Mord in der Rue Morgue

Jason Robards ("Once Upon a Time in the West"), in a classic case of "What the Hell is HE doing here?", plays Cesar Charron, leader of a theatrical troupe in turn-of-the-century Paris whose troupe is currently doing a gory stage production of the Poe story. Then, people who used to perform with this company turn up dead, all with acid thrown in their faces. The inspector on the case (Adolfo Celi, "Thunderball") is always a couple of steps behind the psychotic, vengeance-seeking killer, naturally.

A truly international production, with cast & crew coming from all over the world, this adaptation of Poes' work tells a decent enough story, but a foregone conclusion REALLY takes the edge off the "mystery". Robards is badly miscast (although even he felt so), and gives one of the lesser performances of his career. Not that much of the cast really do their best work here, anyhow. Still, Celi is fun, and the lovely Christine Kaufmann ("Town without Pity") is appealing as the ingenue of the tale. Michael Dunn ('The Wild Wild West') is amusing, as always, and Herbert Lom ("The Dead Zone") is fairly menacing, but even the antagonist that he plays isn't one of his more memorable. The abrupt ending isn't particularly satisfying.

It's really the "bells & whistles" of this production that make it as watchable as it is: the production design and cinematography are effective, and the film gets a really nice music score from Waldo de los Rios.

Although set in Paris, this was actually filmed in Spain. And that's a very young Brooke Adams ("Days of Heaven"), in her uncredited film debut, playing the nurse.

Six out of 10.

A little different kind of a horror movie based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe and interestingly so. Much have been altered from the original short story, though. To be exact, not only is it based on Poe, but there is also a great deal of Gaston Leroux's 'Phantom of the Opera' mixed in as well. And to emphasize that matter Herbert Lom, who brilliantly did the phantom role in 1962 British Hammer version, handles a part here with a mask hiding his injured face. Jason Robards is also nice to see in this kind of film for a change after having enjoyed his work before in westerns and dramas.

The plot is set in nineteenth century Paris around a theater troop resembling the historic Grand Guignol theater and is similarly specialized on cruel natured horror plays. The certain theatricality follows everywhere the story takes us and stays in the actors even when they are not on stage. The streets are crowded with a carnival and merry-go-rounds. There is a puppet theater, tricks and hypnotism. Even the real murders are executed in most showy ways. The atmosphere has a dreamy, almost surrealistic quality. And the actual dream sequences (What's a Poe film without them?) are beautifully shot and tinted in red tones. Very beautiful and creepy all at the same.

For an American horror production the film has a surprisingly bright European art film look and feel. Instead of using wholly dramatic studio sets we are treated with daylight locations, streets and parks, which allows the movie breath a bit between the expected horrors. This production was a pleasant surprise from Gordon Hessler and American International and a refreshing addition to their line of earlier Poe films directed by Roger Corman.

AIP cut this and added color tints to the flash forwards and flashbacks and changed the ending. This has run on the Encore Mystery network since Feb. 2002 in a restored 98 min version...11 minutes longer than the AIP hack job. A dvd should follow sometime in 2003.

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

There are so many complex scenes, so many amazing sets and costumes, and lots of moving camera that implies intelligent filmmaking it's a miracle this film came out so wooden. And frankly boring.

Part of the problem is Jason Robards in the lead--another actor might have pulled off the drama and intrigue anyway. And the leading victim-female is almost terrible--Christine Kaufmann. But the director, Gordon Hessler, I think gets the worst of everyone, and all this apparent money and talent is squashed under bright even light and uninspired performances.

There are lots of horror film clichés that might be satisfying to some, including just the use of the theater as a set (somewhat like Phantom of the Opera). But some of the clichés are cheezy 1971 versions, like dreamy sequences with double exposures or slow motion, and strange sound effects of choral voices.

There were enough people who really liked this movie for the director to mades an official director's cut with eleven extra minutes. Well, why not? It's all voluntary, and I'd vote against it unless you are really into the themes here, the actors, or just have a lot of time free and here it is. It's no awful, it's just slow and clunky. And why did they film it with such shadlowless flat bright light? It's a horror film, for goodness sake.

Director Gordon Hessler's MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is a vast expansion on the original short story by Edgar Allan Poe. This film is less like its source material, and more like THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Here, a vengeful, disfigured killer (Herbert Lom) haunts a theater in search of prey. This isn't a spoiler, since we're shown the madman's identity in the opening minutes.

The main problem with this movie lies in casting Jason Robards in the role of Cesar Charron. He's not a horror actor and is completely out of his element (drama). The obvious choice for such a role would have been Vincent Price, who would have torn into it with gusto. Robards, a fine actor otherwise, comes off as languid and disinterested.

On the upside, the manner of the homicides is novel, and though the story is quite padded out, it does lead up to a decent twist at the end...