There's a mad murder in Paris. On the fourth floor of an apartment building, two women are murdered in a brutal manner, one of them stuffed up a chimney. Forty gold francs are scattered on the floor. There is no exit from the room: the door is seen, and the windows in the room are nailed shut. When Rebecca de Mornay's fiance is arrested, she prevails on her father, C. August Dupin -- played by George C. Scott -- and his godson, Val Kilmer, to investigate, despite the opposition of the Prefect of Police, Ian McShane, who had Scott forcibly retired on a tiny pension as soon as he could.
Having read Edgar Allen Poe' classic short story, this soon became a drag to watch in terms of plot. Still, the camerawork around the fin-de-siecle architecture of Paris was quite good in this TV movie. Set in the early 20th century. Likewise, I thought the film makers played fairly with the mystery. On the other hand, the dialogue was written in that stilted and artificial style that some people think people talked like before they were born; only Miss De Mornay seems to be able to make most of her dialogue sound natural, and Scott seems to be phoning it in in most of his scenes.
I didn't think it was terribly successful. Like many movies that attempt to bring a short story up to 92 minutes, a great number of details have been invented that serve neither the mystery, nor do they particularly ornament the movie, save for the great number of location shots.
Having read Edgar Allen Poe' classic short story, this soon became a drag to watch in terms of plot. Still, the camerawork around the fin-de-siecle architecture of Paris was quite good in this TV movie. Set in the early 20th century. Likewise, I thought the film makers played fairly with the mystery. On the other hand, the dialogue was written in that stilted and artificial style that some people think people talked like before they were born; only Miss De Mornay seems to be able to make most of her dialogue sound natural, and Scott seems to be phoning it in in most of his scenes.
I didn't think it was terribly successful. Like many movies that attempt to bring a short story up to 92 minutes, a great number of details have been invented that serve neither the mystery, nor do they particularly ornament the movie, save for the great number of location shots.