#tom dupin

[dweemeister]

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

For the bookworms reading this, fair warning: there have been almost no faithful film adaptations of an Edgar Allan Poe work. In the absence of any cinematic-literary faithfulness to Poe’s bibliography, there still remains a plethora of big-screen Poe adaptations that, from a cinematic standpoint, are simply mesmeric to watch. Robert Florey’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Béla Lugosi one year after his career-defining role in Dracula (1931) and released by Universal, is one of the earliest such adaptations. Its atmospheric filmmaking reminiscent of the tangled geometries of German Expressionism and Lugosi’s creepy turn in a starring role may make Poe loyalists furious, but one hopes they can also see the remarkable craft of this film, too.

Though lesser known than both Dracula and Frankenstein (1931), Florey’s Murders in the Rue Morgue came about due to legacies of both those productions. Following the successful release of Dracula in February 1931, Universal considered Lugosi as their go-to star for horror films. Producer Carl Laemmle Jr. – the son of Universal’s chief executive and co-founder, Carl Laemmle – wanted Lugosi to play Frankenstein’s monster (often mistakenly called “Frankenstein”), and even had Lugosi play the monster in several minutes of test footage. That footage, now lost, is one of horror cinema’s greatest sights unseen. Sometime after that test shoot, Universal gave director James Whale a first-choice pick for his next project after the rousing critical and commercial success of Waterloo Bridge (1931). Whale chose Frankenstein, requested a screenplay rewrite, and cast the British actor Boris Karloff in the role. As consolation, Lammle Jr. gave the Hungarian American Lugosi the starring role in Murders in Rue Morgue.

In a Parisian carnival in 1845, we find ourselves in a sideshow tent. There, Dr. Mirakle (Lugosi; meer-AH-cull, not to be pronounced like “miracle”) provides a presentation that is anything but the freak show the attendees are anticipating. He unveils an ape, Erik (Charles Gemora – an actor in an ape suit; some close-up shots are of an actual ape), whom he claims he is able to understand and converse with – even though Erik is unable to speak any human language. In the audience, Mirakle spots a young lady, Camille L’Espanaye (Sidney Fox), and asks her to be his intrepid volunteer for a demonstration. The demonstration goes awry, to the ire of both Camille and her fiancé, Pierre Dupin (Leon Ames). As Camille and Pierre exit the carnival, Mirakle orders his assistant, Janos (Noble Johnson), to trail them. Thus sets in motion the film’s grisly plot.

The film also stars silent film comic actor Bert Roach as one of Camille and Pierre’s friends, Betsy Ross Clarke as Camille’s mother, character actor D’Arcy Corrigan as the morgue keeper, and Arlene Francis (best known as a regular panelist on the game show What’s My Line?) as a prostitute.

Murders in the Rue Morgue, with a screenplay by Tom Reed (1925’s The Phantom of the Opera, 1931’s Waterloo Bridge) and Dale Van Every (1937’s Captains Courageous, 1942’s The Talk of the Town), is one of the most violent pre-Code horror films from the early synchronized sound years. It was so violent, in fact, that Universal’s executives harbored trepidation throughout its entire production and demanded narrative and structural changes that ultimately harmed the film (including cutting grotesque and violent sequences, leaving behind the current 62-minute runtime). The best example of this damage comes from the film’s opening third. Unbeknownst to the carnival attendees, Mirakle has been performing horrifying experiments involving cross-species blood mixing and, through heavy implication by the filmmaking and Gemora’s performance, bestiality (hey, it’s a pre-Code movie!). Originally, Florey’s adaptation of Murders in the Rue Morgue began with Mirakle and Janos abducting Arlene Francis’ streetwalker and Mirakle’s torturing and experimentation on her. Only after that did the film transition to Mirakle’s sideshow presentation.

The reordering of these two scenes – in the final print, the sideshow opens the movie and the abduction and experimentation follows a turgid romantic scene between Camille and Pierre – makes the sideshow opening seem sillier than it should be. If the original order had been kept, Florey’s initial intention to instill dread during the sideshow only after the abduction and experimentation scene – as the audience would be well aware of what Mirakle is capable of – would have made the film’s exposition feel far less stage-bound and hokey than it does. The abduction and experimentation scene’s blood-curdling horror remains (the scene contains a boundary-pushing combination of bestial and religious allusions that some modern filmmakers might not even dare to push), but the romantic scene immediately preceding makes for a rough tonal transition. In comparison to later horror films from the Hollywood Studio System released after stricter implementation of the Hays Code in 1934, these scenes – in addition to a later investigation and the film’s finale – hold up wonderfully.

Crucially, Tom Reed and Dale Van Every’s screenplay alter genres from Edgar Allan Poe’s original short story. With the introduction of hobbyist detective C. Auguste Dupin, Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a foundational piece of early Western detective fiction. Or, in Poe’s words, Murders in the Rue Morgue is a “ratiocination tale” – a name that was never going to catch on in any century. Poe’s Dupin, a character who later influenced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, undergoes a name change in Reed and Van Every’s adaptation, and we do not see nearly as much deduction and investigating here as in the short story. Reed and Van Every’s screenplay, which delete all but two scenes from the Poe short story, also elevate one of their own creations – Dr. Mirakle – at the expense of Dupin. In addition, it is clear early on who is responsible for the violent acts within the narrative. And, unlike the Poe’s original short story in which Dupin and the unnamed narrator read about the violence in the newspaper, the film shows these acts explicitly or the lead-up to them. Director Robert Florey’s film is decidedly a horror film, not a mystery.

