Not a fan of Edgar Allan Poe? Never read Murders in the Rue Morgue before? That may actually be for the best if you want to enjoy this film. Not that the film itself is terrible BUT its connection to the source material is rather flimsy at best.
The short story is actually a clever little mystery, with a shut-in detective and a gruesome murder and an ‘ourang-outang’ cause why the heck not. It isn’t Poe’s creepiest story (I’m going with The Pit and the Pendulum for that one) but it’s an interesting read and certainly has enough plot to make a movie.
So why does the 1971 film version of Murders in the Rue Morgue have so much else going on?
The plot of Murders in the Rue Morgue basically breaks down like this: It’s Paris at the turn of the century and everything is decadent and frilly and kicky and there’s lots of wine and fishnet stockings and champagne. Cesar (Jason Robards) runs a theater troupe performing a murder play at the Rue Morgue (I see what you did there movie) and – surprise surprise – real murders start happening. Bodies start turning up with acid burned faces, a guy that looks a lot like that fella from Phantom of the Opera flits around the city, swishing his cape and causing mayhem wherever he goes, and Cesar soon comes under suspicion of offing his ex-lovers and the ex -members of his troupe. Could a dead man be behind the deaths? Could a young woman’s dreams be more than just the stressed out nightmares of a stalking victim? Could the wardrobe department have possibly found any floatier, rufflier dresses?
So the original short story had a couple of murders, and a detective, and an ape. The film version has a theater and a bunch of acid and dead people all over the place and a pissed off crazy person and some long dream sequences and an ax and a guy in a monkey suit and another guy in a monkey suit and a sinister plot twist you kind of see coming about a mile away. Obviously if you’re looking for a spot-on adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s story this is not the movie for you.
IF, however, you’re looking for a very 70’s horror film with lots of splashy red/orange blood and poofy 70’s hair and bright colors even in dark dungeons and a hint of synthesizer music in inappropriate places, this is definitely the movie for you.
As I said before, Murders in the Rue Morgue isn’t a terrible film. It has a definite creepy vibe and a good who-dunnit undertone. It works very hard to make you believe you know who is behind all the badness and why they’re on a rampage of violent murdery destruction. If you’ve watched enough thriller/horror/mystery films you’ll have a good idea what is really going on well before you get to the end (which is definitely a good bit of horror fun) BUT you’ll still applaud the filmmakers for their effort.
Murders in the Rue Morgue, 1971
Starring Jason Robards, Herbert Lom, Christine Kaufmann
Directed by Gordon Hessler
Written by Christopher Wicking (screenplay), Edgar Allan Poe (story)
