Paris around the turn of the 20th Century. Inspector Bonnard of the gendarmerie is baffled by a series of murders wherein women are found in locked apartments, having been killed by someone of ferocious strength. Witnesses all describe someone speaking in a different language. After evidence is found linking him, psychology professor Paul Dupin is blamed for the killings and arrested. The actual person behind the murders is the zookeeper Dr Marais who has trained an ape to kill by locating the sounds of bracelets with bells on that he gives to his victims, all women who have rejected his advances. With Dupin imprisoned, Marais now sets his eyes on his fiancee Jeanette.
The original 3D fad began in 1952. One of the biggest successes amongst this was Warner Brothers’ House of Wax (1953) with Vincent Price, which remade the classic 1930s horror film Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) in 3D. Warner Brothers tried to duplicate the same success with Phantom of the Rue Morgue, which likewise remade another 1930s horror film, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), in 3D but failed to have the same hit a second time.