It Could've Been Great!
This l932 Universal shocker could've been one of the great ones--but an atrocious script and a no-talent cast sabatoge it so that it remains today a fascinating curio from the golden days of Hollywood horror. Make no mistake: this is still a must see movie if just for the stunning photography and lighting of master cameraman Karl Freund.

Bela Lugosi is wonderfully evil and sinister and the sets are outstanding--all of them shrouded in perpetual fog or rain. But that terrible script. For instance, after the monster ape has murdered one woman and carried off another, the excitement stops cold for nearly l5 minutes because of a ridiculous sequence where the hero is questioned by the police as to his possible invovement. Yet, anyone watching him pounding on the door of his girlfriend while she shrieks as the ape kidnaps her would know that he has nothing to do with her dissapearance. Then there's that wretched comic relief which further dulls the excitement. The heroine, portrayed by now forgotten Sidney Fox is probably the most irritating of any female actress ever used by Universal. Her high, nasal voice and insipid grin throughout further increases her display of no talent. In real life, she was reported to be the mistress of Carl Lammele Jr. and for a very brief while got first shot at Universal's top female roles. In real life, she committed suicide in l934. One watches this visually beautiful relic from the past and wishes James Whale had directed it--instead of Frenchman Robert Florey--who had been originally set to direct Frankenstein while Whale was to direct "Murders in the Rue Morgue." Fate stepped in, though, and permitted Whale to give to the world one of the greatest of all movie monsters.

Darwin and Dr. Mirakle are equally unfair to luscious babes and a passionate ape
"I'm not a side-show charlatan...I'm not exhibiting a freak, a monstrosity of nature, but a milestone in the development of life," says the intense Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) to the gape-mouthed ticket buyers seated in the small tent. "The shadow of Erik the ape hangs over us all...I tell you I will prove your kinship with the ape. Erik's blood shall be mixed with the blood of man!" Or, more precisely, with the blood of luscious young Parisian éclairs. It's Paris, 1848. A mad scientist has been abducting young women and injecting them with blood from his ape. They die soon after and are dumped in the Seine. Dr. Mirakle is determined to prove Darwin was right...that young women crave apes. No, no, I mean the other theory, which Dr. Mirakle says can be proved by mixing the blood of ape and human.

This early Lugosi horror movie has a lot of charm, even if at only 61 minutes it doesn't have much time to linger on characterization, plot development or subtlety. It makes up for this by its style. Dr, Caligari could have been the set designer and photographer. (Karl Freund was the cinematographer. He'd worked with Murnau and Lang in Germany). Freund and the director, Robert Florey, are expert in layering moody, threatening, off kilter shots that range from Paris street scenes and roof tops at night, to Dr. Mirakle's dungeon of experimental science (featuring a semi-crucifix on which his assistant strings up the young women), to the dank morgue, to the gaslit carnival and side-shows, to the...you get the idea. Scene after scene stands out, even if the acting, in most cases, doesn't. Lugosi does a fine job as the unctuous, mad Dr. Mirakle. His under-the-chin lighting and the Unified Theory of Bushy Eyebrows Growing Together make Dr. Mirakle a medical man to avoid. The standout actor after Lugosi for me is the amusing, pungent performance of D'Arcy Corrigan as the morgue keeper. Corrigan plays him as aged, gaunt, with a long nose and a sunken mouth, and with long hair parted in the middle and oiled down on either side of his head. He has an unpleasant habit of inspecting his handkerchief every time he blows his nose.

WHAT WAS AMERICA'S FASCINATION WITH APES IN THE MOVIES ANYWAY ??? !!!
This is an OK Universal early horror film starring Bela Lugosi. Lugosi is good and is probably the film's saving grace. It is a short film so, it's not hard to sit through. One of the problems besides the less than stellar acting by the supporting cast is the ape close ups used in this film are of a chimpanzee and it is quite comical to watch the camera shift from ferocious gorilla to this goofy chimp! Maybe that is why they designed a fake ape head for King Kong which would come out in the following year. This film is available on DVD in a 5 film set called Bela Lugosi the franchise collection and the DVD transfer is very good. It's a set worth picking up for all five films included.

A Universal Horror Curio
"Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1932) was a consolation prize for Bela Lugosi and director Robert Florey, who lost out on "Frankenstein." This very loose Edgar Allan Poe adaptation leans toward Caligari-styled expressionism, but gets bogged down in needless romantic and comic relief. Except for Lugosi's bravura performance as Dr. Mirakle, the acting is terribly weak for a Universal chiller. However, there is a brief appearance by Arlene Francis as one of Bela's victims. The film would have been stronger without the post-production tampering and cries for a major re-edit.

ATMOSPHERIC BUT FLAWED UNIVERSAL HORROR
As the story goes, Director Robert Florey was all set to direct Frankenstein. But James Whale who had directed the critically acclaimed films Journey's End and Waterloo was allowed to choose any film he wanted for his next project and he chose Frankenstein, leaving Florey the door prize of Murders in the Rue Morgue. It wasn't all a booby prize however. Florey got a solid cast with Lugosi playing the bushy-haired, uni-browed Dr. Mirakle and Leon Ames playing medical student Pierre Dupin. Ames was a credible actor who made over 100 films and worked in TV including a three year stint on "Mr. Ed." Also in the cast was a young Arlene Francis who plays one of Mirakles early, tortured victims.

Set in Paris of the 1800's, The plot surrounds the Crazy Mirakle's plan to inject females with the blood of a gorilla to prove his theory that man evolved from the ape. While never specifically mentioned, he needs the subject to be a virgin. After one female doesn't work out Mirakle proclaims that it's because her blood was tainted by sin. Wow...talk about preaching celibacy! Mirakle uses a sideshow and his pet ape Eric to scout for new victims when he finds the beautiful Camille in the crowd with her boyfriend Pierre. Eric is attracted to Camille and even tries to choke Pierre when he gets too close to the cage.

Pierre begins investigating the mysterious bodies of women found floating in a river (after Mirakle dumps them through a trap door) and uncovers the devilish plot. This all leads to a standard, town mob hunting the monster as Eric has kidnapped Camille and races across the Paris rooftops with her, leading to the climax.

Besides a good cast, Florey also had Karl Freund along as cinematogragher who held the same position on "Dracula" and who directed the Mummy, also in 1932. Freund's foggy, mist-shrouded sets lend a potent atmosphere to the film. Oddly, the film uses the same music at the opening credits as "The Mummy".

The film has it's flaws though. There was a short, but completely out of place song in the middle of the film. Can you imagine the villagers breaking into song in "Frankenstein" or "Dracula"? It completely throws the tone of the movie off. Then there are the close up scenes of the ape where they cut in actual footage of a gorilla that looks nothing like the guy in the suit.

Overall, however, The film has enough going for it and Lugosi is always a treat to watch.