Murders In The Rue Morgue(1932) - A Study In Hollywood Expressionism

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The chief reason to see this film is of course, Bela Lugosi. Setting the template for scores of mad scientist roles to follow, including his own and others, Lugosi's Dr. Mirakle is one of the actor's finest roles. This was a Lugosi still confident of a career in Hollywood, proud and bombastic. He looks terrific, too, sporting a bushy wig and wild eyebrows that make his career appear savage at times as he gives his great soliloquy about evolution and the origin of mankind to his baffled carnival audience. You absolutely believe every word he sells you about his ability to talk to apes and even his theory of mating ape and woman, which makes his character all the more disturbing. His character looks like a character out of a Poe story, very gothic and shadowy, the camera particularly effective when he lurches forward through the fog towards Arlene Francis. For some reason, this is one of Lugosi's least discussed performances and that's a shame, because i'd rank it well in his top six of all time. It's probably his best mad doctor portrayal, being both passionate and creepy, even suggesting what his Dr. Frankenstein may have been like had he been able to acquire that role as he originally wanted. If anything, Lugosi's performance is reason enough to track down this film and that alone ranks this among the essentials of classic horror.

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Murders in the Rue Morgue was not the box-office success of either Dracula or Frankenstein and served as a nail in the coffin for both Bela Lugosi and Robert Florey. In some respects, it's not totally fair, considering the film does contain some truly excellent moments of classic horror. The scene with Lugosi experimenting on Arlene Francis is certainly one of the great moments of 1930s horror and Lugosi's performance is among the best mad doctor performances of all time. Yet, to this day, Murders in the Rue Morgue is a tough film to love for a great many people. It's dated qualities and stilted acting have ages it badly, even though similiar shortcomings are often overlooked of such contemporary work like the same year's White Zombie, which also can be seen as dated, but wisely utilized what it had to it's advantage, including Bela Lugosi and some wonderful borrowed sets from Universal. Murders in the Rue Morgue is in essence, like a great lost Universal classic. It may not stand as tall as it's other more celebrated contemporaries, but has enough interest to lure the classic film fan in for a unique hour of shadows and fun with one of the genre's greatest actors.


http://monstermania-batcat31.blogspot.com/2011/08/study-in-hollywood-expressionism.html

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ONG8qFw_4&feature=player_embedded

http://monstermania-batcat31.blogspot.com/2011/08/study-in-hollywood-expressionism.html