In real life, Bela Lugosi was incredibly resentful of Boris Karloff; Lugosi had originally been last as the creation in 1931's Frankenstein, but knocked the roll back, feeling that an actor of his caliber should not have to work under such heavy makeup. When The Uncanny Karloff shot to superstardom, Lugosi became convinced that it was the roll alone that was responsible, and that he was the superior actor of the two, and therefore more deserving of Karloff's fame. Ironically, Lugosi would go on to play the creation in the 5th Universal Frankenstein movie, the Frankenstein meets The Wolfman, and give (IMO) the worst rendition of the creature in any of the 9 movies).
If The Black Cat teaches us anything, it is that Lugosi is not the superior actor of the two (research still pending about what bears get upto in the woods) as Lugosi, as always, plays himself, compleat with weird accent (a result of him trying to disguise his natural Hungarian accent).
While I'm on 30's film history, I may as we'll mention the acting style common in the day (I was reminded if this when Lisa asked me " is massive overacting normal in 30's movies.". Watch enough of them and you'll stop noticing it, but yes, it's common, and is the result of two things; firstly, actors of the time tended to start as stage actors, and we're used to having to project to a roomful of people without the benefit of amplifiers and close-ups, and secondly; they were really still figuring out how to make movies (especially talkies). The subtleties of film making which seem so obvious to us now, only seem obvious because filmmakers have had 100 years to practice and build on the work of others, and audiences are used to seeing the result of all this progress.
But, enough general early movie history, what of The Black Cat?
While the opening credits tell us that the movie is "Suggested by" the Poe story of the same name, the truth is that this movie shares nothing with the shots story, save its title, and the fact that the eponymous animal makes an appearance (albeit a brief, and unnecessary one).
Instead, the story here sees newlyweds Peter and Joan have to share a train compartment with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Béla Lugosi). 18 years before, Werdegast had left his wife to fight in World War 1. Werdegast explains that he is traveling to see an old friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff), an Austrian architect.
When Joan is injured, the doctor and Peter take her to Poelzig's home, which built on the ruins of Fort Marmorus, which Poelzig commanded during the war, and which Werdgast believes Poelzig betrayed to the Russians, resulting in the death of thousands of Hungarians and his own capture.
Poelzig, of course has his share if secrets (not necessarily relating to the war) and the remainder of the movie evolves around these secretes, and the four characters resulting involvement in them.
Sadly, at a meagre 65 minuets, the movie still feels drawn out, and I found my attention wondering, the movies main saving grace is it's near-constant musical score which, while I can see some would find distracting, I found lent a great atmosphere to a film that would be sadly lacking one otherwise.
Highlights include a symbolic chess match between the leads, and Karloff at an organ, in a scene which surely inspired the famous scene from The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
Once again, I'm wondering how this one ended up on the lest.
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