Jul 221932
 
three reels

Medical students Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff) and Paul (Bert Roach) take in a traveling carnival with their girlfriends, Camille Lā€™Espanay (Sidney Fox) and Camille’s sister (Betty Ross Clarke). There they see a gorilla, named Erik, kept by the severe Dr.Mirakle (Bela Lugosi). At the end of his lecture the four ā€œyouthsā€ approach the cage and Erik takes Camilleā€™s bonnet. Itā€™s clear he likes her, which makes Mirakle interested in her. Heā€™s a mad scientist who goes out at night, and with the help of his strange assistant, Janos (Noble Johnson), kidnaps women and injects them with gorilla blood in the hopes of proving a connection between humans and apes. So far, it hasnā€™t gone well, leaving only dead women floating in the river, but perhaps Camille will be a closer link.

One factor that elevates ā€˜30s horror above most that has been made since is German expressionism. These movies were not meant to be taken literally. Sets were built and backgrounds painted that adhered to dream logic, not reality. Rooms would be oddly shaped, large but lacking in furniture, with sloping ceilings. Building and whole cityscapes resemble something out of Lovecraft. And scripts would follow this. It didnā€™t matter what the evil scientist was doing, only that it gave the viewer the feeling of something deeply wrong.

Murders in the Rue Morgue is all expressionism, and for a change, that not only includes the dark and sinister, but also the bright and happy. The romance is presented with flowers and swings and recitations of poetry, none of which match how it would be in reality, but which do feel like love. Of course more of the expressionism is in the darkness, with misshapen buildings and peculiar angles (shot by the masterful Karl Freund). The characters and script keep to that dream-state (you didnā€™t think you should be taking a gorilla kidnapper literally, did you?). Lugosi is over-the-top as the obsessed scientist, as he should be. Janos is an unexplained and unexplainable fiend. And the torture scene shows little, but feels far more intense than anything in Saw.

I was pleasantly surprised by our young hero and damsel in distress. Universal studios had difficulties with these sorts of roles. Take a look at Dracula and The Mummy; the ā€œheroesā€ are so bland I am continually disappointed that the monsters donā€™t shred them. Dupin and Camille pale next to Mirakle and his team, but they donā€™t fade away. Thereā€™s some life and energy to them, enough for me to root for them.

The only real problem with Murders in the Rue Morgue is that there isnā€™t enough of it. It is too short, but also it sometimes pulls back when it should plow ahead. And to explain that Iā€™m stuck doing what I hate which is repeating what so many others have said, but Iā€™d be remiss in skipping over the production of this film, so here goes. Murders in the Rue Morgue was set as a low-budget film, using the title and a few bits and pieces from the Poe story, but with a brand new story. Eventually George Melford (director the Spanish language Dracula) was given the job of director. Robert Florey was set to direct Frankenstein, from his own script, with Lugosi planned for the role of the doctor. Studio bigwigs, meaning primarily Carl Laemmle Jr., wanted Lugosi for the part of the monster, which made neither Florey nor Lugosi happy. It didnā€™t matter though as James Whale was currently a golden boy at Universal thanks to his money-making work in melodramas, so he was given his choice of projects and he took Frankenstein, booting Florey to Murders in the Rue Morgue, which booted Melford onto a couple bottom barrel films. Whale wanted Karloff, so Lugosi was booted down to the lesser project as well. However, Florey fought off some poor suggestions from producers, managed to increase the budget, and got Murders in the Rue Morgue made his wayā€”made but not released. Once it was finished, the studio panicked from the gruesome murders and tortures and cut between 10 and 21 minutes, now lost. They also shuffled the scenes about moving the kidnapping and murder of the prostitute from the opening to later in the picture.

Murders in the Rue Morgue is a good picture, but it might have been more. 20 minutes of additional ghastliness would have done the trick.