Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

Paris...at the turn of the century. Inspector Vidocq investigates a series of unexplained murders at a Grand Guignol-type theatre...where the players have suddenly become real-life victims. Based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe.

Director:

Gordon Hessler

Writers:

Edgar Allan Poe (story), Christopher Wicking

Stars:

Jason Robards, Herbert Lom, Christine Kaufmann

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Robards	...	Cesar Charron
Herbert Lom	...	Rene Marot
Christine Kaufmann	...	Madeleine Charron
Adolfo Celi	...	Inspector Vidocq
Maria Perschy	...	Genevre
Michael Dunn	...	Pierre Triboulet
Lilli Palmer	...	Mrs. Charron
Peter Arne	...	Aubert
Rosalind Elliot	...	Gabrielle
Marshall Jones	...	Luigi Orsini
María Martín	...	Madam Adolphe
Ruth Plattes	...	Orsini's Assistant
Rafael Hernández	...	Member of Repertory Company
Pamela McInnes	...	Member of Repertory Company
Sally Longley	...	Member of Repertory Company

Storyline

In Paris, in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Cesar Charron owns a theater at the Rue Morgue where he performs the play "Murders in the Rue Morgue" with his wife Madeleine Charron, who has dreadful nightmares. When there are several murders by acid of people connected to Cesar, the prime suspect of Inspector Vidocq would be Cesar's former partner Rene Marot. But Marot murdered Madeleine's mother many years ago and committed suicide immediately after.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | paris france | france | cult film | suffocation | 

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Taglines:

LOVE and MURDER are the two consuming passions of the Rue Morgue!

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue

Filming Locations:

Seville, Seville, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min 98 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Brooke Adams.

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Goofs

When the murderer flees the theatre after the death of Erik at the start, it is obviously a stuntman, rather than Herbert Lom, who jumps over the fence.

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Quotes

Madeleine Charron: Do you remember what we said in my dressing room the very night it happened? I asked you to set a date for our marriage, didn't I? Well... I'm still waiting.
Rene Marot: Have you any idea, madame, what I look like? No, you find yourself a husband with a face worth looking at. A handsome young lord, like Charron.
Madeleine Charron: I hate handsome men! I hate them, dear. All my leading men are handsome. Why else would a a man want to look into a mirror night after night? All tailor's dummies and empty hearts. All except you.

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Connections

Featured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 2: The Deuce (2006)

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Soundtracks

La Marseillaise
(uncredited)
Written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Sung in the theatre

User Reviews

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (Gordon Hessler, 1971) **1/2

Apart from SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (1969), this was the one Hessler film I was most looking forward to, also because I failed to grab the single opportunity I had had so far to give it a view; the fact that it was, in all probability, the 87-minute cut messed up by the studio (which I would love to watch, if only for the sake of comparison), keeps gnawing at me even now!

Now, for my thoughts on the film: despite an interesting 'revisionist' premise (with its various subtexts) - inspired by but not based on the Poe original - all in all, I found the film rather dull and Hessler's direction disappointingly lifeless, if pictorially valid (as we had come to expect of him by now). Still, one cannot really blame AIP for straying so far away from the main source: as Hessler himself says in the interview on the DVD, everybody already knew the ending to Poe's story - so it would not have 'worked' had they simply adapted this to the screen. Therefore, the writers had to reinvent the plot – and the way they went about it, i.e. 'working' around Poe's very tale (as it's being presented at a Grand Guignol theater) was actually quite ingenious! Having said that, however, what kind of a story do you 'invent' that could center around the stage if not the old 'Phantom of the Opera' routine?! So, I guess, every 'revisionist' adaptation - however novel – has a downside, too!

While I don't really see Vincent Price in either lead role, it's very much true that – as it is - Herbert Lom was basically going through the paces (having been THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA [1962] for Hammer), while Jason Robards' mind was clearly elsewhere. Truth be told, theirs was interesting casting, but I have a hunch it would have worked even better had the two roles been reversed (as Robards himself seems to have suggested during filming!). The rest of the cast – Christine Kaufmann, Adolfo Celi, Michael Dunn and Lilli Palmer – were up to their (mostly unassuming) tasks, if not particularly outstanding.

The dream sequences (rather cerebral for this type of film) drew attention to themselves, particularly through the use of slow motion - and they were certainly effective, if not exactly creepy. As I have already stated, the theatrical and period atmosphere was well captured, in spite of the low budget, though I never felt like I 'was' in Paris (maybe because I knew beforehand that it was actually filmed in Spain?)!

Not having watched the 'original' version, I don't know whether I would have actually liked this 'Director's Cut' more if I had – which I did, by the way, but I somehow expected it to be better (maybe after the overwhelming positive response the recent discovery of this restored cut has generated?). I certainly don't think it holds a candle to Universal's flawed but fascinating 'Expressionist' version of 1932 (not very popular around these boards, I gather?) – though in all fairness, it's not quite the same movie, so there you are!