Having Béla Lugosi in the cast in his first film after Dracula is a surefire way to confirm that you are making/watching a horror film. Reed and Van Every’s clunky dialogue might not do Sidney Fox and Leon Ames any favors, but it is a gift for Lugosi. Lugosi’s heavily accented English typecast him later in his career to mad scientist and vampire roles. Nevertheless, who else could stand there – with a mangled tuft of a wig, a makeup department-applied thick unibrow that appears to barely move, menacing lighting from a low angle – and tell Fox’s Camille (after receiving a gawking from Erik, the ape), “Erik is only human, mademoiselle. He has an eye for beauty,” with incredible conviction? The opening minutes of the film at the sideshow, because of the reordering of the film, are heavily expository and contain the bumpiest writing of the entire film. But Lugosi, with his signature cadence (notice how and when Lugosi uses silence and varies the speed of his phrasing – very few native English speakers naturally speak like that) and his physical acting, presents himself perfectly as the societal outsider – remarkably intelligent, but perhaps mentally unhinged. Lugosi’s performance completely outshines all others in this film. Here, in a magnificent performance, he confirms that his acting ability on display in Dracula was no fluke.

Early Universal Horror of the late silent era and early sound era owes a sizable debt to German Expressionism – a mostly silent film-era movement in German cinema in which filmmakers used distorted and geometrically unrealistic sets to suggest mental tumult and dread. Working alongside editor Milton Carruth (1932’s The Mummy,1943’s Shadow of a Doubt) and production designer Charles D. Hall (1925’s The Phantom of the Opera, 1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front), cinematographer Karl Freund (1924’s The Last Laugh, 1927’s Metropolis) found a team of filmmakers that he could work with to set an aesthetic that could do justice to Murders in the Rue Morgue’s macabre plot.

It also helped that director Robert Florey wanted to make something that looked closer to Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, Germany) than Dracula. Together, Freund and Florey worked with Hall to achieve a set design that created long shadows and crooked buildings and tents more likely to appear in a nightmare than in nineteenth century Europe. The final chase scene across angular and rickety rooftops used leftover sets from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). All this endows Murders in the Rue Morgue with a gruesome atmosphere, oftentimes cloaked in dust and early morning mist.

For Freund and Florey, each saw in the other a kindred spirit in their appreciation of German Expressionism. If they could not achieve just the right shadow, they would instead paint it onto the set itself (painting shadows was commonplace in German Expressionism, but never in Hollywood movies). To achieve the ideal lighting for some of the rooftop or near-rooftop scenes, they shot outdoors, in chilly autumn weather, past midnight – most black-and-white Old Hollywood films, due to technical limitations at the time, shot nighttime scenes inside soundstages. In an era where cameras usually stayed frozen in one place, Freund invented the unchained camera technique, allowing cameras to creep forward into a set rather than relying on a cut to a close-up. Though the unchained camera is not as present here as in other movies involving Freund as cinematographer, it makes the viewer feel as if they are moving alongside the crowd at the carnival, as well as imbuing the audience with a terrible anticipation for what terror lurks around the corner. Freund and Florey’s collaboration was one of like-minded men, with similar influences and goals. In what was their only film together, the two achieve an artistry with few similarities across much of American film history.

Initial reception to Murders in the Rue Morgue was cold, in large part due to the film’s shocking violence and awkward acting. Despite finishing the film under budget, Robert Florey hit the apex of his career with Murders in the Rue Morgue. The disapproval from Universal executives took its toll, and given that Florey was on a one-film contract with the studio, he never returned. The French American director would bounce around studios over the next decade – from Paramount to Warner Bros. back to Paramount to Columbia and back to Warner Bros. – mostly working on inexpensive B-pictures, occasionally making a hit such as The Beast with Five Fingers (1946). Florey spent his later career with television anthologies: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Four Star Playhouse, and The Twilight Zone.

For Lugosi, Murders in the Rue Morgue was the true first step for the horror film typecasting that he sought to avoid. Once considered by Universal’s executives to be the successor to the late Lon Chaney (The Man of a Thousand Faces passed away in 1930), the failure of Murders in the Rue Morgue among audiences and critics gave Universal pause when it came to extending Lugosi’s original contract. But the early 1930s were Lugosi’s most productive period in films, and they contained his finest, most memorable performances.

