“The Black Cat” Starring Karloff & Lugosi / Z-View
The Pitch: ”Hey, let’s take two of Universal’s biggest stars, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and stick them in a horror movie that will end up being the #1 money-maker for Universal the year it is released. We can even name it “The Black Cat” after the Edgar Allan Poe story — even though the movie will have no real ties to it. What do you say?”
“Let’s do it!”
The Tagline: “Things you never said before or even dreamed of!”
The Overview: A young, newly married couple find themselves seeking refuge in a creepy mansion after the bus that they were traveling on crashes during a dark, stormy night. Along with the couple is Bela Lugosi playing a psychologist who was just released from a prisoner of war camp after 15 years. Lugosi led the couple to the mansion. He was going there to confront Karloff who Lugosi knows was a traitor who caused the death of thousands including Lugosi’s wife.
Karloff welcomes them in. On the surface he seems a genial host, but is actually a Satanist who plans to murder the young bride in a ritual. The movie has all the hallmarks of a 1930’s horror movie: big name stars, a mad scientist, an old dark house full of secret passages/rooms, the dead coming back to life, a strange manservant, revenge and more.
*** Beware – minor spoilers are found below ***
The Good
- Karloff and Lugosi in the first [and perhaps best] of their many on-screen team-ups.
- The overriding atmosphere of things being slightly off-kilter created through creative set design, costume choices and the physical appearance of Karloff and others.
- Playing chess for the lives of the newly weds.
- The banter between Karloff and Lugosi where what is said it subtext for the true meaning.
- Lugosi’s manservant is creepy, but loyal to the end.
The Bad:
- What Karloff has in his secret rooms below the house.
- Lugosi is the hero, but has there ever been a creepier one? [Like when he is caught touching the hair of the sleeping bride.]
- Being trapped in the house of a mad, Satanic murderer.
The Ugly:
- Lugosi’s fear of cats.
- What happens to people who are Satanic, traitors who steal the wives of their friends. [I’d hate to have to live in his skin.]
- What happens when it appears you are harming a man’s bride despite the fact that you’re saving her from a fate equal to, if not worse than death.
Rating: