Edgar Allan Poe

The Murders in the Rue Morgue Illustrated Edgar Allan Poe

Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American pre-Code horror film directed by Robert Florey. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", the film stars Bela Lugosi as Doctor Mirakle, a carnival sideshow entertainer and scientist who kidnaps Parisian prostitutes to mix their blood with that of his pet gorilla. As his experiments fail due to the quality of blood, Mirakle meets with Camille L'Espanye (Sidney Fox). Mirakle has Camille kidnapped and her mother murdered, leading to suspicion falling on her husband Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff). Dupin manages to prove his innocence and rescues Camille. Florey had suggested adapting Poe's story as early as March 1930, but was only attached to the film after he was taken off the film Frankenstein. In the script by Tom Reed and Dale Van Every, only a few elements of Poe's original story are kept, with much of the story being changed to accommodate a role for Lugosi's character. Florey left the project but returned to it, arguing with Universal about certain elements such as period setting. After production wrapped on November 13, 1931 it was brought back into production for five days of re-shoots and re-ordering of the scenes in the final edit.