In recent decades, the reputation of Murders in the Rue Morgue continues to gradually improve, as do many films that once caused a stir due to their content during the pre-Code years. Awkward supporting actors aside, when one has Béla Lugosi cloaked in the shadows of German Expressionism and the spirit (albeit not so much intentions of the original text) of Edgar Allan Poe, what results is a foreboding work, one worthy to carry Universal’s horror legacy.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog. Half-points are always rounded down.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[lostmyremembrall]

Hellooo! I just stumbled upon you're blog and saw that you do HCs for our lord and savior, Tom Riddle! I'm kinda embarrassed but somehow excited about this 😅

My name is Anamaria and I'm pretty much a very dreary person. I walk in graveyards, I like Edgar Allan Poe and sometimes if I like someone I write poetry about them-

This is very unlike me to ask but I'm just a slightly obsessed fan

🐍

🐍 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐂 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐦

𝓐𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓪

𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 1𝐾 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡!

A/N: I am so glad you enjoy the words of our lord and saviour, Tom Riddle!! Thank you so much for the request; I really enjoyed writing this! I'm sorry this took so long, but here it is!

Tom found your dreariness alluring and mysterious.

One of his favourite things is to say your name. He often says it slowly, letting the syllables roll of his tongue.

He whispers your name close to your ear, and enjoys watching you turn red from the warm breath that tingles your ear.

You introduced him to Edgar Allan Poe, but Tom was insistent on being above muggle literature.

He'd never admit it, but he took the time to read and study Poe. It was crucial for him to always keep up with you in conversations and discussions revolving the author. And especially if it was an important aspect of your life; Tom was curious to understand, know, and learn everything about you.

You first noticed that he's read quite many books by him when he began quoting Poe.

He finds poetry to be most different from what he usually reads, which are scholarly articles, mostly non-fiction on the concepts of magic.

But, he's talked extensively about the Fall of the House of Usher. He sees many parallels between the House of Gaunt.

He's most enjoyed the Murders in the Rue Morgue, since he gets to challenge himself intellectually, competing against Auguste Dupin.

You find that reading poetry has allowed Tom to be more in touch with his emotions.

Writing poetry in class

Your eyes catch the profile of his face as his brows furrow in concentration. His hand travels across the parchment trying to not miss a single word muttered by the professor.

Words just come to you when you observe him, filling your pages and notes with your love, not your studies.

Your date involves a walk in Hogsmeade's graveyard.

Enjoying the cool mist against your skin, the crisp cool air.

Checking the years and names marked on gravestones and imagining and speculating the family history and lives of those that came before you.

Watching the ghosts play ball or bowling with their decapitated heads.

The two of you sitting at the usual spot, a stone bench underneath the old willow tree.

Resting your head on his shoulder.

Tom wordlessly wrapping his cloak around you. Whether you’re cold or not, Tom’s concern for your health shows in these moments.

He faces you and wraps his coat snugly around you, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ears while he’s at it.

Sometimes he would rest his head on your lap and listen to you read your poetry out loud with his eyes closed.

You two grow quite pale in the cold of the graveyard, but when he presses his lips against your temple, his lips are scorching hot and vibrant, contrasting the death that surrounds you.

Listening to the ravens that disrupts the serene space.

[master-miraculous]

The next advertising posters of Volkswagen, the exclusive partner of ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family, have been released. The posters are all the same models: Ladybug has a Volkswagen Beetle concept, Cat Noir has a crossover ID.4. Gabriel Agresta has a luxury sedan ID. Vizzion, and Tom Dupin and Sabine Cheng have a Volkswagen minivan ID. Buzz.

🐞🐈‍⬛ | BeMiraculous platform |

[zensakira]

So I wrote some notes while I was watching the miraculous movie. (I didn't intend to watch it today, I was looking for something to watch and was pleasantly surprised to see it popped up on Netflix.)

With absolutely no further context, here are my notes.

================================

That is not marinettes singing voice

Doesn't fit her

Animation is beautiful

There's no chemistry between marinette and adrien

Adriens singing voice fits better

How did fu know hawkmoth's name is hawkmoth

HE GETS A SONG????

THE MIME GUY IS NOW A CRIMINAL??

MULTIPLE AKUMAS AT ONCE?

Tom is gonna embarrass her

NO SAD TOM IS SAD ME

DID THEY JUST USE A SCREAM MEME SOUND EFFECT

Ain't no way they just said they have style

THEY INCLUDED THE VOLKSWAGEN

Where did the ice cream go

I don't see the annoyance bit

THEY DID THE KOREAN THING

WHAT

Now that is chemistry

Is ladybug flirting back what happened to I'm so annoyed

ANd yOu nEeD a piAnO foR tHat??

"you've revealed a whole new world to me

And its all thanks to you"?????

IT'S BECAUSE OF PLAGG ENTIRELY

YOU SAVE THE WORLD EVERYDAY BEHIND A MASK BUT THE GIRL BEHIND THE MASK SAVED MY HEART

UGHHHGHHB CHEESE

Hang on so canonically she likes them both at the same time and recognizes that

Adrien talking back to Gabriel,???????

Sir that someone else can't go to the ball anyway besides the ball doesn't equal a date nor does it mean you want to be together in a relationship

Is it another song

It is

Lyrics need workshopping

STOP IT ADRIEN JUST GO

Hmm a lucky charm would be nice

Does he have super speed as well

Don't worry the Eiffel tower always falls

Just lucky charm it

So what exactly is the super power he gave himself

WHAT IS THIS

THE FORCE??

