arrives with the blood samples. Tim offers some very good rea- sons why he believes this is so, but I’ve got to disagree with him here. I don’t believe this scene can possibly follow the “Bride of Science” sequence because Dupin refers to Dr. Mirakle and his theories of evolution proffered at the carnival. But according to the resequencing, the carnival has yet to happen so Dupin has not yet met Mirakle nor heard his theories. Instead I believe the carnival sequence should begin here, following the “Bride of Sci- ence” sequence. Remember, the “Bride of Science” scene ends with Mirakle wondering if he’ll ever find the right female sub- ject for his experiments. One of the first things we see at the car- nival is Camille, which more less answers Mirakle’s question. The carnival sequence has
Mirakle introducing Erik the ape and evolutionary theory to the au- dience. The ape ruins Camille’s bonnet and throttles Dupin. When Dupin refuses to let Camille give Mirakle her address so he can re- place the bonnet, Mirakle suggests Janos follow the couple. Next we see Mirakle, Erik and
Janos arrive by carriage at Camille’s home. Mirakle watches as Dupin and Camille woo and coo on the balcony. I believe that these two sequences—the un- holy trio showing up and the balcony scene—should come much later in the movie. It also contains a duped sequence from much later in the film showing Mirakle pausing at the open front door, looking up and then walk- ing around the front of the house to the carriage parked at the side. More about this in a bit. Instead of the carriage and balcony stuff, this is where I would place the “macaroni” scene and visit by the morgue-keeper. Next comes the scene where Camille receives a package with
a new bonnet inside and discov- ers it is from Mirakle. Questions about how Mirakle discerned her address are allayed by the bonnet’s beauty. At the picnic, Dupin be- comes unsettled when he learns about the bonnet. Dupin confronts Mirakle in his
sideshow tent and soon learns that Mirakle lied to him—he is not leav- ing Paris for Munich with the rest of the troupe. Dupin hitches a ride on Mirakle’s carriage to a seem- ingly deserted house. He watches as Mirakle and the ape disappear inside. Later, Janos drives the car- riage containing Mirakle and Erik to Camille’s home and drops Mirakle off in an alley. Janos takes the carriage around the side. Mirakle watches the couple up on the balcony. Dupin tells Camille what he saw when he followed Mirakle to the house. He then talks about the troubles of Paris. It is at this point that the balcony woo- ing and cooing scene should be inserted. There are several reasons that
lead me to believe the balcony love scene should join with this later balcony scene. First, Camille is wearing the same dress and choker in both balcony sequences. It is unlike the outfits she wears to the carnival or the picnic. Second, Dupin’s body movements naturally progress from one sequence to the other as if it were originally one sequence. Third, after Dupin kisses Camille on the divan but before he kisses her upon leaving, one of the shots of Mirakle spying on them from below would fit per- fectly, fixing the abrupt cut after the first kiss. Then, after Dupin kisses and
leaves Camille, Mirakle comes to her door, asks Camille to go with him and is rebuffed. He walks out- side and leaves the front door open, looks up at the balcony and walks around to the side and calls for Erik; we see Erik’s arm ex- tend ominously from the carriage
window. (It is from this sequence that the dupe of Mirakle walking around the front of Camille’s house is inserted [along with the balcony love scene] after the carnival se- quences in the release print, my fourth reason for believing the two balcony scenes belong together. From this point on, the conti-
nuity is the same in the release print, Tim’s version and my own. Dupin discovers the nature of Mirakle’s experiments and realizes Camille is in danger. He arrives too late—the ape murders Camille’s mother, abducts Camille, the po- lice investigate (the three lan- guages controversy), the ape kills Mirakle, the police break in, and Dupin rescues Camille from the ape. In my opinion, these changes
make for a much more inter- esting film than the release print offers. And I already felt that MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE is an underrated Universal hor- ror. I hope everyone reads Tim’s reconstruction and perhaps makes one of their own. It’s this kind of investigative article that makes VIDEO WATCHDOG a must read for monster kids like me.
Gary L. Prange Springfield IL
Gary, I couldn’t be happier that my article inspired you to reas- semble the movie for yourself. I wrote it on the spur of the mo- ment in a single evening, so my own reconstruction was done entirely in my head; you’ve shown how much more can be gained by actually committing to the procedure and seeing how the pieces fit together (or don’t). As for the macaroni scene, I appreciate your perspective and reasons—I didn’t make note of the Mirakle references—but there could be another explanation for them being there, which would preserve my own intentions for
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