The Murders in the Rue Morgue Murders in the Rue Morgue" continues an urban theme that was used several times in Poe's fiction, in particular "The Man of the Crowd", likely inspired by Poe's time living in Philadelphia. The tale has an underlying metaphor for the battle of brains vs. brawn. Physical strength, depicted as the orangutan as well as its owner, stand for violence: the orangutan is a murderer, while its owner admits he has abused the animal with a whip. The analyst's brainpower overcomes their violence. The story also contains Poe's often-used theme of the death of a beautiful woman, which he called the
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film) romantic subplots. The film premiered on February 21, 1932 in the US and was later re-release on April 15, 1949 according to IMDb. All in all, Murders in the Rue Morgue received quite mixed reviews. In an issue of Photoplay Magazine from 1932, it was written that the critic "shook and shuddered when (they) saw this picture and so will you." Because of the increasing popularity of horror films due to the success of Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931), there was a lot of hype surrounding the release of this film. N.Y. Daily News writes that Murders in the Rue