Pretty Good

Powerful

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The Black Room is just one of those films you will have to watch to understand just how good it is - not to mention how great Karloff is as an actor.Karloff really does play two different people (brothers) in this one -- I mean really is two different people!! Boris is good at changing his voice for roles, the looks on the face, the way the characters act, etc... this film will prove that. You will just have to see the movie to understand just how perfectly he played the twins: Baron Gregor de Berghman / Anton de Berghman. Gregor being the bad, Anton being the good.The story is just a good story. A good old fashioned solid crime-horror story. I will not speak of the story so I not it give away to those that have not seen it yet. Let's just say you do not want to go into the Black Room.One of Boris best films!! It's worth while watching this movie.9/10

Nicely plotted period horror tale that just goes to show the kind of talent that the legendary Boris Karloff possessed. As directed by Roy William Neill, it's great fun, with a fine supporting cast, an adequate pace, thunderous music, and respectable atmosphere. It leads to a solid action climax and a satisfying denouement. This may not be one of Karloffs' better known vehicles, but it does deserve more exposure.Karloff plays twin brothers (one good and one evil, naturally) who have a nasty family prophecy hanging over their heads, seemingly solved when a room inside their castle is sealed up. Also helping matters is the fact that Anton, the nice younger twin, travels the world for a while before being summoned home by his brother, a cruel despot who abuses his position of power. This leads to a great twist, but it won't be revealed here. Gregor, the evil twin, has his eye on beautiful young Thea (the radiant Marian Marsh), and intends to marry her despite the fact that she's already attached to another man, Lt. Lussan (Robert Allen), whom he frames for murder."The Black Room" does have its assets, but chief among them are the dual Karloff performances; he's superb at creating two very different personalities. His delicious villainy when he plays Gregor easily rivals his equally compelling turn in "The Body Snatcher" a decade later. