True Crime Movies

[Captain Hook]

I believe Vidocq was the model for the cop in Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue.

Hello Stan and Jeff,

In The Murders in the Rue Morgue Poe introduced a detective, the Chevalier Auguste Dupin, who was not a cop. I forget who was the inspiration for him, but I doubt it was Vidocq, who was more of a savvy policeman than a detective. On the other hand, Dupin might have been created by Poe out of a number of sources.

Cheers
Eduardo

[sdreid]

Hi Eduardo,

In the 1971 movie, the detective is actually called Inspector Vidocq.

[Mayerling]

I have to keep reminding myself of this title - it's a French film.

THE JUDGE AND THE ASSASSIN (Philippe Noiret, Michel Galibro) (1976) - this little known French movie is the only one I know of dealing with the case of Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper of the 1890s. Noiret is a pliable and ambitious judge who is ready to overlook Galibro's obvious insanity because the public wants him guilloutined. The powers that be want a show trial of the madman because it will take the public mind off the really big legal mess of the day (the Dreyfus Case). Galibro won a "Cesar" as the killer.

The French film "The Elegant Criminal" about Lacenaire was mentioned, but there is an earlier and greater film that pushes that egotist (ah, how he would have loved it!) toward center stage: THE CHILDREN OF PARADISE
(1944). The character is one of four lovers of the heroine played by Arletty, the others including Jean Baptiste Dubureau (the great mime - who I believe went to prison for manslaughter at one point), Frederic LeMaitre, the leading actor of the 1830s and 1840s, Lacenaire, and a Count. Lacenaire kills the Count (historically inaccurate), but calmly waits for the police to arrive while his assistant Avril runs out.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Dir: Joseph Von Sternberg, 1935) (Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Douglas Dumbrille) is also based in part on Laceniare, as a model for Raskolnikoff and in the way the crime was described (the murder of the pawn broker and her sister by an axe, similar to the double murder Laceniare was caught on).

AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (Dir: Joseph Von Sternberg, 1931) (Philip Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, Charles Middleton). Based on the novel by Theodore Dreiser, which is based on the 1908 Chester Gillette Case (as is A PLACE IN THE SUN, which was mentioned on another list on this thread). Dreiser hated Von Sternberg's stylized film, and sued to have the film destroyed. He lost.

WE ARE NOT ALONE (1940)(Paul Muni, Flora Robson, Una O'Connor, Henry Daniel, Alan Napier). Based on a novel by James Hilton (LOST HORIZON, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, RANDOM HARVEST), it is a retelling of the Crippen case, suggesting the poisoning of the shrewish wife (Robson) was an accident committed by another (a fiction invented by Hilton) so that the author takes the prosecution of the "innocent" doctor and his girlfriend as due to the blunderings of the same men who are sending thousands of men to their deaths in the Great War (the story is moved from 1910 to 1914-15).

Jeff

[sdreid]

I watched The Alphabet Killer about the alliterative serial child murders in Rochester during the early 1970s. There will be no need to alter my list. It's a shame too because this is an interesting case and the film seemed to have a good budget. A squandered opportunity I guess.

[LadyG]

Love this thread. HBO's production CITIZEN X remains a favorite of mine, and I am delighted to see other folks have actually seen and watched THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN. I was hooked on COMPULSION for quite awhile-- Leopold/Loeb pretty well done, with fictionalized names-- And I am also happy to learn I am not the only one dissatisfied with THE BLACK DAHLIA-- must keep reminding myself it is a work of fiction, but I disliked TITANIC, too, for cheapening the truth with that ;romance'. I enjoy watching alot of crime documentaries, though I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, with victims, scene photos, and...hey...that's like this place!! THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (film adaptation of Dylan Thomas' play) is an artsy 'retelling' of Dr. Lister, Burke and Hare-- yeh, fictionalized but an EXCELLENT cast-- Timothy Dalton, Patrick Stewart, Sian Phillips (major sp??) Julian Sands, Stephen Rea, and Twiggy.... still need to read the rest of this thread-- yoikes!

[LadyG]

whoops and also FATAL VISION, BLIND FAITH and ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS.

[ianincleveland]

Can always remember watching a film set in early 70s Canada about a young Inuit(or native indian i cant totally remember) girl being raped and murdered by a group of drunk white youths and the cover up by the police and almost the whole town until one person lawyer got the case reexamined.Apparently the whole thing was true as well.

[sdreid]

Hi Ian,

Do you mean Conspiracy of Silence about the murder of Helen Betty Osbourne?

[ianincleveland]

Hi Ian,

Do you mean Conspiracy of Silence about the murder of Helen Betty Osbourne?

Thats the one,thanks.Just checked it on IMDB and that was the movie.Can remember seeing this on UK television about 5 yrs ago and somehow its always stuck with me though obviously not the title

[sdreid]

I don't know if it's been available in the U.S. At any rate, I haven't seen it.

[Magpie]

I finally saw Reversal of Fortune, about the Von Bulow case. Good movie, and raised a lot of questions.

[sdreid]

I liked Hit and Run. It reminded me a lot of the case where the woman allowed the man to die in her garage even though she knew he was alive and stuck in the front of her car when she got home. I don't know if there is any connection with this film but, if not, it's some coincidence.

[JSchmidt]

39-Pandora's Box [Die Buchse der Pandora] (1928-Gr.-1:50) Silent, black & white JtR
Finally a Ripper flick!

Based on this drama by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wedekind. Gotta see the Lulu plays someday, they were rather controversial in their time.

[LTowell]

There's a movie called Stuck with Stephen Rea It's a dark comedy based on the incident involving the woman who hit a man and drove home with him stuck on her car.

Wow, that's a really messed-up sentence!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758786/

[sdreid]

The only thing funny about that case would have been if the woman had gotten the electric chair.