Making the most of its Karloff-Lugosi star pairing and loads of creepy atmosphere, The Black Cat is an early classic in the Universal monster movie library. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Stranded Budapest honeymooners follow a mad doctor (Bela Lugosi) to a black-lipped architect's (Boris Karloff) Art Deco manor.
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Genre: Horror
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Original Language: English
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Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
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Producer: Carl Laemmle Jr.
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Writer: Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar G. Ulmer, Peter Ruric
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Realart Pictures Inc., Screen Gems, Universal Pictures, Cinema Classics
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Production Co: Universal Pictures
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Sound Mix: Mono
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Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Flat (1.37:1)
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Critic Reviews for The Black Cat
Audience Reviews for The Black Cat
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"The Black Cat" was the first film to pair the legendary stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and at just 65 minutes in length, it packs quite a bit of oddness into it's short running time. A young couple (David Manners and Julie Bishop) are honeymooning in Hungary (of all places). Traveling by train, they share a compartment with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi), a psychiatrist on his way to visit an old friend. This old friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff) is an architect who has built a futuristic mansion on top of an old battlefield/graveyard. Poelzig betrayed Dr. Werdegast during WWI, and Werdegast spent several years in a prison there (he was betrayed possibly so Poelzig could steal his wife away), and now returning, Werdegast swears revenge. Throw some satanism into the works and there you have it. Karloff's Hjalmar Poelzig is quite a unique and sinister character, and Lugosi's doctor, with his bizarre cat phobia (whenever he sees a cat, he must either try to murder it or throw his hands over his eyes in terror) is equally odd. While the credits might acknowledge Edgar Allen Poe's original story, there is little here to resemble it. What we have is a strange and well, unique contribution to the horror genre of the 1930s.
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Messy script and typically silly finalle. But Karloff's presence is marvellous, terrifying and convincing.
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A very interesting old horror movie with two of the best old horror movie stars. A really cool movie.
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So I decided to watch... well the next movie that came across my desk. I had never heard of this little gem before. This is a big deal movie too. One that you would of heard of right? One that would be deserving of a ride at Universal unlike Earthquake the movie. This is the first blockbuster for Universal Horror since Dracula! I mean you have two major Horror heavyweights. Frankensteins own Boris Karloff and Dracula himself Bela Lugosi, both act incredibly. The movie story is bizarre and loosely biased on a Edgar Allen Poe story. A couple meets a weird Doctor (Bela) on a train. They all get into an auto accident, where I assume the driver is killed, yet no one in the movie ever talks about him again. Then they all stumble conveniently to the Doctors destination. A House owned and built by Boris Karloff's character, a psychotic and satanic Architect. I guess that the Architect stole the Doctors lady during the war and put him in an internment camp. So Bela came to this place with these people to collect. This movie has a ton of versions released all with cuts. I guess that this movie has a pretty decent amount of early gore. There is even a skinning, though I haven't seen it yet. Unfortunately, I had to watch the condensed 59 minuet version. This version sucks, it had no amount of gore. It did however show things that were incredibly shocking for its time. One it showed Boris Karloff in the same bed as a woman, which is like uncalled for in Horror movies up until this point really. The movie also shows a woman being kissed on the neck, pretty passionately. This is a milestone movie, hell it was produced by Universal. A movie this memorable should be an attraction. It does have its flaws though there are problems with continuity, bodies moving, and the whole driver thing. Because of these things, the movie comes out to a 7 on my scale. I recommend this movie to black and white movie fans. It makes its way onto the 1001 movies list. "You Lose Vitus!" S!D
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