 In the weird circle, in this cave by the restless sea, we are met to call from out the past stories, strange and weird. Bellkeeper, hold the bell, so all may know we are gathered again in the weird circle. Gentlemen, gentlemen, please may I have your attention. I didn't ask you to come to my humble apartment tonight to endeavor to stun you with my superior knowledge of crime and criminals. I've asked you here only to prove to you that the murders in the room or present no great insoluble mystery. Monsieur Tupin, if you think the case is so obvious, tell me, who is the murderer? He will be here shortly, Monsieur le Préfecteur police. Here? Who is it? The murderer here. Gentlemen, I give you my word as a man of honor that he will be here in my apartment at precisely ten o'clock this evening. How can you be so sure? I have asked him to come. It is exactly nine o'clock now, gentlemen, and in the hour remaining to us before we meet the murderer, I shall explain to you as simply as I can how I managed to arrive at my conclusion. Yes, do, Monsieur Tupin. I'm always interested in guesswork. Guesswork, my dear fellow? This is not guesswork. No. Now, gentlemen, let us retrace the case. The story begins, if I'm not mistaken, with Madame Lisbonnet and her daughter Camille on the afternoon of December 16th, 1841. Well, of course, you're correct so far anyway, Dupin. I bow, Monsieur le Préfecteur. Madame Lisbonnet and her daughter Camille entered the Bank of France at precisely 245 in the afternoon to transact important business. Ah, Madame Lisbonnet, I've been waiting for you. So good of you, Monsieur Le Bon. Have you met my daughter Camille? I don't think I've had the pleasure. How do you do, mademoiselle? How do you do, Monsieur Le Bon? Are you quite sure, Madame Lisbonnet, that you wished to withdraw all this money at this time? Quite positive. But 4,000 francs is a great deal to keep about one's household, Madame. I'm quite aware of the danger involved, Monsieur Le Bon. But if the Bank keeps this withdrawal quiet, nobody else need know that I have a sum of money in the house. Well, things do get about, Madame. There's no use inviting unnecessary danger. The danger is my problem, Monsieur Le Bon. I think we'd better let the matter drop at that. Have you any protection against possible thievery at home, Madame? No, Monsieur, but my man, I have protection enough. We bolt and knock our doors. It's absolutely impossible for anybody to enter the house unless he should break the door down. But does any male protector live in the house? My husband died many years ago. But doubt misunderstands me. I'm only asking these questions for your own good. A protected woman living alone in a large house can invite trouble. That is our problem. If Madame insists. And I do insist. Very well, Madame. I have the money here. I myself will see you both home to ensure safe delivery. But let me warn you now. The minute you arrive in your home on the Rue Morgue, the Bank of France resigns all future responsibility. We understand, Monsieur Le Bon. We understand perfectly. So, gentlemen, the first step in this little tragedy was completed. Madame Lispany and her daughter insisted on taking the money home from the bank. Monsieur Le Bon drove them in his carriage to their house. The large bleak house. Number 12, Rue Morgue. When they arrived there, Monsieur Le Bon looked about to the gendarme who was in charge of that particular block. May I help you out, Mlle. Camille? Oh, thank you, Monsieur Le Bon. Madame? Thank you. Thank you. Is that the gendarme on the corner? The gendarme usually on this block? Not having had any reason to talk to the gendarme, Monsieur Le Bon. I wouldn't know. Yes, I think it is, Monsieur. Gendarme! Gendarme! All this fuss over a little money. Really, you'd think we were incapable of taking care of ourselves. Well, I think Monsieur Le Bon is very thoughtful, Mama. Gendarme! Coming, Monsieur, coming. Do you live on the first floor, Madame Lispany? On the fourth floor in the back of the house. I own this house and I've shut up all the other rooms. You mean this entire house is unoccupied except... You called me, Monsieur. Yes, I did. I want you to keep a special watch on this house for the next week or so. Madame Lispany and her daughter will have a considerable amount of money in the house. I will watch the house like a watchdog. You would be better off if you did it like a man, then you'd use your head instead of your feet. Monsieur! What is your name, gendarme? Gendarme Isidore Musée. Very well. Gendarme Isidore Musée. I leave these ladies in your care. You needn't worry about a thing, mademoiselle, and madame. I am sure we won't. That is, as long as you don't spread the news around the neighborhood that we've got 4,000 francs hidden here in the house. Oh, me, madem. I am the law. And your secret is safe with me. Come along, mamma. I'm getting hungry. Yes, dear. Thank you so much for all you've done, Monsieur Le Bon. It is nothing, mademoiselle, nothing at all. Just a courtesy extended by the Bank of France. I'll keep good watch. Be assured of that. I'll keep very good watch. Well, of course. Gentlemen, gentlemen. Let us proceed to the next event. Gendarme Isidore Musée kept a very good watch on number 12, Rue Morgue. At 11 o'clock, the evening of the tragedy, he strolled into the shop two doors away from number 12 to buy a pouch of tobacco and to chat with his very good friend Pierre Moreau, a skinny man known as the Neighborhood Gossip. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, friend Isidore. Good evening. Good evening. I've been waiting for you. Yes, I've been waiting for you. You usually dropped in at 9 o'clock. And I said to myself as I sat here waiting for you, I said, where's my good friend Isidore? It's been a busy evening this evening. That's what I said to myself. If Isidore doesn't drop in to buy his usual pouch of tobacco, he's busy. There must be big news abroad, but then how could there be big news abroad on this block? That's what I said. You were wrong, Pierre. Very wrong. Wrong, eh? There is big news. Thievery. No. Merede. No. Well, then I give up. It's a secret. Secret. What could be a secret? Somebody got married. That's no secret. Somebody died. That's no secret either. A child is ill, a contagious disease, an epidemic, or Paris will be infected. No. Well, I can't guess. If you promise not to tell a soul. Oh, not a soul. Well, Madame Les Pigniers. Yes. And her daughter Camille. Yes. Have withdrawn 4,000 francs from the bank today and have it hidden in the house somewhere. No. And I must stand on guard. Naturally, naturally. But don't tell a soul. No, not a soul. On my honor, not a single soul is a door. My word of honor, I swear it now. And so, by midnight, gentlemen, the entire neighborhood in the room org was buzzing. 4,000 francs in the Les Pigniers household. I hear it was 10,000. Two women all alone. Imagine it, 20,000 francs. I wonder where we're... And all that jewelry must be a veritable fortune hidden away. Do you know that they say she's got money hidden in every corner of the house? Imagine almost 10,000,000 francs in that house. I always knew there was something strange about those two women living all alone in a house like that. And in the rear, fourth floor. Yes, sitting in the bedroom of the fourth floor rear. But while the neighborhood was busy gossiping and chattering, Mademoiselle Camille and her mother were completely unaware of the commotion they had caused. It was almost three in the morning. Camille had just finished undressing, and her mother was sitting in front of the mirror, brushing her hair so that they didn't notice the window opening in back of them. I'm so tired, Mama. Poor Camille. It's been a very busy day. You know, I thought that Monsieur Le Bon was very nice. He seems fairly affable. Oh, Mama, fairly affable. I thought he was perfectly charming. So concerned over us. No man ever gets that concerned over me. Must have been you, darling. All men sit. Mama! Mama, look in the mirror. Stay calm, Camille. Don't move. Mama, he's got a razor in his hand. Don't move, Camille. Mama, quick. Let's hide. He's coming closer. Where, Camille? Where shall we go? Into the closet, Mama. Quickly, Mama, into the closet. Close the door. Mama, he'll break the door down. He'll break the door down, Mama. Watch out, Camille. He's breaking it down. Help me, Mama. Help me. Right, right, gentlemen. Simply ghastly. We fully realize that this is a horrible atrocity, but we must remain factual. While all this was going on on the fourth floor of No. 12 Rumorg, the Jean-Dame Isidore Musée, a little tobacco-less Pierre Moreau, Monsieur Le Bon, who, strangely enough, was in the neighborhood at that very moment, and a passer-by, a sailor, all four were attracted by the screams of the two women and immediately tried to break into No. 12 Rumorg. Now stand back, everybody, while I break the door down. Stand back. This is the Jean-Dame's job. Break it down, Isidore. Break it down. Well, come. Follow me, everybody. Up these stairs. Come on to the next slide. Keep going. Wait a minute. Wait. Wait. Listen. Listen to that. He's speaking Italian. No. It's Russian, Isidore. No, Italian, Pierre. I think it's Polish. How would you know Polish, Monsieur Le Bon? Have you ever heard Polish spoken? No. No, but... Listen. Listen again. I think it's Dutchie speaking. Dutch, Polish, Italian, Russian. None of you know what you're talking about. He stopped speaking, hasn't he? Yes. Probably escaped. Yes, probably. I wonder. Try the door. Can you open it, Isidore? No. It's locked. I think we're too late. I'm sure of it, sailor. I warned you about the Jean-Dame. Let's break the door down. One. Two. Three. Look. Look. What? All the entire room is wrecked. Just exactly as if a maniac had torn up the place. The beds torn apart. I've sailed the seven seas, but I've never seen a place like this in my entire life. Monsieur Le Bon. Where are Mamazelle Camille and her mother? I don't know. They're not in here. They're in the fireplace. It's Mamazelle Camille. Dead. Yes. Dead. Dead. Poor girl. Here, help me, somebody. Help me lift her up. Look. Look out this window. The old woman is lying in the courtyard below. Is the sailor's right? Absolutely right. She's lying in the courtyard below. That is a dead fish. Or probably twice as dead. Somebody is guilty of this. Somebody. And as a member of the Paris police, I mean to find out who that guilty person is. Yes, gentlemen. Is the door musée Jean-Dame swore up and down that he would find the murderer? Well, at four o'clock that morning, I was awakened from a sound sleep and called to number 12, Umar, to examine the evidence. Monsieur le Jean-Dame musée was running around the room destroying the evidence, or at least what little evidence there was as fast as he unearthed it. The three gentlemen who had been there with him were still waiting round out of a combined feeling of horror and curiosity. The sailor, whose name escaped me, was sitting on what was left of a bed staring blankly around the room. Monsieur Pierre Moreau, who was an iconist, was watching Isidore musée the Jean-Dame play detective. He played it badly. And Monsieur Le Bon was the picture of dejection. I entered the room and gazed about while Isidore supplied me with all the facts in the case, at least from his point of view. And that is exactly what happened, Monsieur Le Bon. Very interesting, Monsieur Isidore musée. And now, gentlemen, I wish to ask just a few questions. Go ahead, gentlemen. Now, all of you seem to think you heard the voice of the murderer. Yes, yes, indeed. Oh, we did definitely. No doubt about it. And you, Monsieur Isidore musée, you are positive that the murderer is an Italian. Positive, Monsieur Dupin. Absolutely positive. I could tell by his intonation. Do you speak Italian? Oh, no. Definitely not. Have you ever heard Italian spoken? No, Monsieur. Never. But I imagine... Yes. You imagine what? I imagine it would sound like that. I see. And you, Monsieur Le Bon, you said it was Polish. Definitely Polish without a doubt. I judge you have lived in Poland a long time? No, no, but I heard Polish spoken once. Once? Yes. That makes you an excellent judge of the Polish language. How about you, Monsieur Pierre Moral? What language did you say it was? Russian, I thought. But that's only a guess, since I admit it. And I admit it very freely. I'm not a man to hedge. I've never heard a word of Russian in my life. I thought so. And how about you, sir? I thought it was Dutch. I don't speak the Dutch language, but I have heard a considerable amount of Dutch spoken when I was in Holland eight years ago. Eight years ago? I don't mean to to suggest you, Monsieur Dupin. But Monsieur Le Bon was the only man beside myself who knew about the money being kept in this house. What are you insinuating, Monsieur Muset? Insinuating? I'm an officer of the law. And I think it was very peculiar that you should just happen to be in this neighborhood at three o'clock in the morning. Don't you live in this neighborhood, Monsieur Le Bon? No, but I have good reason to be here. Oh, so? Suppose you tell us. Well, I was worried about Marcel Camille. I was rather attracted to the young lady. And well, I had a feeling that there would be trouble over the money. Well, I was in the corner cafe having some tea until about 10 minutes before the murder occurred. And then you strolled by the house on your way home, correct? Quite correct. My tobacco store is open all night. All tobacco stores are open all night, Monsieur Pierre Moreau. All the money? But naturally, nobody stole the money. It's in the safe behind this wall. Are you positive, Monsieur Dupin? Perfectly obvious that the money hasn't been touched. These murders were far too cruel to be instigated by man's greedy desire for a financial reward. Here, let me open the safe and show you. I happen to know an interesting combination that will open any safe. I should have been a thief. So, there. I ought to open it. Oh, it did. Naturally. Now, look, there's the 4,000 franc. Safe and snug is a 4,000 franc group of notes should be. Well, perhaps Monsieur Le Bon was interrupted in the midst of its thievery. Perhaps he didn't have time to finish. Well, nonsense. Monsieur Le Bon was with you when you walked up the stairs. Well, an accomplice, perhaps. No, no, no, Monsieur. It's a door museum. Let me show you something. Look at the fingerprints on this girl's neck. Very strong, heavy prints. And very large, too. Oh, yes. The murderer must have been a giant. His hand must have been twice as large as mine, and I have a large hand as