Le Mystère de Marie Roget

Enjoyable Universal mystery about the murder of a not-so-nice but beautiful young woman with her fair share of male suitors. Based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, which itself was based on the real-life case of the Cigar Girl Murder that was big news in Poe's time. Starring a fine cast including many Universal contract players. The lineup includes Patric Knowles, Maria Montez, Maria Ouspenskaya, John Litel, Nell O'Day, Edward Norris, and Lloyd Corrigan. Montez plays the title character and brings her usual sex appeal. She also gets to lip sync a French tune. Knowles, one of Hollywood's great also-rans, is good as Dupin, the forensic detective. Corrigan is fun as the comic relief sidekick. It's a good B movie with a decent murder mystery. Not among the best of Universal's horror/mystery films of the 1940s but a good time-passer nonetheless.

Edgar Allan Poe's three tales of Paris crime-solver C. Auguste Dupin are considered the first detective stories. "The Mystery of Marie Roget" is the least known of the three, and by far the dullest, but it has the distinction of being the first "ripped from the headlines" whodunit. Based on the unsolved murder of a minor New York celebrity named Mary Rogers, "Marie Roget" was a thinly fictionalized essay on the facts of that case and the newspapers' theories about it. (How thinly fictionalized was it? Poe even added footnotes to remind readers that he was actually talking about Mary Rogers!) There are plenty of colorful theories about why Poe came up with such a vague, confusing solution to the mystery, but he probably just didn't want to be proved wrong if the real crime was ever solved.

Any "Marie Roget" movie true to the original material would attract mostly scholars, literary buffs and insomniacs, but fortunately this film throws in elements from other Poe stories to liven things up. It also has Dupin do something a bit more exciting than sit in an armchair and deliver a lecture. He's called "Paul Dupin" here, but as Marie Roget might say, "Just call me Mary."

With all due respect to the last person who commented on this movie. I fear what the reviewer does not realize is that Marie Roget is a Poe story. In fact, Poe created the crime story. While I have not seen the movie, I feel it is important to point out that the reviewer claims the movie relies on the 'dumb cop can't figure it out, so he relies on the old smart detective to solve the crime plot' while not realizing that Poe not only created the plot, this main detective Dupin is the genesis of it. Yes, Dupin is the predecessor of Sherlock Holmes. I did notice that some changes were made in the character names, and I do not doubt that the movie is sub par. However, it is important to note that this story and the other two Poe crime stories ares what lead to the great noir films of the 40's

This cast of B actors carries off a well-written murder mystery by Edgar Allan Poe. The sister of a woman about to inherit a large fortune plots her murder. But then she herself disappears. Who killed her? Her boyfriend (who was also courting the sister), her grandmother, her estate manager. Or her sister, to protect herself?

The events unfold with a number of false leads and dead ends, and with a few red herrings. However, due to the brilliant detective work of Dr. Dupin, who plays a Sherlock Holmes-type character to the local police chief's Watson-type character. The formula works to a degree, and we have an entertaining mystery.

I recently discovered Patrick Knowles and jumped at the chance to see him again here in the Mystery of Marie Roget. The fact that this is a Poe story just made it even more interesting. All of the performances are fine. Prefect Gobelin is a solid foil t Knowles character but he is a bit exasperating at times, but then again I guess he is supposed to be that way. The pace is brisk and moves along nicely and while there are bits of suspense they are unfortunately not very strong. Despite several shortcomings the Mystery of Marie Roget is still worth checking for anyone curious, or for those fans of Patrick Knowles.