The Black Cat

1934

Adventure / Crime / Horror / Romance / Thriller

Plot summary


Uploaded by: FREEMAN

Top cast

Julie Bishop Photo
Julie Bishop as Joan Alison
John Carradine Photo
John Carradine as Cult Organist
Boris Karloff Photo
Boris Karloff as Hjalmar Poelzig
Andy Devine Photo
Andy Devine as Bit Part
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
533.38 MB
978*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 5 min
P/S 1 / 4
1.02 GB
1456*1072
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 5 min
P/S 2 / 9

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by MovieAddict201610 / 10

Pure classic...

When Edgar G. Ulmer's "The Black Cat" was released in 1934, it was the first film to feature famed Universal horror actors Bela Lugosi ("Dracula") and Boris Karloff ("Frankenstein") in the same film together, which may explain part of its continually fueled cult popularity today.

The film is dark and forthright and disturbing, even by today's standards. The bad guy character is a Satan worshiper who murders women as sacrifices and keeps their preserved bodies locked up in a dungeon beneath his creepy Hungarian mansion, situated on the remains of a battlefield where men under his command once fought.

The key of the film, and what surges us forward with exceeding momentum, is an American couple honeymooning in Hungary. While traveling via train, a mysterious man named Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Lugosi) shares their compartment and tells them of an old friend he plans on meeting after some 15 years of being held captive in a prisoner of war camp.

The American couple is comprised of Peter Alison (David Manners),a pulp mystery writer, and his newly wed bride, Joan (Julie Bishop, credited as Jacqueline Wells). They feel uncomfortable around the pleasant yet strange man, and are eager to continue their tour of Hungary, when tragedy befalls Joan and Peter in an automobile accident and Verdegast and Peter are both forced to take her to the residence of Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff),the very man Verdegast is expecting to drop in on.

Joan is put to bed and given rest after the fright of the accident, and Poelzig greets them all with warm hospitality. However, it does not last for long, because it is soon revealed that Verdegast has come back after 15 years to claim his wife and daughter from the clutches of Poelzig. Poelzig informs him that his family has passed, but Verdegast believes that Poelzig murdered them both and seeks vengeance on the Satan worshiper, who plans on making Joan his next sacrifice.

There were lots of Universal horror films made during the 30s and 40s, some better than the others. "The Black Cat" is still considered one of the best to this very day, and it has not dated nearly as much as some of the other horror stories. It is still as disturbing as it was in 1934, with its villain not only creepy but literally evil, right down to Boris Karloff's eerie first appearance.

To be dreadfully honest, the film's only flaw is that it is often too quick to follow in chronological order. The film is only 66 minutes long, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me it was even shorter. It flies by quickly. Good for repeated viewings, yes, but sometimes the cuts are too rapid and all over the place.

That's a single flaw. The rest is pieced together perfectly. It was one of Lugosi's few heroic roles, and as Verdegast we are never sure if he is a good guy or bad guy until the very end, when the two arch enemies have a climatic showdown, which is as poetic as justice can be.

Karloff, credited as simply that in the movie, is perfect as Poelzig, and this was one of Lugosi's highlights before he sunk deeper and deeper into drugs and alcohol and eventually died before Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s tragic film "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was released, which didn't stop Wood from using old footage of Lugosi filmed prior to the scriptwriting process for the film (often considered the worst ever made). Wood credited him in the title role, yet Lugosi didn't even technically star in the film at all.

The movie is visibly filmed with a low budget and many technical imperfections. But its director, Edgar G. Ulmer (1904-1972),was a man whose films were often flawed but nevertheless quite haunting. "Detour," often regarded as his finest moment, was shot in six days with a band of B-actors, yet it still remains a cult classic today, even finding a spot in Roger Ebert's Great Movies compilation.

Ulmer was a refugee from Hitler, and no, I am not related to him as far as I know. Ulmer was an assistant to F. Murnau Abraham on various films, and presented the German link between American cinema of the time and German cinema, which was much more exaggerated with its filming.

It's very evident in "The Black Cat," but I don't think I'd want it any other way. It was most assuredly a breakthrough in the art of fast-paced filmmaking, and even by today's standards it is incredibly short. "The Black Cat" is one of the quickest film experiences you will ever have, but also one of the most disturbing and enjoyable, too.

5/5 stars.

  • John Ulmer

Reviewed by MartinHafer7 / 10

Poe's story?! Nope. But it's still pretty good.

Like so many Hollywood films supposedly based on a Poe story, this one's only similarity is the title! American-International and Roger Corman made a ton of "Poe inspired" films like this, but this time it'd Universal Pictures appropriating a title. It's also the first film to unite Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. They went on to make seven more films together and several of them are brilliant classics, such as THE RAVEN and THE BODY SNATCHER.

The film involves revenge. It seems that an insane and evil general (Karloff) is hated by a man (Lugosi) whose life was ruined by him. Together, they both plot and posture until a final bizarre showdown in Karloff's torture chamber. Interestingly enough, in THE RAVEN such a confrontation also occurs, but this time Lugosi is the evil guy.

This is a good film in many ways. The acting is great--Lugosi and Karloff are great (I particularly liked Karloff's cool hairdo). The atmosphere is chilling and weird and the ending is quite exciting and creepy. However, the middle portion and the section involving the satanic cult seemed like it wasn't fully hashed out--like the script still needed some work to make the film seem more credible. The worst part was that Karloff had a huge group of evil satanic minions and the next, they are gone and Lugosi seems to have won--sort of like a "scene missing here" card should have been inserted here! Plus, and it's a small complaint, I think the background music is a bit too ever-present and sometimes dominates the scenes a bit too much. Still, with an amazing creepy mood, it's not a bad film to watch provided you don't think too much about the convoluted plot.

Reviewed by TheLittleSongbird10 / 10

An absolutely fantastic film, with two icons at their best

The plot may be very simple and the film very short, but these things do not matter to me when everything else is so good. The sets are bizarre yet gorgeous and enhanced by the elegant cinematography. The score, very classical-music-based with the likes of Schubert- The Unfinished was particularly well used in The Black Cat-, Beethoven and Bach(a treat for me as I love classical music),is evocative, while there are some scenes that I do consider classic, namely Karloff in the mausoleum/museum building, Karloff and Lugosi playing chess and Lugosi's skin-flaying scene. The film is eerie in its tension and subtly creepy, even in the smaller details like how Karloff gently handles the cat. The script is great with the themes of revenge and such equally so, the superstitious baloney part is just one of the parts that stood out. The finale is incredibly intense even by today's standards. David Manners and Julie Bishop are just decent here and their rapport just about convinces, though their characters are nowhere near as interesting as those of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. As for these two, the two icons I was speaking of in the review title, if there was ever a film that showed Karloff at his most evil and sophisticated or Lugosi at his most sympathetic and tender, I have not seen it. The direction from Edgar G Ulmer is wholly competent. In conclusion, fantastic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

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