Product Description

France released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), French ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.66:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: Warner Bros.' followup to its 3D hit House of Wax, Phantom of the Rue Morgue bears only the slightest resemblance to its alleged inspiration, the Edgar Allan Poe mystery yarn Murders in the Rue Morgue. Karl Malden delivers one of the hammiest performances on record as mad scientist Dr. Marais, who uses a trained gorilla to exact revenge on those who've wronged him. At the top of Marais' hit list are the many beautiful women who've spurned his advances, including such French pastries as Yvonne (Allyn McLerie), Arlette (Veola Vonn) and Camille (Dolores Dorn). Each of these unfortunate ladies have been given bracelets decorated with bells, designed to attract the homicidal ape's attention. Psychology professor Paul Dupin (Steve Forrest) conducts a private investigation of the killings, only to be arrested for the murders himself by the supremely confident (and rather dense) Inspector Bonnard (Claude Dauphin). This leaves Dupin's sweetheart Jeanette (Patricia Medina) virtually defenseless when she is targetted for extermination by Doc Marais. Outside of such incidental pleasures as seeing Merv Griffin play a French medical student, Phantom of the Rue Morgue offers a vast array of unsubtle 3D "shock" effects, which come off as hilarious when the film is shown "flat" (as it always is these days).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170389 in DVD
• Formats: Import, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 81 minutes

Features

• THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER

Customer Reviews

Intensely Creative and Entertaining Mystery
The set designs provide the real atmosphere in this film based on Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders In The Rue Morgue" as a series of beautiful women are brutally murdered and the suspect is chased through the gas lighted streets and rooftops of turn-of-the-century Paris after each killing. You can imagine this film tried to catch the feel of 1953's HOUSE OF WAX. Both films were made in 3-D. However, PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE lacks the intensity and absorbing morbidity of that film. Composer David Buttolph scored both films but his brilliant score for HOUSE OF WAX is unfortunately unequaled here lacking a certain fear factor that this film terribly needed. PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE has certain campiness about it bolstered by the performances of Karl Malden's exaggerated sociopathic zoologist and Claude Dauphin's perfunctory and languorous police inspector. On the other hand, Steve Forrest performance as a dedicated and resourceful psychology professor is very energetic and charismatic and really gives this film much needed vivacity. Steve Forrest is the main suspect of the murders under Dauphin's inept investigation and this is the catalyst that moves the story as we once again have "the wrong man" accused of these crimes and the audience clearly knows better. Steve Forrest is probably one of Hollywood's biggest failures. When an actor possessing such charm, charisma and screen presence fails to go on to greater things one questions the overall system. But that is another issue. Here, Steve Forrest saves this film along with Bernard Tuttle's atmospheric art designs. Roy Del Ruth's directing is somewhat pedestrian with the exception of the knife throwing sequence at the beginning of the film. The images of an intensely unhinged looking Paul Richards, the knife thrower, tossing those blades towards his female partner on stage are brilliantly filmed and very suspenseful. This scene immediately captures the interest of the viewer. Richards has the look of a man on the verge of insanity and that foreboding look will usher in the killings that will follow. Juxtaposed to this are Steve Forest and his students out on the town in the audience watching the act and enjoying the gaiety of the surroundings unknowingly innocent to the fact that they will be drawn into the vortex of these murders. Remarkably this film works well and never fails to entertain. I like it.