THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1986)

 

This is a 1986 television movie based on Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, with George C. Scott as master criminologist Auguste Dupin. I remember seeing ads for this before its first showing, but for whatever reason I didn't see it. I stumbled upon it recently on the Tubi streaming channel. 

In the 1980s George C. Scott began a run of starring in adaptations of classic stories for American network television. By 1986, he had already done an excellent version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and he would even reprise his Academy Award-winning role on the small screen in THE LAST DAYS OF PATTON. 

This version of THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is for the most part a very faithful one, incorporating all of the important elements of Poe's story. Due to Scott's age, Auguste Dupin is presented here as a late middle-aged former Paris police inspector, who has been forced into retirement. Dupin is bitter and morose about the situation, but he regains his energy when he learns that his young daughter's (Rebecca De Mornay) fiancee has been charged with the horrific murder of two women. Dupin decides to investigate the case on his own, with the help of the son (Val Kilmer) of one of his police associates. 

Scott, as expected, is quite good as Dupin. The character as depicted here does not have the idiosyncrasies of a Sherlock Holmes or a Hercule Poirot, but Scott does get a few brief chances to show his usual righteous anger. One assumes that Val Kilmer and Rebecca De Mornay were cast in this to attract some younger viewers, but the two of them stick out in this context like a sore thumb, and they have very little to do (when they wind up getting involved in the climax, it seems forced). Ian McShane, who plays the conceited Paris Prefect of police, brings a few sparks to the movie (the Prefect and Dupin are rivals who dislike one another). 

This movie was filmed in and around Paris, and the production makes great use out of the locations. (A lot of the running time is taken up of characters walking around outside.) The settings and costumes are fine, but they seem to be showcased more than a story which has been stretched out to feature length. THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE was directed by TV veteran Jeannot Szwarc, and while he does a decent job, one gets the feeling that the American TV standards of the time did not allow the production to take full advantage of Poe's writings. (This adaptation only hints at the graphic gruesomeness of the murders.)

Poe wrote the original story in 1841, but this adaptation appears to be set later in the 19th Century. All signage and newspapers in the movie are in English, which is just as well, since none of the major characters appear remotely French. 

I can't help but wonder if there were plans by the people behind this film to star Scott in versions of Poe's other Dupin stories. (Scott would go on in the 1990s to appear in several TV features, including 12 ANGRY MEN, TITANIC, and INHERIT THE WIND.) As for this take on RUE MORGUE, it's an honorable attempt, but it's not exciting or lurid enough to adequately portray the world of Edgar Allan Poe.