In the 19th century Paris, a man named Dupin
investigates two horrible crimes the police cannot solve.Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue is a black and white 92-minute French film for television produced by ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) and aired by the Première chaîne on June 2, 1973. It is based on The Murders in the Rue Morgue, a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1841. Amateur detective Chevalier Auguste Dupin, its main character, appeared again in The Mystery of Mary Rogêt (1842) and The Purloined Letter (1844). Dupin is one of the influences of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. In France, poet Charles Baudelaire translated some of Poe's tales, including this one and The Purloined Letter, and compiled them in Histoires extraordinaires (1856) (1). The Murders in the Rue Morgue was adapted several times for the cinema and TV.
Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue was penned by novelist and scriptwriter Albert Simonin (Les Tontons flingueurs) with writer and director Jacques Nahum, who helmed it. After a collaboration on a movie adaptation of Leslie Charteris' The Saint (Le Saint mène la danse, 1960), Nahum suggested they could do The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Although they submitted a scenario to ORTF in 1963, they had to wait for eight years to start the filming. In the meantime, Jacques Nahum co-produced season 1 of the hit series Arsène Lupin (1971-1974), starring Georges Descrières, with his company Mars International Productions (MIP), Pathé and a handful of foreign broadcasters. Albert Simonin contributed to the writing. Paris in 1842, under the reign of Louis-Philippe. Two women, Madame de L'Espanaye and her daughter, are brutally murdered in their Rue Morgue apartment. They were killed in a room locked from the inside but their invisible attackers managed to escape. And nothing was stolen.
The residents of the street and then the entire Parisian population are terrorized. The Préfet de police, irritated by the confusion of his men in front of this mystery, assigns the young and ambitious Commissaire Gauffier on the case. Dupin, a wealthy idler with extraordinary deduction abilities, challenges the Préfet. Followed by his friend Le Dandy, he begins his own investigation. Best known at the time for the popular sitcom Les Saintes Chéries (1965-1970), Daniel Gélin is excellent as Dupin. Georges Descrières, between the two seasons of Arsène Lupin, brings his distinction to Le Dandy. Nadine Alari plays Madame de L'Espanaye. Alari and Gélin guest-starred in the first episode of Arsène Lupin. Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue was shot in November 1971 on location in Paris and in studio. Georges Descrières is also the voice of Charles Baudelaire at the beginning.
Philippe Ogouz (Commissaire Gauffier) played amateur sleuth Rouletabille in the namesake 1966 series. With Henri Gilabert (Sial IV) as The sailor, Jean Danet (Préfet), Jacques Duby (Lebon), Catherine Rich (Mademoiselle de l'Espanaye), Geneviève Fontanel (Mathilde), Eva Damien (Pauline), Edmond Tamiz (Montani), etc. Produced by Marie-Françoise Gay, Charles Jameux and Maurice Teboul. Original music by Dino Castro (Les Thibault). "Complainte" performed by Cora Vocaire. Lyrics by Marie-Hélène Bourquin (Albert Simonin's wife) and music by Jean Mahel. Cinematography by Jean Limousin. Editing by Maurice Rosé and Annie Callot. Production designed by Armand Braun and Jacques Bataille. Past the performances of Daniel Gélin and Georges Descrières, Double assassinat dans la Rue Morgue suffers from budget contraints. The black and white doesn't help (2).
Albert Simonin declared that he was more interested in the era of Poe's story than in the plot (3). Later, Jacques Nahum did The Purloined Letter (with Laurent Terzieff as Le Chevalier Dupin) for Les Grands Détectives. Besides Dupin, this 6 x 60-minute anthology co-produced by MIP for ORTF in 1973 adapted stories featuring Inspector Wens, Slim Callaghan, Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Lecoq and Nick Carter. Nahum couldn't get the rights of Hercule Poirot. Les Grands Détectives was shown in 1975 by Antenne 2 (4). Arsène Lupin was brought back to television by Jacques Nahum with Arsène Lupin joue et perd (1980, starring Jean-Claude Brialy), Le retour d'Arsène Lupin (1989) and its follow-up Les Nouveaux Exploits d'Arsène Lupin (1995), both with François Dunoyer. Georges Descrières played Sam Kramer alongside Corinne Le Poulain and later Nicole Calfan in Sam et Sally (1978-1980), based on the books of M.G. Braun and produced by Nahum.
Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue, Arsène Lupin and Les Grands Détectives are available on Madelen, the streaming service of INA.
https://madelen.ina.fr/content/double-assassinat-dans-la-rue-morgue-68853?locale=fr
See also:
https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2015/11/arsene-lupin-season-two-french-region-2.html
https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2015/01/arsene-lupin-season-one-french-region-2.html
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