The Black Cat (1934)

The Black Cat
Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
1934/USA
Universal Pictures
Second viewing

Highly enjoyable pre-Code Universal horror outing with boffo dual performances by Karloff and Lugosi.

Peter Allison: I don’t know. It all sounds like a lot of supernatural baloney to me.
Dr. Vitus Verdegast: Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun.[/box]

Dr. Vitus Vendergast (Bela Lugosi) meets honeymooners Peter (David Manners) and Joan on a train and hitches a ride with them to their ultimate destination. On the way, the car goes off the road, the driver is killed and the party is forced to take refuge in the creepy modernist castle of Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff).

This suits Vendergast just fine as he is on a mission to make Poelzig, his sworn enemy, suffer slowly. Poelzig left Vendergast to rot in prison for 15 years then told Vendergast’s wife she was a widow and took her for his own.

Hjalmar Poelzig: The phone is dead. Do you hear that, Vitus? Even the phone is dead.

The movie is basically a duel of wits between Vendergast and Poelzig, who also has plans to use Joan as the sacrifice in a Black Mass.   As for a black cat, well one wanders around, but it’s basically just an excuse to use the Edgar Allen Poe title

This is the kind of thing I just eat up. Sure it can be a little campy in places and Lugosi over-emotes furiously but that is part of the fun. The Expressionist cinematography and art direction are quite wonderful.  Recommended for lovers of classic Universal horror.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1yyr5UfVWE