1954's "Phantom of the Rue Morgue" was an attempt by Warners to duplicate the success of Vincent Price's "House of Wax," both in color and 3-D, but in adapting Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (shooting title "The Phantom Ape") they went in a much different direction than Universal's 1932 Bela Lugosi vehicle, where he was the obvious focus. Despite top billing as the villain, Karl Malden takes a back seat to the dull police procedural led by Claude Dauphin, an investigation so tedious that they repeatedly bark up the wrong tree until the final reel reveal (RKO's "Gorilla at Large" is a much more interesting view with a better cast). Steve Forrest's Paul Dupin studies the evidence in a series of brutal slayings of young girls, concludes that an ape is responsible, and reasons that a human agent is involved due to a clever frameup involving bracelets with tiny tinkling bells. Malden's zoologist Dr. Marais is only too happy to see Dupin take the blame for his crimes, having set his sights on Dupin's lovely fiancee Jeanette (Patricia Medina). Suspects like Paul Richards ("Beneath the Planet of the Apes") or Merv Griffin (!) are trotted on, only to vanish once proven innocent, with only Anthony Caruso's one eyed Jacques a standout if only because he has no competition. Only during the final third do we see the extent of Marais' madness, with at least a decent looking gorilla costume worn by Charles Gemora, repeating the same furry role from 1932 (almost as effective as Paramount's "The Monster and the Girl"). Due to the extreme brevity of Poe's short story, virtually every movie version must necessarily be done from scratch, but due to a weak script and aggressive police tactics to force a phony confession from Dupin this item must be regarded as a bitter disappointment (yet not so bad as Gordon Hessler's 1971 adaptation, Jason Robards deputizing for Vincent Price).
Review of Phantom of the Rue Morgue