hands. Yes, yes. The murderer was a giant. A giant with extraordinary strength. Gentlemen, I think now I have sufficient clues. Look at this window. It's just a window? It's just a window with a cord on it. A broken piece of cord. Clue number one. Clue number two. Look. Look at the dead girl's hand. Huh? She has some hair clutched in her hand. Quite correct. And with this cord and this hair, I can find the murderer. Gentlemen, go home. Go home, get a good night's sleep, and I'll hand the murderer over to the very effective police very soon. Monsieur de Man, don't forget to mention that I helped you. I'm due for promotion soon. That's very strong. I don't care, man. And so, missus, that is the story. And you have the fact. A piece of cord and some hair. The condition of the room, the strength of the murderer, the passion of the deed, the lack of motivation should all suggest to you the very same thing it suggested to me. Monsieur Dupin, you are talking in circles. Circles? So? You mean to say you still don't know who the murderer is? No, of course I don't know. And frankly, Monsieur Dupin, I don't think you know either. Oh, really, gentlemen. Really, gentlemen, you amaze me. Here. Here, Monsieur, that prefect. Examine this piece of cord, if you will. What do you make out of it? Yes. Well, let me see. Well, it's a piece of... Well, nothing, except that... Well, it's been torn. Yes, it's been torn. Now, try to tear it yourself. Well, try to tear... Well, I couldn't. It's a very, very strong cord. Ah. Notice anything else? Yes, now that I look at it, it's got a very unusual knot in it. But what does an unusual knot prove? You will see what I mean, presently. It's the first stroke of ten o'clock. Any minute now, gentlemen, the murderer will enter this room. Uh, may I please ask you to extinguish all the candles in the room, all except one? Oh, why, Monsieur Dupin, we'll all be murdered. Which would be no great tragedy, but I wouldn't worry if I were you. Well, as you say, Monsieur Dupin, eh, extinguish the candles, gentlemen. Yes. Now we are in semi-darkness, and it's fine. Listen, gentlemen, the downstairs door to my ponceo has opened and closed. The murderer is now downstairs. He is walking up the stairs. Now listen. Yes, listen. For the love of heaven. Quiet, quiet. He is coming closer. Gentlemen, are you ready to grab him when he enters? Yes, Monsieur Dupin. That is good. Good. He is standing outside my door now, Mr. Eley Prefect. Ready, gentlemen? Yes, sir. Come in. Grab him. Let me go! Let me go! Hang on. So it is you, sailor. Help the sailor to sit down. It was a trap, huh? But the sailor doesn't look strong enough to commit these murders. Let me go! Let me go! Please, please, please don't start it. You see, sailor, Mr. Eley Prefect cannot arrest you for the murder because although you are responsible for the crimes, you are not guilty. I am not guilty. I am not. I couldn't help. Of course you couldn't. Gentlemen, it must be obvious to you now that no man murdered these two women. The only creature able to do it would be a borneese orangutan. A orangutan? I matched these hairs I found in the dead woman's hand and, of course, they belong to just such a creature. An orangutan. Yes, yes, Monsieur Dupin is right. But tell me, how is this sailor involved? I owned the animal. Dupin put an ad in the paper saying my orangutan was captured. Oh, that's why I'm here to claim it. But didn't you realize that Monsieur Dupin knew that the murder was an orangutan? No. No, I... I didn't think anyone could solve the murders. But I did know that whoever put the ad in the paper knew that I was the owner of the animal and that he was keeping what he thought was a perfectly innocent animal. You see, I addressed my ad personally to this sailor. This piece of cord told me a sailor owned it. There was a sailor's knot in the cord and the knot was peculiar to those tied on Maltese vessels. Therefore, when I put the ad in the paper I asked the sailor from the Maltese vessel I checked on the name of the vessel from the sailing data in the paper to come and get the beast. Naturally, I came to pick him up. Ah, now I see. One question I must ask sailor. How did the orangutan get hold of a razor and how did he manage to escape? I... I had the animal locked in my quarters. I captured him in Malta and brought him to this country to sell to the zoo. They're very smart, you know. Well, last night when I entered my room he was trying to shave with my razor. When I tried to chain him up he escaped. He ran out into the streets, saw the light in number 12, grew log, climbed up the lightning rod to the ladies' apartments. Well... you know the rest. Indeed we do. Well, gentlemen, if you have any other problems you wish settled, call on me. Just call on Monsieur Auguste Dupin. Incidentally, if you'd like to see the orangutan you'll find it safely locked up in the zoo.