Murders in the Rue Morgue Reviews

This was the fourth MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE brought to the screen, following the 1914 silent version, the first sound adaptation in 1932, and a 3-D version in 1954 (renamed PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE). Based on Edgar Allan Poe's famous tale in name only, this film stars Jason Robards, Jr., as Parisian theater owner Cesar Charron, who is producing a Grand Guignol play titled "Murders in the Rue Morgue." His daughter, Madeleine (Christine Kaufmann), has recurring nightmares reminiscent of the play, only these dreams always end with a man in an ape costume swinging towards her, then falling to his death. After a series of murders among several of the theater company's former actors, the evidence points to Marot (Herbert Lom), once Charron's partner, who murdered Madeleine's mother years ago because she spurned his love and threw acid in his face, disfiguring him. It had been believed that Marot committed suicide following the murder, but his resurfacing proves that the suicide had just been an act. Marot talks Madeleine into meeting him at a secluded estate, where he confesses that he is in love with her because she so closely resembles her mother. Unbeknownst to either of them, however, Charron has followed his daughter to the estate, where he attacks Marot and kills him. But once again Marot has faked his death and returns to the theater one night, dressed in an ape costume to avoid detection, to carry out his revenge. Although it has little to do with Poe (few Poe films really do), MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is a surprisingly effective period piece that boasts an intriguingly complicated structure, shifting back and forth from reality, the stage, dreams, and flashbacks. Worth seeing.