Rent Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven (1935)
3.4 of 5 from 64 ratings
3h 9min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
This trio of classic 1930's horror films - 'Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The Black Cat', and 'The Raven' is also distinguished by a trio of factors regarding their production. Most notably, each film is based on a work by master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe. Part of the legendary wave of horror films made by Universal Pictures in the 30's, all three feature dynamic performances from Dracula's Bela Lugosi, with two of them also enlivened by the appearance of Frankenstein's Boris Karloff. And finally, all three benefit from being rare examples of Pre-Code studio horror, their sometimes-startling depictions of sadism and shock a result of being crafted during that brief period in Hollywood before the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code's rigid guidelines for moral content. Director Robert Florey, who gave the Marx Brothers their cinema start with 'The Cocoanuts' in 1929, worked with Metropolis cinematographer Karl Freund to give a German Expressionism look to 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' (1932), with Lugosi as a mad scientist running a twisted carnival sideshow in 19th-century Paris, and murdering women to find a mate for his talking ape main attraction. Lugosi and Karloff teamed forces for the first time in 'The Black Cat', a nightmarish psychodrama that became Universal's biggest hit of 1934, with Detour director Edgar G. Ulmer bringing a feverish flair to the tale of a satanic, necrophiliac architect (Karloff) locked in battle with an old friend (Lugosi) in search of his family. Prolific B-movie director Lew Landers made 1935's 'The Raven' so grotesque that all American horror films were banned in the U.K. for two years in its wake. Specifically referencing Poe within its story, Lugosi is a plastic surgeon obsessed with the writer, who tortures fleeing murderer Karloff through monstrous medical means. Significant and still unsettling early works of American studio horror filmmaking, these three Pre-Code chillers demonstrate the enduring power of Poe's work, and the equally continuous appeal of classic Universal horror's two most iconic stars. - Actors:
- Sidney Fox, Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames, Bert Roach, Betty Ross Clarke, Brandon Hurst, D'Arcy Corrigan, Noble Johnson, Arlene Francis, Ted Billings, Herman Bing, Joe Bonomo, Agostino Borgato, Iron Eyes Cody, Christian J. Frank, Charles Gemora, Harrison Greene, Charlotte Henry, Harry Holman, Edna Marion
- Directors:
- Robert Florey, Edgar G. Ulmer, Louis Friedlander
- Producers:
- Carl Laemmle Jr., Stanley Bergerman
- Writers:
- Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Florey, Tom Reed, Dale Van Every, John Huston, Ethel M. Kelly, Edgar G. Ulmer, Peter Ruric, Tom Kilpatrick, David Boehm, Guy Endore, Florence Enright, John Lynch, Clarence Marks, Dore Schary, Michael L. Simmons, Jim Tully
- Studio:
- Eureka
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama, Horror, Romance, Thrillers
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 20/07/2020
- Run Time:
- 189 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- 'Murders in the Rue Morgue': Audio commentary by Gregory William Mank
- 'The Black Cat': Audio commentary by Gregory William Mank
- 'The Black Cat': Audio commentary by Amy Simmons
- 'The Raven': Audio commentary by Gary D. Rhodes
- 'The Raven': Audio commentary by Samm Deighan
- 'Cats in Horror': A video essay by writer and film historian Lee Gambin
- 'American Gothic': A video essay by critic Kat Ellinger
- "The Black Cat" episode of radio series 'Mystery in the Air', starring Peter Lorre
- "The Tell-Tale Heart" episode of radio series 'Inner Sanctum Mysteries', starring Boris Karloff
- Bela Lugosi reads "The Tell-Tale Heart"
- Vintage footage
- Stills Gallery
- Disc 1:
- This disc includes the following:
- Murders in the Rue Morgue - Disc 2:
- This disc includes the following:
- The Black Cat
- The Raven
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Reviews (1) of Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven
On all the films... - Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven review by Steve
MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE
This is the forgotten production in the creative big bang of Universal horror; an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's proto-locked room mystery set in mid-19th Century Paris. Not much Poe remains, but we do get the ape! Bela Lugosi is a carnival showman immersed in a maniacal scheme to crossbreed his simian sideshow attraction with a sweet, beautiful young lady.
Sidney Fox (she's a girl) gets top billing, maybe because she was dating the head of the studio. But Lugosi dominates as Dr. Mirakle, the carny with a sideline in cutting edge evolutionary biology. He trains the ape to scale an apartment building and kidnap her for his experiments. Which are pretty sordid, even for precode.
It's a bit slow and creaky like all early Universal horrors. Critics claim it borrows from German silent, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), especially the climax as the primate drags his victim over jagged rooftops. This isn't of similar stature, but it's a fair comparison. And the painted, expressionist city is memorable.
There is plenty of atmosphere, but zero logic. Which is fine in the woozy trance of early horror. It's Lugosi's gift to seem to belong in this opiated fantasy. His performance is ridiculous, but absolutely appropriate! Robert Florey doesn't create much suspense, or any scares, but it's still transgressive stuff, and he gets it all done in an hour.
THE BLACK CAT
Occult face off between a satanist (Boris Karloff), and a vengeful psychiatrist (Bela Lugosi) who has just been released from 15 years in a Siberian prison during WWI, due to Karloff's betrayal. He later married Lugosi's wife... and then his daughter. It is the first pairing of the supreme horror stars of the '30s.
It's a fabulously deranged story. As well as the satanism, there's an implication of necrophilia. Karloff, inhabits a modernist mansion built on the site of the historic castle where he oversaw genocide. The contemporary style is unusual for '30s horror. But in the old cellars he keeps the bodies of women he has loved, preserved in their youth. Including Bela's family.
The sluggish pace is its main weakness. Plus the vacuous newlyweds (David Manners, Jacqueline Wells) who stumble on this house of insanity. She reminds the rivals of the woman who married them both, so they play chess for her. Karloff intends to sacrifice his prize in a black mass and add her to his gallery of beautiful corpses!
The stars overact splendidly. Lugosi is limited yet there is a startling moment when he delivers some dialogue in Hungarian, and suddenly sounds natural. Karloff with his lisp and deco-effect makeup is more memorable. But hey! Horror is the winner.
THE RAVEN
If anyone knows anything about this minor Universal horror, it's that it triggered a prohibition on scare films in the UK which lasted for a decade, and a shorter pause in the US. Naturally, there's nothing shocking here. Now it looks like an irreverent, if transgressive romp. There's even a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe through the medium of interpretive dance!
It's a loose mishmash of plots which mostly involve Bela Lugosi as an infatuated doctor planning to murder the family of a beautiful woman (Irene Ware) he desires. While he deliberately botches cosmetic surgery on Boris Karloff to ensure he assists in these nefarious schemes...
The mad medic has a secret torture chamber with the freaky guillotine from The Pit and the Pendulum. But otherwise, there is little Poe here. It has that awkwardness many badly directed early talkies have. Like everyone is struggling to make conversation. But now it's 1935 so there are no excuses.
Still it's always fun to see the two stars engaged in diabolical conflict. Karloff sends up his role as Frankenstein's monster. And at barely a hour, there are few longueurs. Lugosi comes up with a new atrocity every ten minutes. But the main takeaway is that the censors/critics must have been crazier than Lugosi to ban this.
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