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In 1845 Paris, handsome Leon Ames (as Pierre Dupin) and his rotund roommate Bert Roach (as Paul) take their giggly dates to see carnival attraction Bela Lugosi (as "Doctor" Mirakle) and his monstrous ape "Erik". The ape-man walks upright and is called, "The beast with a human soul!" When pretty Sidney Fox (as Camille L'Espanaye) gets close to his cage, "Erik" seems smitten with Mr. Ames' date and grabs her bonnet. Meanwhile, Mr. Lugosi reveals he is mixing the blood of man and ape to show evolution. We also see Lugosi save streetwalker and future "What's My Line?" panelist Arlene Francis; then, he gives her the needle...
Naturally, Lugosi sets his sights on Ms. Fox, and then Ames must try to save her...
This is a ridiculous story, and not true to the Edgar Allan Poe original; but, it is interesting and stylish. The common assertion that our simian cousins are "evolving" is still being repeated - usually by those sarcastically seeking to disprove evolution. This is incorrect, of course. Today's apes and humans are not evolving into each other; they merely have a common ancestral tract, which has been shown in ways one could relate to Lugosi's examination of blood in this film. Lugosi's lurid and torturous patient preparation of Ms. Francis and the expressionist sequences photographed by Karl Freund are highlights.
******* Murders in the Rue Morgue (2/21/32) Robert Florey ~ Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames, Sidney Fox, Bert Roach
score 7/10
wes-connors 1 February 2012
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2559226/ |
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2-12-2019 22:40:54