
The film is set in the 19th Century in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. A mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
, Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
), abducts young virgin women and injects them with ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
blood, in order to create a mate for his talking sideshow ape Erik (Charles Gemora
Charles Gemora
Charles Gemora was a former Hollywood makeup artist renowned as "the King of the Gorilla Men" for his prolific appearances in many Hollywood films while wearing a gorilla suit.-Biography:...
, the gorilla performer).
Young Pierre Dupin, a young naive medical student and detective (Leon Ames
Leon Ames (actor)
Leon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing fatherly figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis , as Judy Garland's father, and in Little Women ....
-credited as Leon Waycoff- in the role of Poe's standard detective icon, C. Auguste Dupin), his fiancee Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox
Sidney Fox
Sidney Fox was an American actress.-Career:Fox was born Sidney Leiffer in New York City in 1907 to a Jewish family. Her parents were wealthy until they went bankrupt and Sidney had to get a job as a teenager. She became a dressmaker, and spent her spare time studying law...
, in the role of an original character in the short story), and their friends Paul (Bert Roach
Bert Roach
Bert Roach was an American film actor. He appeared in 327 films between 1914 and 1951.He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Fatty's Magic Pants...
) and his girl Mignette (silent film actress Edna Marion
Edna Marion
Edna Marion, also known as Edna Marian, born Edna Marion Hannam was a vivacious silent motion picture actress who appeared in a number of Hal Roach short comedies.-Biography:...
, in her last film role) visit carnival sideshows, including Mirakle's sideshow where he exhibits Erik. Both master and servant are enchanted by Camille, whom Mirakle plans to become Erik's mate. He invites her to come and take a closer look on Erik, who grabs Camille's bonnet. Dupin tries to get it back, when Erik tries to strangle him. Mirakle backs him off and offers Camille to replace the bonnet. But Camille is reluctant and suspicious to give the doctor her address, so, when they leave, Mirakle orders his servant Janos (Noble Johnson
Noble Johnson
Noble Johnson was an African American actor and film producer.-Biography:Standing 6'2" at 215 pounds, his impressive physique and handsome features made him in demand as a character actor and bit player...
) to follow her.
One of Mirakle's victims, a prostitute, is found dead in a river (a homage to another Dupin-Poe tale, "The Mystery of Marie Roget
The Mystery of Marie Roget
"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", often subtitled A Sequel to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe written in 1842. This is the first murder mystery based on the details of a real crime. It first appeared in Snowden's Ladies' Companion in three installments, November and...
"), and is fished out and taken to the police station. Dupin wants to examine the girl's blood, but the morgue keeper (D'Arcy Corrigan
D'Arcy Corrigan
D'Arcy Corrigan was an Irish-born lawyer who became a character actor, playing some 49 film roles, typically very brief but impressive, such as his ominously silent, darkly shrouded Ghost of Christmas Future in the popular 1938 version of the film A Christmas Carol...
) won't allow. A bribe convinces him to draw some of the blood himself and deliver it to Dupin the next day. Dupin discovers in the blood a foreign substance, also found in the blood of other victims.
Mirakle visits Camille and asks her to visit Erik again, but when she refuses, he sends Erik to kidnap her. Dupin happens to be passing out of the flat, hears her screams, and tries to enter the room but it is locked. The police arrive when the ape has already retreated and Dupin is arrested. Neither Madame L'Espanaye (Betty Ross Clarke
Betty Ross Clarke
Betty Ross Clarke , was an American actress. She appeared in 33 films between 1920 and 1940. Her most noteworthy silent film was the 1920 Fox Film If I Were King with William Farnum...
) nor her daughter are found. The police prefect (Brandon Hurst
Brandon Hurst
Brandon Hurst was an English stage and film actor. He studied linguistics in his youth and began playing in theatre in 1880s. He was nearly fifty years old when he acted in his first film Via Wireless as Edward Pnickney in year 1915 and continued acting in the 129 other films until his death 1947...
, in a role based on the character G—from Poe's Dupin stories) interviews three witnesses: Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Alberto Montani (Agostino Bogato), German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Franz Odenheimer (Herman Bing
Herman Bing
Herman Bing was a German-American character actor and voice actor.Herman Bing was also the brother of Gus Bing .-Biography:...
) and a Dane (Torben Meyer
Torben Meyer
Torben Emil Meyer was a Danish character actor who appeared in over 190 films in a 55-year career.-Early career:...
). All of them state that they had heard Camille screaming and also someone else talking in a strange language (The German thinks it was Italian, the Italian thinks it was Danish and the Dane thinks it was German). Camille's mother is found dead, stuffed in the chimney (the fate of Camille herself in the original story) and her hand clutching ape fur. Dupin points out from the fur that Erik himself may be involved.
The police, along with Dupin, run to Mirakle's hideout. Before they arrive, Erik turns against his master and strangles him. He grabs Camille when the police arrives and they chase him. Erik, pursued, is cornered on the roof of a small dockside house. He confronts Dupin, who shoots the animal dead and eventually saves his fiancee from the peril.
Cast
- Sidney FoxSidney FoxSidney Fox was an American actress.-Career:Fox was born Sidney Leiffer in New York City in 1907 to a Jewish family. Her parents were wealthy until they went bankrupt and Sidney had to get a job as a teenager. She became a dressmaker, and spent her spare time studying law...
as Mademoiselle Camille L'Espanaye - Bela LugosiBéla LugosiBéla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
as Dr Mirakle - Leon AmesLeon Ames (actor)Leon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing fatherly figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis , as Judy Garland's father, and in Little Women ....
as Pierre Dupin - Bert RoachBert RoachBert Roach was an American film actor. He appeared in 327 films between 1914 and 1951.He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Fatty's Magic Pants...
as Paul - Betty Ross ClarkeBetty Ross ClarkeBetty Ross Clarke , was an American actress. She appeared in 33 films between 1920 and 1940. Her most noteworthy silent film was the 1920 Fox Film If I Were King with William Farnum...
as Mademoiselle L'Espanaye - Brandon HurstBrandon HurstBrandon Hurst was an English stage and film actor. He studied linguistics in his youth and began playing in theatre in 1880s. He was nearly fifty years old when he acted in his first film Via Wireless as Edward Pnickney in year 1915 and continued acting in the 129 other films until his death 1947...
as Prefect of Police - D'Arcy CorriganD'Arcy CorriganD'Arcy Corrigan was an Irish-born lawyer who became a character actor, playing some 49 film roles, typically very brief but impressive, such as his ominously silent, darkly shrouded Ghost of Christmas Future in the popular 1938 version of the film A Christmas Carol...
as Morgue Keeper - Noble JohnsonNoble JohnsonNoble Johnson was an African American actor and film producer.-Biography:Standing 6'2" at 215 pounds, his impressive physique and handsome features made him in demand as a character actor and bit player...
as Janos The Black One - Arlene FrancisArlene FrancisArlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
as Woman Of The Streets
External links
- Murders in the Rue Morgue at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...