The Black Cat (1934 film)

Infobox Film | name = The Black Cat


caption = Original 1934 theatrical poster
director = Edgar G. Ulmer
producer =
writer = Edgar G. Ulmer
starring = Boris Karloff
Béla Lugosi
David Manners
music = Heinz Eric Roemheld
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Universal Pictures
released =
runtime = 65 minutes
language = English
country = USA
budget =
amg_id = 1:5835
imdb_id = 0024894

"The Black Cat" is a 1934 horror film that became Universal Pictures' biggest box office hit of the year. It was the first of six movies to pair actors Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Edgar G. Ulmer both wrote the screenplay and directed the film. The extreme art deco sets, women's corpses on display, and depiction of devil worship rites remain striking today. The classical music soundtrack, compiled by Heinz Eric Roemheld, is unusual for its time, because there is an almost continuous background score throughout the entire film.

Plot

Two young honeymooners, Peter and Joan Alison, are vacationing in Hungary when they learn that due to a mix up in the reservations, they must share a train compartment with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Béla Lugosi), a psychiatrist. The doctor explains that he is traveling to see an old friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff), an Austrian architect. Werdegast had left his wife to go to war eighteen years ago, and has spent the last fifteen years in an infamous prison camp. Later, when the bus the three share crashes and Joan is injured, they take her to Poelzig's home, built upon the ruins of Fort Marmorus, which Poelzig commanded during the war. After Werdegast treats Joan's injury, he accuses Poelzig of betraying the fort to the Russians, resulting in the death of thousands of Hungarians. He also accuses Poelzig of stealing his wife while he was in prison. Poelzig plans to sacrifice Joan Alison in a satanic ritual. Werdegast is the nominal hero, seeking to rescue her and to exact his revenge on Poelzig.

Cast

* Boris Karloff - Hjalmar Poelzig (as KARLOFF)
* Béla Lugosi - Dr. Vitus Werdegast
* David Manners - Peter Alison
* Julie Bishop - Joan Alison (as Jacqueline Wells)
* Egon Brecher - The Majordomo
* Harry Cording - Thamal
* Lucille Lund - Karen Werdegast
* Henry Armetta - Police Sergeant
* Albert Conti - Police Lieutenant

Production

"The Black Cat" was part of a boom in horror "talkies" following the release of "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" in 1931. The film exploited the popularity of Poe and the horror genre, as well as a sudden public interest in psychiatry. [Neimeyer, Mark. "Poe and popular culture" as collected in "The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe", Kevin J. Hayes, editor. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0521797276 pp. 216-7]

The opening titles and the closing credits do not mention Boris Karloff's first name. Also the advertisements (for example, the poster in this article's info box) referred to him only as "Karloff". At the time, Karloff was the bigger star (a fact that rankled Lugosi, who had burst into stardom earlier with "Dracula"), hence the special billing. Even though Lugosi had the lead role, Karloff recevied top billing. Karloff's role is the adversary, and main source of fright of the story, while Lugosi is the tragic "hero". Today, Lugosi's touching performance is often well remembered, as well as Karloff's menacing presence.

The film has little to do with the famous Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name, though Poe's name is listed in the credits. Poesque elements include the death-of-a-beautiful-woman theme.

The film – and by extension, the character of Hjalmar Poelzig – draws inspiration from the life of occultist Aleister Crowley. [cite book
last = Everson
first = William K.
authorlink = William K. Everson
coauthors =
title = Classics of the Horror Film
publisher = Citadel Press
date = 1974
location =
pages = pp. pp. 121–124
url =
doi =
id =
isbn =0-8065-0595-8] The name Poelzig was borrowed from architect Hans Poelzig, who worked on the sets for Paul Wegener's silent film "".

Critical reception and impact

This film was #68 on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments" for its "skinning" scene.

ee also

* Béla Lugosi filmography
* Boris Karloff filmography

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0024894|title=The Black Cat
* [http://members.aol.com/MG4273/ulmer.htm Films of Edgar G. Ulmer]
* [http://www.filmsite.org/blac.html Film Site.org review]
* [http://hollywoodgothique.com/blackcat1934.html Film Review]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/film.php?filmid=1075 Bibliography]