Universal Pictures
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The Black Cat
Things you never said before nor even dreamed of!
After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.
- Original title
- The Black Cat
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $95,745
- Revenue
- $236,000
CinemaSerf
Jun 13, 2022 · via TMDB
This great pairing of Messrs. Karloff and Lugosi make for a fun, if not particularly scary, horror movie from Universal. An honeymoon couple are travelling through Hungary when their bus is involved in an accident near the castle of "Hjalmar Poelzig" (Karloff). Together with fellow traveller "Vitus Werdegast" (a slightly theatrical Lugosi) they seek refuge and find themselves caught up in a tale of retribution between the two men that results in a game of chess not seen since the "Seventh Seal". It doesn't hang about - only just over an hour of creepily shot, tautly directed drama that makes for a spookily engaging watch with quite a bit of jeopardy right to the end...
John Chard
Oct 1, 2018 · via TMDB
Weird and hypnotic creeper. The first, and arguably in terms of their dual performances, best teaming of Horror legends Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi is this almost bizarre Edgar G. Ulmer directed piece. Based around a story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Black Cat sees a young couple, Peter & Joan Allison (David Manners & Julie Bishop), who while on their honeymoon in Budapest meet the mysterious scientist Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Lugosi). When the bus taking them to the hotel crashes and Joan is injured, the trio wind up at the home of Verdegast's old acquaintance Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). Where the troubled history between Verdegast and Poelzig comes to light and thus spells immense danger for the newly married Allison's. Excellently directed by Ulmer, The Black Cat still today has the ability to genuinely unnerve the viewer. Filled with an overwhelming sense of dread throughout, Ulmer and his on form leading men have crafted a superb study of character evil. Flanked by a magnificent set design and with a script that does Poe proud, the piece pot boils until its brutal and frenzied climax. Karloff and Lugosi are particularly impressive (check out the chess match sequences), lending the film its timeless quality, with Karloff's Poelzig apparently being based on real life occultist Aleister Crowley. While the music, featuring some of the biggest names of classical composition, is an extra haunting character all by itself. It's a far from flawless picture, but it remains a unique, literate and important film in the pantheon of classic horror. 7/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Boris Karloff
Hjalmar Poelzig
Bela Lugosi
Dr. Vitus Werdegast
David Manners
Peter Alison
Julie Bishop
Joan Alison
Egon Brecher
The Majordomo
Harry Cording
Thamal
Lucille Lund
Karen
Henry Armetta
The Sergeant
Albert Conti
The Lieutenant
John Carradine
Cult Organist
John George
Cultist (uncredited)
Edgar G. Ulmer
Set Designer
Roman Freulich
Still Photographer
Edgar G. Ulmer
Costume Design
Jack Pierce
Makeup Artist
Edgar G. Ulmer
Director
Carl Laemmle Jr.
Producer
Heinz Roemheld
Music
Edgar Allan Poe
Short Story
Edgar G. Ulmer
Story
Snitch
Glimpses of the Outskirts
Sayulita Chrome
Psycho
Double Indemnity
M
The Eternal
A Man Escaped
Rosemary's Baby
Rififi
Out of the Past
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
Onibaba
Nosferatu
Strangers on a Train
Godzilla
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Butterfly Effect
Evil Dead II
The Birds
The Manchurian Candidate
Shadow of a Doubt
Open Your Eyes
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Duel
It Happened in Broad Daylight
Scarface
The Lady Vanishes
Spellbound
The Killers
The Second Wife
Un Chien Andalou
Eraserhead
Vampyr
3:10 to Yuma
Suddenly, Last Summer
Army of Darkness
Bunny Lake Is Missing
Kontroll
Shoot the Piano Player
Murder on the Orient Express
Pi
The Phantom of the Opera
Marnie
Murder at the Gallop
Murder Most Foul
The Snorkel
13 Tzameti
Murder Ahoy
Re-Animator
Von Ryan's Express
Equus
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The Most Dangerous Game
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Hold That Ghost
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The Devil's Rejects
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The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
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Next
Monster on the Campus
Murder on the Orient Express
Godzilla Raids Again
Doctor X
Why Get Married the Day the World Ends?
The Vanished Elephant
Dracula's Daughter
The Bat
Pyewacket
Spellbinder
Dr. Caligari
The Reaping
Color of Night
Death Line
Spiderhead
Knight Moves
The Missing Person
Terror Train
Payment Deferred
Millennium
One Missed Call
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
Captain Voyeur
The Beast in Heat
Danika
8MM 2
Once You Kiss a Stranger...
L.A. Vice
Bride of the Monster
The Screaming Skull
Ingagi
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Terror of the Soul
Fleeting
Tom and His Zombie Wife
Mute
Sudoku
Shadow
Pilgrim
The Burden
Ceremony of Innocence
Un vestito di piombo per il signor Chalmers
No Evil In Bebop
Honour Among Thieves
Mute
Bedtime Stories: Tales of Love and Hate
The Third Man
The Invisible Man
Minority Report
The Hunger Games
The Maze Runner
Dracula
The Haunting
The Spider Woman
Foreign Correspondent
The Amateur
House on Haunted Hill
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
The Night Walker
The Raven
Escape Room
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Cellar
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Burnt Offerings
The City of the Dead
Van Helsing
The Invitation
Race with the Devil
Night Watch
The Possessed
Chief of Station
Twice-Told Tales
Mark of the Vampire
The Jester
Next
Inferno
Eradication
The Mephisto Waltz
The 355
Dracula's Daughter
Pyewacket
Poker Night
The Hand
The Unhealer
Superhost
May 3, 1934
May 7, 1934
