Horror Film countdown 2013, part 12

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), dir. Robert Florey, Universal Pictures

Edgar Allan Poe was easily one of the most influential American authors, both in horror, mystery, and even science fiction. Adaptations of his work, however, have lacked that certain something that made his works of fiction so spellbinding. Murders in the Rue Morgue was not only the first mystery story ever written, but here it was the first film version of a Poe story for Universal.

This version begins with Camille L’Espanaye (Sidney Fox), her med school boyfriend Dupin (Leon Waycoff), comic relief Paul (Bert Roach), and Paul’s date Mignette (Edna Marrion) visiting a circus. They venture off the midway and find the tent of Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi). Mirakle showcases his ape Eric (played both a real chimpanzee in long shots and a fake looking costume for close ups).

What does Mirakle promise for the price of admission? To hear an ape talk! Yes, it seems that Mirakle found Eric within the deepest part of Africa and learned the language of the apes. From there Mirakle lectures the crowd and how he feels that apes and man share a kinship and Mirakle plans to prove it. The crowd is less than believing, but Camille is fascinated by the man and his monkey. Mirakle is interested too, and nearly gets her address when Dupin puts a stop to it.

Undaunted, Mirakle finds a prostitute later that night and ties her to a table in his lab. He injects her with Eric’s blood. The end result is one dead woman and one irate researcher. Mirakle blames the failure on the woman, swearing he must have pure blood in order to succeed. He orders his assistant Janos (Noble Johnson) to dump the body like the others.

Janos fails to properly dispose of the corpse, as it is fished from the waters not long after he leaves. The police are baffled, but Dupin is interested. Aside from being a med student he also dabbles in crime solving. Taking a blood sample from the dead woman, he deduces that a foreign agent in her blood was the cause of death.

Mirakle succeeds in finding Camille’s address and tries to lure her back to the circus, but Dupin goes instead, driving the mad doctor to send Eric to Camille’s address instead. From there the film plays rather faithful to the story, albeit ending with a scene straight out of King Kong. 

Lugosi is in fine form, even when his dialogue is hammy enough to be declared non-kosher. The subsequent Poe films, however, would make little to no effort to even try to be as faithful to the works. From here we leave the black and white world Universal and head back the Old Country, filled with gothic castles, misty moors, and glorious color. Hammer Studios will strike next.