MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932)

I've yet to see another incarnation of Edgar Allen Poe's famous tale, and I'm in no rush to. I'm perfectly content with this first 1932 version. Having said that, the film contains plenty of flaws which I'll point out. The film has mostly to do with Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi in yet another crazy wide-eyed role) a scientist who's life has been devoted to one twisted idea: To fuse the blood of man with that of an ape. He seeks only to accomplish this task in order to prove human kinship with the ape. This "scientist" makes his way "trapping the pennies of fools" with a circus show that in his perverted world he calls science.

During a performance, a young spectator by the name of Camille catches the attention of Mirakle's sideshow pet ape: Erik. She comes for a close up view with her boyfriend Pierre, whom Erik attempts to kill out of jealousy. Mirakle knows Erik loves Camille and sends his servant to follow her home.

Mirakle's spare time usually consists of kidnapping women, following women, injecting ape blood into women and so forth. He sends Camille a new hat, which worries Pierre as he knows something is up with Mirakle. We can all sense where this is going. Camille is kidnapped...... Pierre comes to the rescue..... Mirakle gets what he deserves......Erik kills and possibly(?) rapes Camille's poor mother..... You fill in the blanks.

Highly contraversial when first released, when viewed now it is hard to take the storyline seriously. It has become tried and cliche and the number of examples is just enormous. The reason I truly appreciate this film: The sets. MITRM is in many ways, another art film. It's 1845 Paris design is unforgettable. From the beautiful painted sky to the Caligari-ish building scenes, this film is filled with eye candy. I cannot emphasize enough how good the sets are and this is the film's area of strengh.

As I implied, the story is perhaps a little lacking and cliche but it can still entertain you. No one can talk to an ape and make it convincing the way Bela Lugosi can and he delivers the goods. Erik the ape is shown in close up scenes as a real ape, and in other scenes as a guy in an ape suit. The comic relief throughout the film pointlessly beefs up what is already a short running time (the credits roll an hour in) in what could have replaced by Mirakle or Erik beefing up their kill counts. The only big complaint I have about this film is an ever so obtrusive singing scene halfway in, something I feel helps to date the film.

This is one of the more overlooked of the fantastic Universal Horror films but remains one to be seen by all, even if only once. From a technical standpoint, the film evens itself out through bad writing and fantastic art but it's the latter reason for which I enjoy it, not to mention Lugosi's hammy acting and the general atmosphere created by Universal horror films throughout this period. This is a film for which I impose my bias, my love of the style and what is associated with it. A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE