Mystery of Marie Roget

Mystery of Marie Roget

Mystery of Marie Roget

Mystery of Marie Roget

Maria Montez is Marie Roget. She vanishes, then reappears, then vanishes again. Some people think she will reappear again, but not police chemist Patric Knowles, who wanders around annoying police prefect Lloyd Corrigan, because he's always right. Poe's short story was based on a real murder in New York, which he moved to Paris and actually figured out. Nothing loath, the folks at Universal kept the title, Dupin's last name, and little else. Instead, Knowles plays Dupin as a variant of Holmes, but much more annoying because he saunters. Corrigan is intended to be his Watson. A key clue is kept out of the audience's sight until after everything is solved. With Maria Ouspenskaya, John Litel, Edward Norris, and Nell O'Day.

Certainly, the nasty Marie Roget deserved to pay for her sins. Determined to kill her step-sister, she creates a nefarious scheme to fulfill her goals. Having already defied death once, she presumably ends up a corpse again, and a diary left behind gives evidence to who may have knocked her off for real. Any number of suspects could be the killer including her accomplice or even her wealthy grandmother. Or perhaps even the good step-sister. Rising star Maria Montez had not yet hit cult status when she was given top billing but basically a supporting role in this version of the Edgar Allan Poe short story that even makes reference to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" which Universal had made just a decade before. Montez isn't a great actress by any means, but she's perfectly haughty and sneers convincingly. Maria Ouspenskaya hams it up as the matronly grandmother ordering everyone around. Patric Knowles leads the case while Nell O'Day is appropriately fragile. The best performance is Lloyd Corrigan's who plays a befuddled detective who is actually smarter than he seems to be. Some genuine thrills, a fine atmospheric structure and just a hint of Gothic horror makes this a must even though some details added to the plot seem unnecessary.

Singer Marie Roget goes missing and is believed dead. She then mysteriously reappears after 10 days. Not long after her reappearance her grand mother hears her planning to do in her step sister and calls in ace detective Paul Dupin of the Paris police force. Unfaithful adaption of the Edgar Allan Poe story is a rip roaring mystery with twists and turns aplenty as murder and mayhem put the Roget family in danger. This is a movie thats perfect when you want a solid little mystery that moves along so quickly that you really don't have time to think. It starts and just zips straight to the end in ways that many other mysteries of the time don't. Worth a look.

1942's "Mystery of Marie Roget" was not only Poe's sequel to "Murders in the Rue Morgue," but also Universal's. Leon Ames' Pierre Dupin, medical student, is now Dr. Paul Dupin, a rare leading role for the likable Patric Knowles, fresh from "The Wolf Man," the story set in 1889 Paris (1932's "Rue Morgue" was set in 1845 Paris). The nominal star, Maria Montez, on the cusp of stardom, doesn't have much of a showcase as the scheming, one-dimensional Marie Roget, who wants her younger sister Camille (Nell O'Day) dead before her 21st birthday. Missing for 10 days and presumed dead by the authorities, Marie doesn't exactly endear herself to anyone after she suddenly turns up, unwilling to divulge where she'd been; is it any surprise that she winds up murdered instead of Camille? Also from "The Wolf Man," Maria Ouspenskaya again proves a scene stealer, barking demands with a slinky leopard by her side. The low key Knowles makes a rather unorthodox detective, using forensics and grave robbing to find the proper solution (a shame there are too few suspects). The excellent supporting cast also includes John Litel, Lloyd Corrigan, Charles Middleton, Reed Hadley, and Frank Reicher. Curiously, although part of television's SHOCK! Package, "Mystery of Marie Roget" never aired on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, but did appear on channel 11 annually during the 1980s, after CT had come to an end by Jan 1 1984.

Director: PHIL ROSEN. Screenplay: Michael Jacoby. Based on the 1842 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Photography: Woody Bredell. Film editor: Milton Carruth. Art director: Jack Otterson. Costume supervisor: Vera West. Set decorator: Russell A. Gausman. Music composed and directed by Hans J. Salter. Song, "Mama Dites Moi" (Montez dubbed by Dorothy Triden), by Everett Carter and Milton Rosen. Sound recording: Robert Pritchard. Associate producer: Paul Malvern. Copyright 24 February 1942 by Universal Pictures Company, Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 4 May 1942. Australian release: 28 May 1942. 7 reels. 5,502 feet. 61 minutes. Alternative title: PHANTOM OF PARIS. SYNOPSIS: Medical examiner, Paul Dupin, tries to discover why a famous actress disappears from home. COMMENT: Beautiful photography and strikingly imaginative compositions are here undermined by banal dialogue and some equally atrocious "acting" - particularly by Lloyd Corrigan whose bumbling police chief has as much right in Montmartre as a barge-load of coal in a typewriter. OTHER VIEWS: Rosen's direction was more intent on period atmosphere than drama. The film lacked excitement and suspense. - Robert C. Roman in Films In Review.

Enjoyable Universal mystery about the murder of a not-so-nice but beautiful young woman with her fair share of male suitors. Based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, which itself was based on the real-life case of the Cigar Girl Murder that was big news in Poe's time. Starring a fine cast including many Universal contract players. The lineup includes Patric Knowles, Maria Montez, Maria Ouspenskaya, John Litel, Nell O'Day, Edward Norris, and Lloyd Corrigan. Montez plays the title character and brings her usual sex appeal. She also gets to lip sync a French tune. Knowles, one of Hollywood's great also-rans, is good as Dupin, the forensic detective. Corrigan is fun as the comic relief sidekick. It's a good B movie with a decent murder mystery. Not among the best of Universal's horror/mystery films of the 1940s but a good time-passer nonetheless.

Tag line: "Beautiful beast! Maddening...with her soft caress! Murdering...with steel-clawed terror!" In late 19th century Paris, the musical comedy star Marie Roget (Maria Montez) goes missing and Prefect of Police Gobelin (Lloyd Corrigan) is under pressure to solve the case. On the very day a woman's body is found floating in the Seine with her face torn off, Marie suddenly re-appears. Her half-sister Camille's (Nell O'Day) fiancé, Marcel (Edward Norris), an attaché to the Department of the Navy, is having a secret affair with Marie who's involved with Beauvais (John Litel), Marcel's boss. Overhearing a sinister plot hatched by Marie to kill Camille, the girls' grandmother, Cecile (Maria Ouspenskaya), hires police chemist Dr. Paul Dupin (Patrick Knowles) to escort Camille to a welcome back party for Marie where the murder will supposedly take place. When Marie, and not Camille, disappears during the festivities and is later found floating faceless in the river, Dr. Dupin uses ratiocination to solve the mystery. Edgar Allan Poe, the father of American detective pulp fiction, wrote "The Mystery Of Marie Roget" in 1842 as a sequel to his "Murders In The Rue Morgue" and was based on the real-life murder of "The Beautiful Cigar Girl", Mary Rogers, in NYC. Poe wrote the story in three installments for "Snowden's Ladies' Companion" magazine; after the second part was published, there was a suicide and a deathbed confession in the real-life case that flew in the face of known facts so Poe adjusted the third installment accordingly. The case is still unsolved and author Irving Wallace has offered up Poe himself as a possible suspect as he had a passing acquaintance with the dead girl. Very loosely based on the Poe, Universal's MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET is a fast-moving, atmospheric programmer set in 1889 Paris. Universal utilized the back lot villages from their horror films to recreate the city and some of the murky photography foreshadows the look of the "period noir" yet to come. Everyone's a suspect including Maria Ouspenskaya's pet leopard but the final outcome comes as no surprise. Patric Knowles' Dr. Dupin is reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes (he even has a Watson in the form of the Prefect of Police) and uses deductive reasoning along with some unorthodox science to solve the crimes; removing Marie's brain from the morgue, he examines it and later announces the star had a twisted criminal mind (?!). For a finale, there's a fast-paced chase and shoot-out across the roofs of Paris with barely a loose end tied up. Exotic Maria Montez' accent isn't out of place at all and she even gets to sing a (dubbed) song. Overall, not bad but strictly second feature.