I will myself to be a jedi ig

Gabriel is a star wars nerd confirmed

That scratch is the only retailiation that son will ever have over father

NOT THIS CHEESY LINE AGAIN

How did she jump so high without super powers

That jump was for nothing I guess

And.... Indestructible suits??

Oh. That's why they made his eyes white at first

  where's the lucky charm coming

Hang on is this movie almost over it felt like nothing happened

Where did all the backdrop butterflies come from

SHE'S MASSIVE

DAMN GABRIEL YOU MARRIED A GIANT

Marinette it was obviously him

CHLOE SPOTTED HELPING SABRINA UP?

Hang on I'M SORRY? Construction workers have no job I guess and also what if she missed a spot, does she only reconstruct what her eyes can see???

Wait what's the point in gardening

Creation = growth? Can you help babies grow too?

Dupin? DUPIN??? IT'S DUPAINNNNNNN

Oh it's December

Wow hawkmoth gets defeated in less than half a year instead of 8 years wait no it's only been one school year in the show as well darn

Ok Chloe has a pretty dress

It's a black mask girl what point was that gonna prove

Why he crying

How did they know to meet each other outside

Wow they don't even kiss

What is the new movie after finna be about the peacock or what

Oh it's about Emilie except she's literally dead and there's no preserving pod or anything

That's it????

================================

Some final thoughts. The animation is stunning. As an animator myself I found myself admiring the beauty of the rendering very often. So the movie did this fantastically well.

But the script overall is lacking. Watermelon is a fun joke. Flea bag is a funny new nickname. But none of their interactions sound endearing or even natural. The delivery was so flat.

I understand that there are troubles in condensing a five season show into a movie. But similar to how they adapted the lightning thief into a movie, my thoughts are the same: if you're not going to do it justice don't do it at all.

There are many bits of the movie that I love, thematically, aesthetically; tHE KOREAN MOVE that playfulness was the only thing that made me feel they had chemistry. I liked their initial meeting, stumbling into each other; but every interaction after that made ladybug- marinette (oops spoilers jk) feel like a wishy washy character who can't decide between being annoyed or insecure. And even the annoyance is just so terribly expressed, its hard to tell what's genuine and what's playful. Every eye roll is accompanied with a smirk or a smile, so it feels like she doesn't mean what she says when she tells him to stop.

Also, when chat noir first falls in love with ladybug.... It doesn't feel that impactful. Like that scene of being in awe.. What are you in awe of? Vs the show scene where he witnesses her be impossibly brave, purifying like a billion butterflies at once and then essentially declaring war on hawkmoth and pledging herself to be the hero of Paris... Like that's awe inspiring. Speaking of, what happened to the gargoyle unpurified ladybug??

I've waited so many years for this movie and the aesthetics are stunning but. The delivery is just.. The script.. Aiii. And also Fu is portrayed as this more ominious crazy old man when he's supposed to be a kind old man! Though I do like that plagg and tikki are the ones who pick their holders.

Anyways. If you're reading my live notes from the movie just know that its in chronological order. Feel free to guess exactly which moment is referring to which part of the movie.

[byneddiedingo]

Bela Lugosi in Murders in the Rue Morgue (Robert Florey, 1932)

Cast: Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox, Leon Ames, Bert Roach, Betty Ross Clarke, Brandon Hurst, D'Arcy Corrigan, Noble Johnson, Arlene Francis. Screenplay: Robert Florey, Tom Reed, Dale Van Every, John Huston, based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe. Cinematography: Karl Freund. Art direction: Charles D. Hall. Film editing: Milton Carruth. 

Robert Florey's Murders in the Rue Morgue looks great, thanks to Karl Freund's cinematography and Charles D. Hall's atmospheric sets, which were designed in collaboration with an uncredited Herman Rosse. Freund in particular brought to the task of re-creating the seamy side of Paris in 1845 his experience as cinematographer on such classics of German expressionism as F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924) and Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). Unfortunately, Florey was a comparative novice as a director, and the pacing of the movie is all wrong, static when it should be dynamic, with performances stuck in that peculiarly halting way of early talkies. There are supposedly comic scenes that fall flat: the byplay between the hero, a medical student called Pierre Dupin (Leon Ames) and his friend Paul (Bert Roach), and a routine involving three witnesses to a murder, a German, an Italian, and a Dane, each adhering to an ethnic stereotype. Only Bela Lugosi, as the sinister (what else?) Dr. Mirakle, gives his character any life. Dr. Mirakle is a carnival showman whose act centers on a gorilla called Erik (sometimes played by a chimpanzee and sometimes by the actor Charles Gamora in an ape suit). The doctor believes he can talk with Erik and wants to breed him with a human woman, so with the aid of his assistant Janos (Noble Johnson) he kidnaps streetwalkers, one of whom is played in her film debut by Arlene Francis, now mostly remembered as a panelist in the old game show What's My Line? After failing to find a compatible blood-type (and killing the women in the process) he finds his perfect subject: the pretty Camille (Sidney Fox), whom he spots in the audience at his show with her boyfriend, Pierre. You can guess the rest. Murders in the Rue Morgue has the makings of the best Universal horror classics, but it failed on its initial run. Critics panned the performances, with the exception of Lugosi's. Censors objected to the violence, the depiction of prostitution, and some belly-dancers in the sideshow, and some even to the endorsement of the theory of evolution. It was trimmed from its reported release time of 75 minutes to just over an hour. But it retains some exceptionally creepy moments, and its exciting end sequence anticipates and perhaps even influenced King Kong (Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933).   

