The Black Cat
1934 Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
Synopsis
Honeymooning in Hungary, Joan and Peter Allison share their train compartment with Dr. Vitus Verdegast, a courtly but tragic man who is returning to the remains of the town he defended before becoming a prisoner of war for fifteen years. When their hotel-bound bus crashes in a mountain storm and Joan is injured, the travellers seek refuge in the home, built fortress-like upon the site of a bloody
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Now THIS is a dark film. WOW !! This is a film that audiences today I think wouldn't even come close to getting. It is such an intellectual game of strategy where decorum and patience ruled. It would be unheard of for Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi) to not play "the game" patiently waiting for his time to strike, even when all the odds were against him. His opponent, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff) is as sick, demented and yes, even Satanic as they come. Silently, slowly these obvious enemies plod away as their game unfolds never letting emotion or passion force them out of the chess game "of death" that they are locked in to. The atmosphere and tension in…
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Horroctober 2012We shall play a little game, Vitus. A game of death, if you like.
-Hjalmar PoelzigIt's highly appropriate that the first film to feature Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi together on screen is unlike any horror film Universal Studios had ever produced before or since. It was a visionary director's first and last film for a major Hollywood studio, marred by interference and controversy, it's a compromised masterpiece.
The film's hero and heroine are you're typical boring 1930s couple, but it doesn't matter. While it certainly is their lives that are at stake, they play no part in their own fate. It's all on Lugosi and Karloff playing a battle of wits with each other…
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A pre-code Horror from the early uncensored period of Hollywood. 'The Black Cat' offers up a delightful story which claims to be "suggested" by Poe's own short story of the same name. But in reality they bare no resemblance other than the inclusion of the titular cat. However I was very intrigued at the story in this film which ranged from atrocities of war, revenge at one's doorstep, a prison in which kills your soul and a Satanic cult.
This film is mainly worth it for the two marquee players Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. I think I was even more impressed with Lugosi. He enters his first scene complete with a Dracula look and vibe about him and my…
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Or, don't share your railway compartment with Bela Lugosi. But seriously, folks, this is one of the best films of the 1930, a dream of a shattered Europe that is both Art Deco (Poelzig's house is one of the greatest sets of all time) and Gothic.
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THE BLACK CAT ('34): we are dead, this is hell. the cat is calling from inside the house. wife under glass single most fucked up image ever.
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Lugosi and Karloff were never better than in this sleek, German Expressionist, "not really" adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story. Lugosi takes a rare turn as the "hero" of the film, a vengeful psychiatrist with a deadly fear of black cats, while Karloff oozes menace from every pore as a satanic architect with a great sense of fashion.
With its pre-code nastiness and nightmare atmosphere that puts Argento to shame, The Black Cat is not to be missed.
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I'm a little confused as to why this was called "The Black Cat" as it really has no connection to Poe's story. But besides this, this movie is fairly good in its own right. Karloff and Lugosi give good performances and the set is very neat.
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There are a lot of things wrong with this film:
1.) The Production Value Fails even for 1934
2.) The Characters are moronic or douche like
3.) The simple plot is made confusing by Lugosi's speech being mumbled.
4.) The transition editing is a messYet I had a lot of fun, especially after the 40 minute mark when the film picked up steam...
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What a dream-team! Dracula and Frankenstein meet! No wonder this was a box office hit for Universal. And as visually creepy as it gets. They did a wonderful job with each shot making it both super modern and old school goth, mixing the styles effectively. And what chills as we got our first glance at Boris Karloff. Few men has looked so damn evil!
Screw the love couple! They were just in the way. All I wanted to see was the games between Karloff and the man out for vengeance - Bela Lugosi! The teasing, the wax cabinet of real people and the natural evil of the monsters.... and the silly cat scare. Loved it!
Too bad the movie was… -
A pre-code Horror from the early uncensored period of Hollywood. 'The Black Cat' offers up a delightful story which claims to be "suggested" by Poe's own short story of the same name. But in reality they bare no resemblance other than the inclusion of the titular cat. However I was very intrigued at the story in this film which ranged from atrocities of war, revenge at one's doorstep, a prison in which kills your soul and a Satanic cult.
This film is mainly worth it for the two marquee players Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. I think I was even more impressed with Lugosi. He enters his first scene complete with a Dracula look and vibe about him and my…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Bauhaus horror. When the film moves inside a solitary castle to find only steel and glass, I knew I was in for a treat. And it only gets weirder from there. Hesitant to jump on the Ulmer train until I move beyond his two most celebrated, but man, this and DETOUR are exceptional.
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Great pre-code Hollywood film where we not only see Boris Karloff in bed with a young woman (a no no during the code years) but are also served some shocking sadism in a shocking end scene. Visually beautiful to look at, sometimes a little to silly but who cares when you have Karloff and Lugosi battling each other? The screen sizzles with those two titans together!
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Like nearly every horror film of this age, the premise - a wronged doctor fighting a crazed architect, played by Legosi and Karloff (respectively) - should have payed off big time. As it is, the whole thing mires the story of a couple who arrive at the architect's art deco mansion and, uh, get in between the feud. I keep coming back to a scene where Karloff, inexplicably, turns out to be the head of some devil-worshiping cult; In this scene, there are some close-ups that unite Ulmer with his previous, indie roots (see Detour, a far better film). The rest is cast in the symbolic shadow of its marketing campaign: They use Poe's The Black Cat to reel people…
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Film #45 of The December Project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVppuv9Pcqk