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MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE (TV)

Summary

This made-for-television film is an adaptation of the classic 1841 detective short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The program begins in Paris as a man sitting by a lake is attacked and strangled by an unseen figure, while elsewhere young Claire Dupin departs the Opera House and walks home alone, unnerved that she is being followed. She finds her father Auguste asleep at his chess board and mentions that her fiancée Alphonse did not appear for the performance, though assures him that she took a carriage home. The next day, she meets family friend Phillipe at the train and announces that she is engaged, and he is shocked to hear that Auguste, once Paris' most accomplished detective, has been forced into retirement and is bored and depressed. Alphonse appears at Claire's door with flowers and an apology, explaining that he missed the opera because he lost his keys and could not go home to change clothes, and she forgives him. Alphonse then heads back to work at the bank, where his boss assigns him to escorts Madame and Mademoiselle L'Espanaye to their home in the Rue Morgue, as they have just made a large withdrawal of gold, and he does so without incident.

Over a game of chess, Auguste shrewdly observes that Phillipe is thinking of his father, who would not have accepted retirement without a fight, and admits that he himself is furious at the loss of his beloved job. Phillipe inquires about Alphonse, wondering why he has not been to visit Claire. Elsewhere, the L'Espanaye women are violently attacked in their home, and their neighbors, hearing the screams, rush over to investigate. They find nothing but blood and a straight razor, however, mystified as to how the criminal could have escaped, as the windows are nailed shut. Mlle. L'Espanaye's body is soon found stuffed up the chimney and Mme L'Espanaye's outside, and the prefect of police is shocked at the assailant's physical strength but assures the anxious crowd that he will soon make an arrest. Witnesses state that they heard two voices, one a Frenchman's and the other a foreigner's, though no one can agree upon the language. Phillipe reads of the story in the newspaper and urges Auguste to assist, as do Alphonse and Insp. Bec, but he refuses, saying that he no longer has the heart for detective work. Later, however, Alphonse is arrested for the crime, as he was the last person seen with the women, and Claire begs her father to help him, accusing him of pridefulness, and he relents. He peruses the details, noting the extreme damage to the bodies, wondering how they were attacked inside a room locked from within.

Phillipe and Claire visit Alphonse, who swears that he went straight home with a powerful migraine on the day of the murder. Auguste confronts the prefect of police, stating that Alphonse is innocent and offering to take him into his custody, but the prefect dismisses him contemptuously. Phillipe admits that he disliked Alphonse and tells Auguste that he was lying about something, and the two of them explore the crime scene carefully, though the prefect catches them at it and orders Auguste to cease his "meddling." Angry, Auguste visits Alphonse and demands from him a certain name and address, threatening him with the guillotine. He heads to the library at the Society of Explorers and then places an ad in the newspaper, assuring Claire that Alphonse will soon be free despite his lack of a solid alibi. Another man is attacked by the lake, and Claire accuses her father of interrogating Alphonse, though he explains that all will be revealed and that he must "test a theory." Auguste and Phillipe journey back to the Rue Morgue and examine the windows more closely, finding that they close automatically on a spring and that one nail is in fact broken. Phillipe argues that the lightning rod outside the window is impossible to climb, and Auguste reminds him that the room was trashed and yet the gold left untouched, suggesting that there is no true motive. Back at home, he produces a coarse hair found in the chimney and demonstrates the unusual size of the hands that strangled Mlle. L'Espanaye, and then announces that "he" has arrived.

Auguste then greets a sailor, who saw the ad in the paper, and demands information at gunpoint about the murders and the sailor's "associate." The sailor confesses that he found his "accomplice" in Borneo and locked him up when he became violent, but that he escaped with the razor and made his way to the house in the Rue Morgue, where he climbed the lightning rod and killed the two women. Auguste then reveals that the killer is still loose and living in a "natural habitat," and they head off to the pond to find him. Phillipe tells Claire that Alphonse is soon to be released, admitting only reluctantly that her intended was in fact with another woman at the time of the murders and has several rich "fiancées" around the city. Auguste barges into the prefect's office and informs him that he has solved the crime, but offers him the chance to redeem himself by supervising the killer's capture. Claire accompanies Phillipe to the lake, where she encounters the attacker: an ape. Phillipe rushes to her aid and the sailor finally captures the animal in a net, and the prefect tells the press all about how his "brother" Auguste cracked the case and will of course be reinstated in his former position. With the city now safe, Auguste, Claire and Phillipe head for home. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: CBS
  • DATE: December 7, 1986 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:32:10
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:56683
  • GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective; Literature - Adaptations
  • SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1986
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • David L. Watters … Executive Producer
  • Robert Halmi … Producer
  • Edward J. Pope … Co-Producer
  • David Epstein … Associate Producer, Writer
  • Jeannot Szwarc … Director
  • Edgar Allan Poe … Based on the story by
  • Charles Gross … Music by
  • George C. Scott … Cast, Auguste Dupin
  • Rebecca De Mornay … Cast, Claire Dupin
  • Ian McShane … Cast, Prefect of Police
  • Neil Dickson … Cast, Adolphe Le Bon
  • Val Kilmer … Cast, Phillipe
  • Maud Rayer … Cast, Melle L'Espanaye
  • Maxence Mailfort … Cast, Inspecteur Alphonse
  • Fernand Guiot … Cast, Dupar
  • Patrick Floersheim … Cast, The Sailor
  • Roger Lumont … Cast, Sargent Marcel
  • Erick Desmarestz … Cast, Inspecteur Bec
  • Yvette Petit … Cast, Laundress
  • Serge Ridoux … Cast, Prison Guard