MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is one of the more faithful adaptations of an Edgar Allen Poe story, and the filmmakers manage to fill in the "gaps" in the story (with scenes that aren't actually IN the short story itself, but serve to add to the movie in the way that such scenes SHOULD); the director's flair helps keep things interesting (the scene where the heroine is talking to her suitor while on a swing is the perfect example: the director takes an innocuous bit of exposition and makes it a memorable moment). The biggest problem I had was with the elderly chimp doubling for a gorilla in the closeups: having watched truly Remarkable Great Apes like Koko the gorilla, Chantek the orangutan and Nim Chimpsky the chimp COMMUNICATE with Humans (all via Sign Language), it's nigh impossible to watch this kind of amateurish misdirection and just shrug it off.

I am a huge fan of Bela Lugosi. Many know him best for his work in Dracula and WHITE ZOMBIE, or even as Ygor in the FRANKENSTEIN sequels. Some would judge him poorly for his starring roles in cheap "poverty row" b-flicks in the late 30s and early 40s. For my money, though, some of his absolute best work was done in a trio of movies done for Universal in the wake of Dracula, all of which were based (very loosely) on Poe works. This movie (along with THE BLACK CAT and THE RAVEN) epitomize some of the best horror of the 30s and feature a style and subject matter which would be stamped out in the preceding years by a Production Code that censored horror films due mainly to this trio of shockers.THE BLACK CAT has its' occult tones. THE RAVEN has its' torture. This movie plies its' trade in a current of sexuality that is surprising to see in a movie from this era. Beginning in the opening scenes of a carnival show, where we meet our main heroes as they make suggestive remarks and oggle the exotic dancers right in front of their ladies. There is a scene where our heroine lies rather seductively while her beau embraces her and professes his love. The coup de grace, though is one of the best scenes in the movie. Lugosi watches from his carriage as two vagabonds knife fight over a prostitute. When the violence has ceased and both men are dead, Lugosi emerges from the fog and shadows like Jack the Ripper to kidnap the woman and bring her back to his lair. Cut to a scene straight from a men's pulp cover as she is tied up in bondage while Lugosi performs his devious experiments on her. It would almost directly because of this string of movies that the censors would crack down on horror and we wouldn't see these tones again for 30 years.The movie revolves around Lugosi as Dr. Mirakle. We meet him at a carnival as he espouses his theories of evolution and introduces the audience to his ape, our missing link ancestor. Of course, the audience reacts in shock and accuses him of heresy. Seems Lugosi is interested in kidnapping women in the hopes that he can find the right one to bond her blood with his apes to prove his theories of Darwinism.Lugosi is spectacular in this movie, exuding sinister villainy. The aforementioned scene as he emerges from the shadows is so well done, followed by his dastardly experiments in his dungeon as he tells the hooker to hush up while he jabs her with needles. What I particularly admire is that he avoids many of the "Lugosi clichés" in this role and plays one of his more unique and memorable characters.The directing and cinematography are also top notch, featuring the work of the legendary Karl Freund. He brings his Expressionistic touch to this film and we see the usual flourishes with shadow and shape, especially in the set designs of the city.There are some things that draw this film back from being higher rated, though. As is typical in 30s horror, there are some bad attempts at humor which just doesn't convey to a modern audience, particularly in the scene where they argue over what accent the doctor has during the inquiry.There seemed to be a very common use of apes during horror in this period. I can't really put myself into the shoes of the audience at this time to know what they felt about primates. There are so many horror films involving apes at the time that I can only imagine they were still mysterious monsters that created a primal sense of fear, rather than the beautiful animals that we now know as our closest kin. The final act, in particular, brings this movie down for me. I would rather have seen a last showdown between Lugosi and Dupin (our hero). Instead, it becomes a cheap copy of KING KONG, alternating camera shots between a guy in a bad suit shot in fuzzy focus and actual shots of the "gorilla" (was the audience actually that uneducated that they didn't know the difference between a gorilla and chimp?).This still remains one of the best horror movies of the 30s.

The horror for a young girl held prisoner by a mad scientist today would be that she wouldn't have a cell phone in her hand, but in the case of the poor prostitute here (Arlene Francis), you really feel fear for her. She's first seen screaming as two drunken men fight over her, and all of a sudden Bela Lugosi is approaching her, a nefarious close-up dominating his saunter towards her. The next thing you see is her being held hostage, tied to a cross, screaming in horror. The chills aren't only on her body, but in the viewers as well, as the photography and tense music and editing make the horror all the more real. Lugosi is determined to prove the connection between man and ape, and he is first seen explaining that to an audience which includes the heroine (Sidney Fox). "Your blood is rotten!" Lugosi screams at the poor unfortunate street walker, but he had originally set his sights on Fox and has his man- servant locate her so he can have his gorilla kidnap her for more nefarious experimentation.In a very short running time, the Universal horror classic really makes an impression, and even with his Chico Marxx like hairdo, Lugosi is absolutely frightening. Who'd think that an early 30's horror film without blood, throat slashing and body parts being ripped off could be so frightening? Of course, the music of "Swan Lake" is heard in the background as it was for all of the early Universal horror films, and in playing it rather slowly makes it all the more haunting. The photography resembles the silent German expressionism of films like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "Nosferatu" and in a way, this makes it even spookier than "Dracula" and "Frankenstein". A re-make in 3-D pales in comparison to this.

Murders In The Rue Morgue casts Bela Lugosi as one of the many mad scientists he played in his long career. To make ends meet he has a carnival act, but it's really a blind for some gruesome experiments involving sex. InterSpecies sex that is.If Charles Darwin is correct and man is related to the other primates than it follows, reasons Bela apes should be looking to mate with man given the proper stimulation. So for his horny gorilla he kidnaps women and injects them with simian blood. In the Paris of 1845 Bela's experiments are working pretty good as his ape is let loose on these injected women and the young women of Paris are in danger. Women of all classes as streetwalker Arlene Francis discovers to her tragic regret.King Kong never eyed Fay Wray with more lust than Bela's simian had when he was checking out Sidney Fox. In fact King Kong should prove the hypothesis Lugosi was advancing. The climax of Murders At The Rue Morgue is very similar to King Kong with Leon Ames playing the Bruce Cabot part.Some really great sets and beautiful cinematography are the main attraction of Murders At The Rue Morgue which bares only the slightest resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe's story. Lugosi is fabulously sinister and lustful, he's checking out Fox and the others himself. It's not Dracula for him, but what is?