MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932)
Time for a diversion into the rather odd sub-genre of... apes running amok and kidnapping women. Perhaps the whole monster meets girl thing started here; one year before King Kong. Although this cliché extends to all kinds of creature features so it's an interesting progenitor. Where would B-movie nonsense have been without this early horror tale? But this is generally a mad scientist story, one that is concerned with strange ideas about proving the theory of evolution. There are a lot of weird moments included here, even if Bela Lugosi tries his best to keep things focused. It's also pretty dark and sinister even for a pre-censorship feature. Let's take a closer examination...
What kind of ape is involved exactly? They tried their best but the results are a mixed bag. Sometimes it's a man in a costume, and sometimes it's a real chimpanzee. It's not an orangutan as described by Edgar Allan Poe, and it's definitely not a gorilla as described by characters in the film. That being said the lighting and shadows employed to hide these deficiencies are often atmospheric enough to create a compelling creature. Erik the sideshow ape is part of a demonstration run by Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) in which he tries to convince an audience about humankind's link to other primates. It doesn't really go down well with the circus crowd, but of course his plans go beyond public speaking.
The good doctor is going to prove his ideas are true one way or another. There are no prizes for guessing that his plan doesn't involve publishing a scientific paper for peer review. Instead in the style of a vampire he's out prowling the streets of 1800s Paris. Blood is apparently the key to his work... whatever that might be. There are test tubes and glass jars involved though his victims die for reasons that make Mirakle rather angry. One particular instance depicts his experiment on a kidnapped prostitute. After a confusing scene involving two drunken men she's taken away rather easily in his carriage, but wat follows is a pretty sinister death done without music, only her screams.
The rest of the story is less tonally harsh, however this leaves an impression as things go on and the woman's body is pulled from a river. At the carnival one night medical student Pierre (Leon Ames) and his fiancée Camille (Sidney Fox) meet Mirakle and Erik. This of course leads to the ape having a new fascination, coincidentally lining up with the doctor's scheme. There's nothing overtly sexual about the film which goes out of its way to talk about blood transfusions, and nothing more. Still, the connotations are pretty clear. To prove his theories Mirakle must join the cells of human and ape, one way or another. At least it's a pretty original chiller, even if it discards the detective plot of the source material.
Instead Pierre must jump to various conclusions after he's allowed access to samples from the bodies of the recent murder victims. Perhaps the idea was to have different scientific fields clash, with one racing to stop the other. Real, useful, blood chemistry against misunderstood ideas about the common ancestry of different species. On the other hand perhaps it was all just an excuse to have a wild beast running loose across the city rooftops. It's often a patchy affair jumping between comic relief and horror, but when it focuses on the latter things do come together. Lugosi isn't too distinct from his other roles in this period, although his performance is always watchable. The hair is pretty good too.
The rest of the cast is fine, but again it's a sometimes strained mixture of drama and gags. Ames is a likeable leading man and his scenes with Fox are solid enough. It's a functional romance for this kind of fare. Elsewhere the one distinct element from the original story is the way three men argue about what language Erik was 'speaking'. Once the ape commits his own crimes they're questioned by police, having overhearing a disturbance. Of course they all insist it was the language of their neighbours. It's a strange scene right in the middle of a fairly bleak murder, one that kind of derails the story for a good few minutes. Luckily the conclusion soon comes around and things cut back to the chase.
It's a stylish affair, but unfortunately there's no mystery present. If the murderer was just a gorilla and this was used as a shocking reveal, then it could be more engaging. Perhaps that was just too difficult to hide in the marketing, which kind of requires a hook like this. It doesn't really make sense that Mirakle's plan happens to involve a woman Erik is infatuated with. Or that he'd be presenting a publicly staged act that gives away his all motivations. But this isn't exactly a scientific endeavour on multiple levels. It's an oddity but it is entertaining, and there's plenty of strange atmosphere to enjoy.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933)
Elsewhere it's back to a different kind of show, and another story that has multiple screen iterations. Some notable moments also seem to have been transposed into The Phantom of the Opera. Similarly to Dracula and The Mummy in which the romantic elements got mixed up over time, here it's the broken, vengeful, artist idea. Anyway, I digress, for a story about hiding corpses inside of sculptures, it's never really a concept that gets utilised to its full effect. If I had to be brutally honest the best version has always been Carry On Screaming, but that's another story. There are some intriguing elements worth looking into here, even if it's just thanks to the production design and colour effects.
Like the other half of Warner's two-tone horror diptych, Doctor X, this is another hypnotic red and green affair. After having his master-works burned in a fire intended to cash in an insurance policy, Ivan (Lionel Atwill) sets his sights on rebuilding the display. All the misdirection in the world can't distract from the obvious reality of his 'recreated' work. But they try anyway with a plot about suicides and missing persons - alive and dead. If only there was more real tension and atmosphere, in a film that is obsessed with sassy reporter Florence (Glenda Farrell.) Which isn't to say she's not an unusually interesting lead in this kind of affair. However, her antics do become exhausting after a while.
Fay Wray is here just as Florence's room-mate and Ivan's next potential victim. She gets nothing else to do beyond a bland romance, which is to be expected. It should really have spent more time in the spooky wax melting laboratory where all the good sets are hidden. Florence's interest in two of the prior victims, although she doesn't know it yet, is never suspenseful enough. Some scenes, including one in a bootleggers hideout, feel rushed or cut short. Others in which she argues about which stories to print go on for far too long. This is meant to be Atwill's show and he's off screen for much of the running time. Again it's a fun ride, when things pick up, but there's no real mystery to solve for the viewer.
3/5
