The Black Cat (1934 film)
| The Black Cat | |
|---|---|
 Original 1934 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Edgar G. Ulmer |
| Written by | Peter Ruric, screenplay, based on Ulmer's scenario |
| Starring | Boris Karloff Béla Lugosi David Manners |
| Music by | Heinz Eric Roemheld |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 18, 1934 (NY)[1] |
| Running time | 65 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
The Black Cat is a 1934 horror film that became Universal Pictures' biggest box office hit of the year. It was the first of eight movies (six of which were produced by Universal) to pair actors Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Edgar G. Ulmer directed the film; Peter Ruric (better known as pulp writer "Paul Cain") wrote the screenplay. 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.
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[edit] 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 18 years ago, and has spent the last 15 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.
[edit] Cast
- Boris Karloff - Hjalmar Poelzig
- 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
[edit] 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.[2]
The film has little to do with Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat", though Poe's name is listed in the credits.
The film – and by extension, the character of Hjalmar Poelzig – draws inspiration from the life of occultist Aleister Crowley.[3] The name Poelzig was borrowed from architect Hans Poelzig, whom Ulmer claimed to have worked with on the sets for Paul Wegener's silent film The Golem.
[edit] Critical reception and impact
The film was well received by critics and the public. On the movie review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an average rating from critics of 85%. The film was also ranked #68 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments for its "skinning" scene [4]. The critic Philip French has called it "the first (and best) of seven Karloff/Lugosi joint appearances. The movie unfolds like a nightmare that involves necrophilia, ailurophobia, drugs, a deadly game of chess, torture, flaying, and a black mass with a human sacrifice. This bizarre, utterly irrational masterpiece, lasting little more than an hour, has images that bury themselves in the mind." [5]
Clips from The Black Cat appear in the 1968 film Head, starring musical group The Monkees. The soundtrack album includes a clip called "Superstitious", consisting of the following lines:
- David Manners: "Sounds like a lot of supernatural baloney to me."
- Bela Lugosi: "Supernatural, perhaps; baloney, perhaps not."
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from its Beginnings to the Present. New York: MacMillan. p. 119. ISBN 0-02-86042906. In New York, the film opened at the Roxy Theatre, the location of numerous Universal film premieres.
- ^ 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
- ^ Everson, William K. (1974). Classics of the Horror Film. Citadel Press. pp. 121–124. ISBN 0-8065-0595-8.
- ^ "Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments"". http://www.listsofbests.com/list/2948-100-scariest-movie-moments?page=2.
- ^ Philip French's DVD club, No 92, The Observer 4 November 2007 [1]
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Black Cat (1934 film) |
- The Black Cat at the Internet Movie Database
- The Black Cat at AllRovi
- Film Site.org review
- Film Review
- Bibliography
