Three Edgar Allan Poe Adaptations Starring Bela Lugosi: Classic Horror Nirvana (Review)

Two of the most famous names in horror don’t come from the modern era, nor the 1980s which entire swathes of the online community cling to far too tightly, no, they come from the early sound era. Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. History has forever painted as Karloff as Frankenstein & the Mummy and Bela Lugosi as Dracula. There’s more to both actors than that, much more, both were in fact talented actors when the opportunity allowed them to do something more than the “greatest hits” which blighted the pair throughout their careers. This new collection from Masters of Cinema, Three Edgar Allan Poe Adaptations Starring Bela Lugosi reveals the true extent of their capabilities in three grizzly adaptations of the infamous master of mystery and the macabre.

The earliest movie on the set is The Murders in the Rue Morgue, directed by Robert Florey who made his name with the Marx Brothers in 1929’s The Cocoanuts. Outside of a 20-minute test reel for Frankenstein, this is Florey’s only flirtation with horror and he reportedly wanted to pay homage to the work being produced by the German expressionists. An achievement that he finds success in, making striking use out of the gothic Parisian streets events transpire in.

Bela Lugosi plays a maniacal Dr Mirakle who plys his trade as a travelling showman where he attempts to prove that man evolved from apes using a caged animal that he converses with as part of his show. At night he kidnaps women, injecting them with ape blood before dumping their corpses in the Seine for the incompetent police force the next day. Leon Ames plays Pierre Dupin, a young medical student who unravels the mystery and eventually saves his girlfriend from the clutches of Dr Mirakle. There’s more to this one than meets the eye as the original story by Poe has been credited as the first “modern detective story”, or one of his “tales of ratiocination“. And, Florey’s execution borrows more than a few cues from the classic Frankenstein story.

Of the three films, this is the weakest. Outside of the production value of the sets and locations, the best portions of The Murders in the Rue Morgue come when Bela Lugosi is on screen. The scene in which he introduces his dissident scientific theories is a particular highlight. The venom in the line “Do they still burn people for heresy here? Do you want to light the match?” shows he had a wealth of talent beyond the caricature history has reduced him to. The mystery aspect is well played too, with the original Dupin character being a clear influence on Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary sleuth. However, it is crippled by two stumbling blocks. First is the conflict between the gothic horror and the scenes featuring Dupin unfolding like a campy 1930s romance. And then there’s the ape being an actor in what is possibly the worst monkey suit that I have ever seen. Age can excuse a lot, this awful costume is not one of those things.

The second movie is the masterpiece of the collection, The Black Cat (1934) directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour). Between 1934 and 1968 the industrial moral code or the Hays Code was initiated and this very loose adaptation by Ulmer included Necrophilia, Satanism, drugs, torture, a black mass, human sacrifice, and a man having his skin flayed while still living. Talk about getting your money’s worth. That’s not where my praise comes from as if it was it’d be giving carte blanche to all the nightmare fuel pored into Italian horror in the 1970s and 80s. The power of the Black Cat comes from the chemistry between Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

Bela Lugosi stars as Dr Vitus Werdegast, a Hungarian war vet who is heading back home after 15 years away in the war. Joining him on the train are American married couple, Peter (David Manners) and Joan Allison (Julie Bishop). Transferring from the train to a local coach, the driver clumsily crashes over a ravine killing himself in the process. Werdergast and Peter survive with Joan knocked unconscious, the doctor says he knows someone who lives nearby (Hjalmar (Boris Karloff)). A home built on the foundations of an old military bunker to become the height of modernity. Once things settle down, Werdest and Hjalmar reveal their personal history and the only way either of them is leaving that building is after they’ve killed their nemesis.

All of these films are pushing 65 minutes and Black Cat does about as much with an hour as you possibly could, the narrative, twists and action contained in such a compact space is incredible. The history of the characters gets all the air needed for you to be putty in the hands of Ulmer’s direction, who is the hero? who is the villain? The way information is dolled out and the way his characters interact ensures that this ever so slight hour feels like it has had a traction engine strapped to its back. The chemistry and intensity in each interaction between Karloff and Lugosi turn something as simple as a game of chess into something with earth-shaking ramifications. The alternative title, House of Doom, is earned and then some. Place those volatile interactions alongside those final 15 minutes in a location that would make most films better and you are onto one of the highlights of Universal Horror.

The last movie of the collection is 1935’s The Raven, which comes with a great piece of trivia, apparently, Lew Landers film was so grotesque all American horror films were banned in the UK for two years in its wake. That is the sort of marketing that hundreds of films would kill for today. And, honestly, I can understand why the Raven caused such a stir.

Bela Lugosi plays Dr Vollin, a once in a lifetime surgical talent with a fascination of all things Poe. He saves the life of an influential judge’s daughter, falling in love with the woman he wants to marry her despite the judge’s protestations over him being a bit of a spooky weirdo. A well-founded worry, I might add. Late one night, Edmond Bateman (Karloff) turns up and demands that Vollin fixes his face as “ugly people are forced to live an ugly life” which has led to him murdering to escape incarceration. Something clicks in Vollin’s head and he agrees to fix Bateman’s face, well, half of it. The other half he leaves horribly scarred as a means to keep the desperate man on a leash and under his control. Also, in the basement is the swinging blade of the pit and pendulum and a room that went on to inspire the “walls are closing in” trope. Events transpire in such a way that all these tools of death get used to their full extent. A very grisly and nihilistic film, the Raven, especially for 1930s sensibilities.

Of course, each of these films contains many of the trappings of the time. For example, there a scene in Murders of the Rue Morgue that feels like it was ripped out of a late 20s comedy, with Dupin’s housemate complaining that he never gets any help around the house, saying all sort of cheeky remarks which are completely ignored. A scene which is as broad as anything I’ve ever seen in horror. There’s also Dupin’s relationship which is about two steps away from them rubbing noses and saying who loves who more. All three films have a scene or two in this key. In isolation, these scenes are the very idea of cringeworthy, luckily they function as cheeky distractions or relief, and vitally, much less distracting than some comic relief characters I could cite.

Extras on the disc are slim but what they lack in number they make up for in quality. There are two new visual essays: “Cats In Horror” by writer and film historian Lee Gambin, and “American Gothic” by critic Kat Ellinger. Ellinger especially has been a delight in recent releases, bridging the divide between accessibility and knowledgeable with aplomb known to too few in the world of Blu-ray extras. Elsewhere, there are essays, commentary’s, a radio play with Peter Lorre and a recording of Bela Lugosi reading the Tell-Tale heart. There’s a special audible audio commentary I never knew I wanted. Above all though, these one-hour blasts of Poe terror guided by two of the most iconic and legendary actors in horror history is about as essential a purchase as you can get for fans of classic horror in 2020.

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