'Murders in the Rue Morgue' (1932) is desperately in need of a fine DVD release. I am quite surprised that it has not yet received one seeing as how Universal has released their classic monsters in the 'Legacy Collection' series. Does anyone else agree?
"Pull the string, pull the string!" -Bela Lugosi
It's been on available on DVD for a little over a year. Part of a box sett called the Bela Lugosi Collection.
shareYes, but I heard the 'Bela Lugosi Collection' edition is quite limited. Does it contain any special features, etc? Also, I have seen this version on TCM and the print is a tad sub-par; it could do for a touch up.
All in all, individual film releases tend to cater a bit more to the particular film at hand rather than a box set containing various films. A new DVD release (including bonus features and a restored print) for 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' would be wonderful!
Correct me if I am wrong; the box set could contain bonus features! I am just going by what I have been told.
"Pull the string, pull the string!" -Bela Lugosi
I totally agree with you. I live in Australia and am a huge fan of 1930s american horror films, but have not been able to so much as rent a copy of this film. I've heard so many wild things about it that as soon as a reasonably priced copy comes to dvd I know i'll scoop it up.
It's a shame its taken Universal so insanely long to get this baby out there on a dvd by itself, especially considering the great job they did on the Monster collections
PS. does David J Skal piss anyone else off? Or is it just me?
There are no extras on "The Bela Lugosi Collection", unfortunately, but I for one am happy enough with the transfer. I know this may be sacrilege to some but I don't rate it as one of Bela's finest films anyway... save for one or two scenes.
The "Collection" retails at approx GBP10.00 (at Amazon, anyway). Well worth anyone's time and money.
It's one of his better cult films! I've always liked it! Arlene Francis sobs way too much though! Until they find a better copy (if they ever do), this is the one we'll continue to get on DVD and television!
shareShe sobs too much??!!
First she sees two men (does she know them, or one of them?) knife fighting to the death, then she gets abducted, experimented on and mutilated until she dies.
I thought Arlene Francis played her short role very very realistic and convincing.
"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."
What it needs is a restoration involving the proper order of certain scenes in the movie. Many of the scenes were reshuffled just before its theatrical release...for example, in the original version, the movie opens with the duel on the waterfront with the 2 men over the prostitute, then goes into the scene in Bela's lab where the prostitute dies on the cross, then to the waterfront where the body is pulled out of the river, and then to the scene at the morgue, where Pierre is introduced and asks the morgue keeper for a sample of the lastest victim's (the prostitute) blood. THEN, we have the carnival scene take place, where Erik the ape is introduced & Mirakle makes his theory of evolution speech.
Other, more minor changes included separating Pierre's insipid love scenes on the balcony with Camille. In the version we have now, there are two such scenes...the "Mayday" sequence, and a later one with Pierre telling Camille he saw Mirakle & the ape "talking" to one another, and talks about "my Paris...my city". Originally, both these scenes were combined into one longer scene, rather near the end (if you notice, their clothes and positions are identical in both scenes). There was only ever supposed to be ONE scene with Pierre & Camille on the balcony.
It would be fairly simple for Universal to release this unjustly-maligned classic in its proper scene order...I think it would be much easier to follow & certainly more appreciated than it is now.
JAPfeif-
I don't know where you got your information about the scene sequence ordering but I decided to to re-edit this film according to your info above and WOW- did that make a difference!
I've always held MITRM in contempt and never understood how anyone could take this turkey of a film seriously. It was just another gorilla film with Bela Lugosi, which foreshadows his disasterous Monogram films. (I even started a Message Board topic here that ridiculed this film.) But last night I watched MITRM in the sequence you suggested. Watching it in the proper sequence, one sees the horror of Dr. Mirakle's experiments at the begining and then the rest of the film becomes an absorbing race between Dr. Mirakle's pursuit of Camille and Pierre's pursuit of the truth regarding the death of the protitutes. The tension builds as Camille's fate hangs in the balance. Erik the ape is less central to the story (more like window-dressing) in this version.
Watching this film in the correct scene sequence, I now understand why Lugosi thought this would be a suitable followup to his success in "Dracula". I also can see the Universal Studios horror touch in this film now. Universal had a flare for these types of films that Monogram never touched.
Thanks for the info regarding the proper scene sequence. I now have a new Universal Studios horror masterpiece in my film collection in place of just another Monogram-style turkey.
-fibbermac
I just watched the film and I found nothing wrong with the sequences you guys are describing. The sequences are already in sync with the rest of the film and re-editing it would disrupt the flow and would probably confuse the audience.
Just an opinion there, but I will give you one thing, the print does need some restoring. The tranfer for the film varies for the scenes in between where it's scratchy but still watchable to clear as crystal.