[ive-seen-worse]

I wonder what gonna happen to Marinette, I bet Tom & Sabrine are going to FLOOD HER with questions.

Tom: What where you doing with Chat Noir?

Tom: are you in a relationship with him?

Tom: when did you two meet?

Sabrine: WHY DID’NT YOU TELL US??

Tom: how long has this been going on?

Sabrine: do you not trust us?

Tom: Why did you make a fake you?

Sabrine: why do talk so late at night?

Tom: IS HE COMING FOR LUNCH ON SUNDAY

[chelleaslin]

Marinette March Day 23- Family

@marinettemarch

[wonderwoman6199]

God, it gives me so much joy to see Adrien actually call out just how much of a s#*t father Gabriel is!😁

More for everyone else!

Episode 10 Part 1

First < Previous Episode > Next

Ep 1,  Ep 2,  Ep 3,  Ep 4,  Ep 5,  Ep 6,  Ep 7,  Ep 8,  Ep 9

Season 2

Bonus:

Got all dressed up and only FOUR PARENTS SHOWED UP?!

Ko-fi | Patreon

[krinsbez]

Pulptober 2021, Themes Elaborated, Part Three

For some bizarre reason, while Part One is currently my Top Post of the last three days, Part Two has no Likes and only two RBs, and both of them are me.

11-Hellboy/Weird Pulp Hero

This is a bit of a tricky one. I’m defining it as when Weird Fiction Pulp and Hero Pulp combine, but since there’s a lot of Weird Fiction that isn’t Pulp, it can get tricky. There’s also the added complication of the Occult Detective genre, of which there is considerable overlap (notably, as @maxwell-grant has pointed out Hellboy fits both). Still, I will take up the gauntlet and present some alternate examples, namely Atomic Robo, Tom Strong, and Solomon Kane

12-The Whisperer/Lesser Lights

Another tricky one, albeit for a different reason; this is a very loose category, basically referring to Pulp Heroes who are relatively obscure. Of course, everyone’s idea of what constitutes “obscure“ is gonna be different, which, since everyone’s idea of what constitutes a Pulp Hero is different, means it’s tricky deciding what does and does not count. My attempt at some examples: Imaro*, The Gadget Man (who’s real name is Click Rush, which is so much fun to say I have to mention it), and The Phantom Reporter

13-Domino Lady/Spicy Pulp

So, yeah, Pulp Heroes where Fanservice is part of the point. Alternate examples: Vampirella, Barbarella, and Jungle Girl. If someone could please suggest some male examples, which I know have to exist because bodice-rippers exist, that’d be helpful.

14-Zorro/Swashbuckling

Yeah, this one is relatively obvious. Granted, what exactly counts as a swashbuckler is not something I can clearly define, but we all know it when we see it. As with Weird Pulp, figuring out which Swashbucklers count as Pulp Heroes is a bit tricky, especially since several of the ones I can think of I’ve, uh, already used for other themes. But, not all, such as John Carter, Red Sonja, and her inspiration Red Sonya of Rogatino

15-Sherlock Holmes/Great Detective

Again, an obvious one, the detective who solves crimes because he’s a genius who is able to reason his way to the solution. This is another one where there are LOADS of examples, but also many that don’t count as Pulp Heroes (notably, @maxwell-grant doesn’t think the primary for this day counts!). Still, there are enough I’m comfortable with calling Pulp Heroes to list; Nick Carter (duh), Charlie Chan, and the OG example of not only this category, but detective fiction in general, C. Auguste Dupin.

*I have not consumed any source material. Note that I’m counting modern stuff as source material, as long as they’re a major character, so f’r example, The Phantom Reporter’s role as narrator of The Twelve counts.

[unmaskedagain]

Marinette: Blood Of Steel

Another Quick one-shot. It’s Marinette in the world of Young Justice. I loved  Young Justice. Connor was my favorite. And I thought what the hell

Marinette had always known she was adopted. Mostly because she wasn’t born. She was created in a laboratory with a boy she would later call her brother. But unlike him, Marinette was a mistake. She was near perfect, but that wasn’t enough.

She was meant to be a clone of Superman. Someone to seemingly replace the man of steel without anyone noticing. She couldn’t do that obviously being female.

Gina, a woman she now called her grandmother, was a scientist on Project Kr. She had given the tasks to destroy the clone. Marinette had been biologically she was 10 weeks old, physically she had was she was ten-years-old.  Gina couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill a little child, no matter who’s DNA laid her blood. Not that she had a problem with Superman, having just been in it for the love of science.

