To prove his theories about the relationship between man and ape, mad scientist Dr Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) has been abducting young women and injecting them with the blood of his gorilla Erik in hopes of creating a mate for him, but so far Mirakle has had no success. After losing yet another girl, Mirakle meets medical student Pierre Dupin (Leon Ames) and his girlfriend Camille L'Espanaye (Sidney Fox) and decides that Camille would be perfect. He tries to entice Camille to go with him, but Camille closes the door in his face, so he sends Erik over the rooftops to fetch her. Fearing for Camille's safety, Pierre rushes to Camille's house only to find her mother dead and Camille missing. However, Pierre has difficulty convincing the police, who think he is guilty, that they must waste no time chasing down Dr Mirakle if they are going to save Camille's life.
'Murders in the Rue Morgue' is loosely based on a short story of the same title by American author Edgar Allan Poe [18091849]. The story, which was published in Graham's Magazine in 1841, was adapted for the film by screenwriters Tom Reed, Dale Van Every, John Huston, Ethel M. Kelly, and Robert Florey (who also directed the movie). Other adaptations of Poe's story include Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) (1954), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) (1971), and The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1986) (1986). Poe's 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' is reputed as being the first detective story and the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
The movie takes place in Paris, France in 1845.
It does seem odd to drop a double homicide into the middle of the film without telling what led up to it. The best that be ascertained is that they were fighting over the prostitute (Arlene Francis). It's been said that the movie was supposed to open with the duel on the waterfront, then go into the scene in Mirakle's lab where the prostitute dies on the cross, then to the waterfront where the body is pulled out of the river, and then to the scene at the morgue where Pierre Dupin is introduced when he asks the morgue keeper for a sample of blood from the latest victim (the prostitute). Only then does the film show the carnival scene where Erik the ape is introduced and Mirakle makes his speech about his theory of evolution. Perhaps scenes in that order would have made more sense?
Well, draw a pint of your own blood and let it set unrefrigerated it for a few weeks. Then inject it back into yourself. You'll quickly find out what rotten blood is. But you're probably looking for an answer in the context of the movie: After Mirakle examines the prostitute's blood, he calls it 'rotten'. Most likely, the girl had some disease, perhaps gonorrhea or syphilis, which made her unsuitable.
It is implied in the movie that he does, but when he acts as a translator in the carnival sideshow, Erik isn't speaking as Dr. Mirakle translates for him. In Poe's story, however, the witnesses to the murders reported hearing two voices, one gruff and one shrill. All agreed that the gruff voice was French, having recognized the words 'sacré', 'diable', and 'mon Dieu'. However, they couldn't agree on the language spoken by the shrill voice, one person claiming it to be Spanish, another Italian, a third French, a fourth German, a fifth English, and a sixth Russian. This gives some credence to the fact that the shrill voice was Erik's and that Erik's owner could actually converse with him. Consequently, it might be deduced that Mirakle could, too.
Dr Mirakle claims to be a real scientist but, because there was no Dr Mirakle in Poe's story, there is no backstory on which to draw.
As Mirakle prepares the unconscious Camille for the procedure, Pierre leads the police to his house. Janos (Noble Johnson) sees them coming and alerts Mirakle, who tells him to hold them off until he's ready. Janos bars the door and tries to hold it shut, but the police shoot him through the door. Meanwhile, Mirakle has released Erik from his cage and calls him over to where he is standing next to Camille with a long needle in his hand. Erik rebels and strangles Mirakle. Erik grabs Camille and carries her out on over the rooftops in an attempt to escape. Pierre grabs a gun from the police, climbs up to the roof, and follows. When he gets close enough, he shoots Erik, who tumbles off the roof and into the Seine. Pierre pulls Camille, who is hanging from the eaves, back onto the roof. They hug each other to the cheers of the crowd gathered below. In the final scene, the morgue director fills out Mirakle's death certificate. He asks the cause of death, and the gendarme replies, 'An ape.'
Yes. 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' is in the public domain and can be downloaded from numerous sites, e.g., here, here, and here.
There are major differences. For example, there is no Dr Mirakle in Poe's story (Erik is owned by a sailor), Dupin and Camille are not lovers, both Camille and her mother are murdered, the gorilla is an orang-outang (orangutan), and there is nothing about the evolution of man from apes. (Poe wrote the story in the early 1840s, but Charles Darwin [1809-1882] first published his theory of evolution in 1859 in On the Origin of Species.
Yes, the opening music for both Murders in the Rue Morgue and for Dracula (1931) (1931) was from the 'Swan Lake Overture', written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky [1840-1893].
No, Erik was played by Charles Gemora, a man in a gorilla suit. Closeups of the gorilla's face where actually those of a chimpanzee.
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- How long is Murders in the Rue Morgue?1 hour and 1 minute
- When was Murders in the Rue Morgue released?February 21, 1932
- What is the IMDb rating of Murders in the Rue Morgue?6.3 out of 10
- Who stars in Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who wrote Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who directed Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who was the composer for Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who was the producer of Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who was the cinematographer for Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who was the editor of Murders in the Rue Morgue?
- Who are the characters in Murders in the Rue Morgue?Auguste Dupin
- What is the plot of Murders in the Rue Morgue?A mad scientist seeks to mingle human blood with that of an ape, and resorts to kidnapping women for his experiments.
- What was the budget for Murders in the Rue Morgue?$190,000
- What is Murders in the Rue Morgue rated?Passed
- What genre is Murders in the Rue Morgue?Crime, Horror, Mystery, and Romance
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By what name was Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) officially released in India in English?
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