i must have seen a different film!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Blistering performances.

"The Black Cat" from 1934, is the best of the Karloff/Lugosi collaborations. Never again in their future films together would both actors have equal screen time and be equally relevant to a films plot. This makes for rather grim viewing (apart from a brief comic interlude) but the way in which this film is cast, directed, written and photographed makes for a gripping and fairly original horror film. The plot owes very little to the short story from Edgar Allan Poe but that slight reference is of no importance.For once, Bela Lugosi is cast against type as he is a more sympathetic character - even though he is still a bit unhinged!Boris Karloff is pure evil as the leader of his own group of Satanic followers. He is also the one responsible for betraying a number of his fellow countrymen during the first world war - Lugosi included.It is the performances of Karloff and Lugosi that stand out - they compliment each other very well.The American film censors weren't happy with the final version of "The Black Cat" and as a result, they instructed "Universal" to shoot additional footage in the hope of making the film more fit for public exhibition. During the extra filming, the director Edgar Ulmer managed to sneak in a scene that went by the American film censors without realising what a controversial scene it was!One of the best horror films from "Universal's" first horror cycle.

Honeymooners Joan and Peter Allison share their train compartment to Hungary with Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Bela Lugosi). Vitus has been away for 15 years at war and as a prisoner. They take a bus to the hotel. Joan is injured when the bus crashes. The group carries her to the mansion of Vitus' comrade Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff). The two old friends have a dark history with the war, and Vitus' wife Karen and child.This first pairing of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff shows some possibilities. There is a constant playing of classical music which doesn't always infuse the movie with horror. It's the same for most of the film. The atmospherics aren't that creepy until all hell breaks loose. There are some interesting moves and the two horror icons make it compelling enough to keep watching.

I am going to be honest but a movie that has two major horror icons like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the main roles I expected a lot more. They are the main attraction of the movie in the scenes they have together. However the plot is really messy and sounds like it was sewn together in a few minutes. Yes more often than not I was bored despite the short length of the movie. I found it a wasted opportunity. I don't really understand why they used the title "The Black Cat" when the black cat itself is only in a few scenes and has no importance at all to the plot, except for Lugosi's character fear for them. That scenes where he throws a knife at the cat must be one of the silliest I have ever seen.

Edgar G. Ulmer directed this (very) loose adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe short story. Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Vitas, who is on his way back to his homeland in Hungary by train, when he meets honeymooning American couple Peter & Joan Alison, whom he tells his tragic life story. Later on a bus headed for their hotel, it is overturned in a bad storm, and Vitas and Peter take an injured Joan to the fortress home of Dr. Poelzig(played by Boris Karloff) who turns out to have a sinister(and personal) connection to Vitas. He is also an evil Satan worshiper, and plans to sacrifice Joan at their high mass. Can he be stopped? Bizarre yet strikingly designed film has fine performances and atmosphere, and a violent confrontation scene with Vitas and Peolzig at the end that is still potent today.