So she fakes the clone’s death and stole her away. She gave it her son and daughter-in-law who had been struggling for a child for nearly a decade. Gina made them promise to avoid anything related to Lex Luther, as he was the main benefactor of Cadmus and the source of the baby girl’s human DNA. She warned them of the powers the girl might develop and to keep them of the down-low.

Tom and Sabine Clara Marinette Dupin-Cheng, after the known name of the alien superhero Kal-El. They called her Marinette for safety.

When Marinette was eleven-years-old, physically, she met her brother; Superboy. He had found her. Marinette thought that it was because technically, they were twins; that he could sense in the same way she could sense him. She had known the moment he had been broken out of Cadmus. She didn’t know how but she did know.

They had met on the rooftop of the bakery. He was had been at Cadmus longer and was sixteen. He had looked confused, lost, and hurt.

“Connor,” He said gruffly, eyeing the small girl.

“Clara,” She introduced herself back, deciding then and there, that unlike everyone else in her life, he would be allowed to call her that.

           Marinette took him by the hand and led him to the living room. She gave him cookies and milk and watched TV together until they had both been lulled into a sense of security.

           Then Marinette told him how she came to live in France and all about her life. Connor told her he had always been awake for a few months and just gotten a name. They talked for hours.

           Much like Connor, Marinette’s powers were limited. Marinette could fly and had laser vision. Connor had super strength, superhearing, and infrared vision. They both had super healing and invulnerability. Neither had the superspeed or any other powers Superman possessed.

           Connor ended up staying with the small family for a few weeks; having been more welcomed there than he’d been anywhere in his entire life. Tom had shown him how to bake pies. (Connor loved pies). Sabine took him shopping. Marinette taught him video games, and reminded him every day that she was his sister, he was her brother, and they were family. It was nice. It was easy. He wished it could last forever. But nothing good in his life seemed to.

           One day, Connor heard him, Superman, flying over Paris, speaking with Watchtower, about finding him.

           With a sigh, Connor told his little sister had to go. He decided he wouldn’t reveal Clara's existence without her permission so he found himself in the desolate area and called her the Man of Steel.

           Superman landed in front of him with a disappointed look on his face, “We were worried.” Then he was blasted thirty feet back into the trees. When Kal-El looked up, he saw a little dark-haired girl, in a red superman shirt, with glowing red eyes.

           She had followed Connor to meet Superman.

           She floated above him, “You should be worried,” She hissed at him. The red slowly faded from her eyes leaving startling blue orbs, identical to the boy standing next to her, like Superman’s own. “My name is Clara Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You were mean to my brother. You were negligent. You were a bad dad. And if you keep it up, I’ll be the one to end you. Not Connor.”

           The laughter of Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Black Canary, from where they watched from the Watchtower, filled Superman’s earpiece.

           Marinette landed in front of Connor, and stood protectively in front of him, with her arms on her hips. “Do better,” She orders Superman. “Be better.”

           Superman stood up and eyed the clones… No!

           His children; his son who, Clark now knew after reviewing video of his clone’s time with the young justice team, had inherited his sunny disposition, and his daughter, who radiated righteous fury that she got from the Superhero.

“I’m… sorry,” Clark blurted.

           Connor blinked in surprise. Marinette just nodded stiffly, “I don’t care if you don’t want to be apart of our lives. But you will not treat us like monsters.”

           A long conversation later, and peace was made between the three. Clark was brought to meant Marinette’s parents, who were quick to chastise the hero and make the offer of letting Connor live with them.

           But Clark had already decided before he flew to France that Connor would live with him. He would have liked Clara or Marinette, as she was called, to live with him too but he wouldn’t take her away from her family.

           Instead, plans were made for the young girl to train every weekend with Clark and Connor, as a family.

           A few weekends later, Clara was introduced to the Kents who marveled at their new granddaughter.

           The next year, Marinette spent the entire summer split between Metropolis and Smallville. Clark also took her and Connor to the fortress of solitude where the two children were given their Kryptonian names.

Connor Kent was called Kon-El.

Clara Marinette Dupain-Cheng was called Klara El.

           Unfortunately during this time, Lex Luthor had paid special attention to his old friend, and on and of again nemesis. He knew who Connor was, and had for quite some time. Lex had always known and would always know where his son was.

           However, the sight of a dark-haired, blue-eyed girl in a red superman shirt flying with Superman brought up a few questions for him.

           It didn’t take long for Lex to uncover the seemingly failed female clone of Superman; all evidence said the experiment had been destroyed.

           As Lex stared at the picture had of Clara Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a Parisian girl who just turned thirteen, dressed in pink with the same blue eyes and dark hair of his rival, he knew that the data was wrong.

           Less than forty-eight hours later, the bald man walked into the French bakery. Cool blue eyes man green, as Marinette eyed her… other father suspiciously from where she stood behind the counter.

           Luckily the bakery was having a slow day, and it was empty.

“I come in peace, Clara,” Lex smiled. “I mean you no harm. There’s no reason to worry. Or alert the big man in blue or the league. I have a talk with my daughter.”

