Phantom of the Rue Morgue / old review

 I'm in the midst of a fresh revisit, and as I have often done here lately, I located an old review, though it sure seems like I watched this not too long ago. Certainly doesn't feel like nine years ago.

April 11, 2012

IMDb user comments

A murderous fiend is destroying Parisian lovelies and law enforcement seems powerless to stop him. But who is it and what drives him to savagely attack beautiful women at night? Is it even a man? Zoologist Dr. Marais (Karl Malden) could hold the answer to the killer in Paris. A mean-spirited remake of Robert Florey's atmospheric 30s chiller starring Bela Lugosi, with Malden in the Dr. Mirakle role of devious scientist who can control ape to heinously kill women, implicating friend Professor Paul Dupin (Steve Forrest), a teacher of psychology, by placing items he had given to his fiancé, Jeanette (Patricia Medina; who Malden is in love with) at crime scenes.

With glossy sets and nice production value, "Phantom of the Rue Morgue" shows the destructive aftermath of the killer ape's rampage, with rooms laid to waste, female (and a male) bodies discovered bloodied, and the familiar "wrong man" scenario utilized (imprisoned innocent man trying to get police to believe that he didn't and couldn't commit the murders he is set up by Malden for). Malden implements "psychotic eyes" to convey his madness, simmering to the surface when Jeanette, who Marais is infatuated with, he feels betrayed because she denies his advances. Predictable and lacking real chills, "Phantom of the Rue Morgue", to me, is an interesting failure, probably of interest to horror fans for Malden's involvement and its status as a remake of an underrated classic. Not that well known, "Phantom of the Rue Morgue" has a dark streak, to be sure, and was perhaps pretty potently violent in its time. The melodramatic score adds to the Hollywood gloss of the picture; I felt this was an affectionate homage to Universal studios 30s/40s horror. The ending, where Malden's antics come back to haunt him, closing at his zoo, goes through the motions and lacks atmospheric thrills which came easily even with the lesser Universal studios' B-movie efforts, like the inferior Mummy series. Claude Dauphin is Paris Inspector, Bonnard, persistently assured that he has caught the right man for the crimes...even when it is obvious no human could commit the crimes where a great deal of strength would be needed and superior agility to escape from such heights. Anthony Caruso has a fun part as a surly one-eyed assistant to Marais, killing an acquaintance who knows too much about the ape in a memorable scene. There's a great knife throwing scene and an acrobatics demonstration, both providing some decent suspense. Good cast helps, even if the film never quite becomes altogether involving.