           A slow smirk spread across Marinette’s face. It reminded Lex so much of his own that he briefly wondered if the backup he’d brought just in case would be enough.

“Oh,” Marinette practically sang as her eyes narrowed in a challenge. She wouldn’t use her powers against him. She was smarter than that. She’d gotten Lex’s intelligence, after all.  And she knew things that the Light, LexCorp, and Cadmus had done their best to hide. Lex came into the bakery thinking he had the upper hand and would get whatever he wanted with just a bit of blackmail. But as far as Marinette was concerned this was a business meeting and negotiations were just about to start. “I’m not the one who should be worried.”

           She was clearly the daughter of the Man of Steel. However, by the end of that day, no one would ever forget, she was Lex Luthor’s little girl too.

[dinnerwithdumas]

In 1832, Paris was devastated by a cholera pandemic. Though the bourgeoisie thought the pandemic was confined to the poor. thousands died including a popular general Jean Maximilien LaMarque who was known to be critical of the monarchy of Louis-Philippe. Riots touched off after his funeral.

Paris was an unsanitary jigsaw puzzle with an ancient sewage system that emptied into the middle of the streets. In addition France was experiencing food shortages, high cost of living, increased concentrated poverty — in combination created the perfect storm for a plague and the rebellions that peppered the city before, during and after.

Dumas himself became ill from cholera. Miraculously he recovered after drinking ether. In a New York Times interview published September 24, 1852, Dumas credits his housekeeper for administering the cure with sugar. Ether, became very popular in Ireland in the 1840s when the British government imposed a “prohibition” on the making of distilled spirits.. Non-medical ether was produced for industrial purposes and sold in shops for public consumption. This ether gave drinkers the same kick and effect as alcohol only faster with no hangovers — a highly addictive liquid narcotic. Dumas describes how after drinking the “disholical liquid” he lost “consciousness almost immediately.”  

In France ether was often mixed with cognac. Straight ether had an unpleasant smell, taste, and created a burning sensation when swallowed. In addition ether emitted highly flammable vapors in burps and farts. Fortunately for Dumas (and all) he was in bed and not cooking.

Two years before the cholera outbreak, Dumas was putting the finishing touches on his play “Christine.” Mademoiselle Georges, a star of the Paris stage, held rehearsals for the play in her house. If there was a part for a boy, her nephew Tom, would be cast though he was not a fan of the theatre. Tom had a brother named Paul. Dumas did not consider Paul for any part in his play but appears to admire the boy’s appreciation for fine food. Being a man who never wanted anyone to be forgotten, Dumas writes a tender portrait of Paul in his memoirs and a snapshot of Paris during the 1832 cholera pandemic. Dumas mention of the “glass of eau sucrée” foreshadows Paul’s fate.

...Paul, who was called "le petit Popol," was by far the funniest looking object that was ever seen: he had a charming head, with fine dark eyes and long chestnut hair, but his body was too small to carry the head. This disproportion gave the child a very grotesque appearance: he was immensely clever, a gourmand like Grimod de la Reynière, and the very opposite of Tom in that he would have stuck to the stage all his life, if he could only have managed to get plenty to eat thereby.

At the time when I first became acquainted with him, he was only a little monkey of six or seven years of age, and already he had devised a way of establishing a credit account at the café at the corner of the rue de Vaugirard and the rue de Molière, by means of all sorts of ingenious excuses. One fine day it was found out that little Popol's account amounted to a hundred crowns! In three months he had run through three hundred francs' worth of all kinds of confectionery and drinks, which he had asked for in his mother's name, or in that of his aunt, and which he had eaten or drunk on staircases, in corridors or behind doorways. He it was who, in Richard Darlington, was placed in such a manner as to make him appear the height of an ordinary man, representing the Speaker of the House of Commons. In this capacity he had a bell at his right hand and a glass of eau sucrée* at his left; he rang the bell with the gravity of M. Dupin, and drank the glass of eau sucrée with the dignity of M. Barrot. The little beggar never would learn his prayers, and this gave the Voltairian Harel immense delight; however, all at once (it was during an epidemic of cholera), they found out that little Popol said a prayer, morning and evening, which he had, no doubt, improvised to suit the occasion.

They were curious to know what this prayer was and, hiding themselves to listen, overheard the following:—

"O Lord God! take my Aunt Georges; take my Uncle Harel; take my brother Tom; take mamma Bébelle; take my friend Provost, but leave little Popol and the cook!"

But the prayer did not bring the poor little fellow the luck he fervently wished: cholera took him, and carried him off, with fifteen hundred others in the same day.

[winteringinrome]

New Year’s Eve with Anne

200 years ago today, Anne spent her new year’s eve reading a diverse range of articles in the November issue of the Annals of Philosophy and then getting the gossip from her friend, Emma Saltmarshe, following an eventful ball they had hosted a few days before.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––

[SH:7/ML/E/4/0018]

Friday 31 December 1819

7 50/60 11 20/60

Before breakfast crossed the 2nd and near about 1/2 the 3rd page of my letter to Isabella Norcliffe and thus got it finished for tomorrow. My aunt had a letter from Marian, my father to come on Tuesday. Bad account of Kingston, the tenant at the Grange Farm.

Staid downstairs talking till after 11 – then looking over the Annals of Philosophy1 for November last – population of Moscow – effect of bathing in the dead sea – M. Bouillon Lagrange’s recommendation of carrot juice, or rather carrot poultice, as a remedy for cancer, together with a formula for the same purpose (from the Journal de Pharmacie 1819, June, p.255) vide Annals p.385. Review, also, of Dupin on the French and English marine etc. Wrote 2 1/2 pages of a letter to Miss Vallance. This took from twelve to half past two.

In the afternoon at 3 1/2 down the old bank to the Saltmarshes’. Staid rather above an hour and got home at 5 10/60. Better satisfied with my visit than usual, thought them glad enough to see me and I said nothing I wish unsaid2. From Emma’s3 account their ball must have been a riotous concern. The Greenwoods and Miss Mary Haigh danced riotously and Tom Rawson4 took Mrs. Prescott and danced her on his knee before them all, having before as publicly tickled her daughter, Elizabeth, on the sopha. She and Miss Mary Haigh afterwards went into another room, Tom kissed them both. Emma was obliged to leave them, and Mr. Saltmarshe and Miss Walker5 of Crow Nest unluckily went in together and caught them. He had his arms around Mary H’s neck but she looked nothing abashed.

Mrs. Christopher Rawson took Miss Astley with her, the Unitarians’ minister’s6 sister. Tom said it is along time since I have had a kiss of you, Mrs. Christopher, gave her one [and] said ‘the ladies will think it rude if it does not go round’ and, tho’ he had never seen Miss A before, put his arms around her neck and kissed her also.

In the evening read aloud from p.179 to 299 end of Whittaker’s Historical and Critical Enquiry7, and during supper skimmed from p.301 to 331 appendix and end of this work, vide 23 Nov. p.7. An excellent piece of criticism, and complete confutation of the arrogant pretensions of Bellamy.

A good deal of snow fell last night, and this morning was snowy till after 10. Aftweards fair and fine and frosty. Barometer 1 1/2 degrees below rain. Fahrenheit 22º at 9 p.m.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––

[1] You can read the November issue here. In addition to the articles Anne mentions there is also one on a:

The 1819 equivalent of YosemiteBear’s double rainbow all the way across the sky, I imagine.

[2] Oh Anne, I feel ya.

[3] Emma Saltmarshe née Rawson (Christopher and Jeremiah’s younger sister)

[4] Brother of Emma, Christopher and Jeremiah. He was, at this point, already married!

[5] A Miss Walker sighting! Could be Ann (who would have been 16) but perhaps more likely to be Elizabeth (who would have been 18).

[6] Probably the Rev. Richard Astley, who was the minister at Northgate End Chapel 1812-1826

[7] Whittaker’s Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures with Remarks on Mr. Bellamy’s New Translation, which can be read here

[master-miraculous]

It's time to talk about advertising in "Ladybag and Cat Noir. The movie".

For the two largest advertisers of the film – Volkswagen and Flik Flak (Swiss brand of children's watches) – in addition to advertising in the form of product placement*, some rather interesting commercials were created, which you will soon see in our group with subtitles.

Below is an advertising poster of Volkswagen, which has become an exclusive partner of ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family, two co–producers of the film. A special design was created for Volkswagen electric vehicles, corresponding to the atmosphere and plot of the film. In the film and commercials, Ladybag has a Volkswagen Beetle concept, Cat Noir has a crossover ID.4. Gabriel Agresta has a luxury sedan ID. Vizzion, and Tom Dupin and Sabine Cheng have a Volkswagen minivan ID. Buzz.

*Product placement is an implicit advertising technique when the props used by the characters in films, broadcasts, computer games, etc., have a real commercial analogue.

[This is how the official «BeMiraculous» platform explains it].

[ladysunamireads]

Guess That Hotty

Guess That Hotty by izthebookfreak

An unbelievably cute boy wants into the Dupin-Cheng bakery, and Marinette is head over heals. The only issue is... she can't figure out who he is.

Words: 1274, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng, Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe

Additional Tags: i miss going outside, i write other dorks falling i love to distract me from being alone, we love making dorks fall in love, dorks dorks dorks

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529343

[ao3feed-ladynoir]

Guess That Hotty

Guess That Hotty by izthebookfreak

An unbelievably cute boy wants into the Dupin-Cheng bakery, and Marinette is head over heals. The only issue is... she can't figure out who he is.

Words: 1274, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng, Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe

Additional Tags: i miss going outside, i write other dorks falling i love to distract me from being alone, we love making dorks fall in love, dorks dorks dorks

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529343

[9foxgrl-scribe]

Fanfic prompt

At an event Marinette and her family is catering an Akuma attack’s.

Or rather it tries to before the Dupine-Cheng family going HAM on it.

After the first few Akuma attacks, Tom apparently made the family take Kung fu lessons.

Meanwhile Adrian is seen in the background drooling at Marinette tying the Akuma up with a ribbon.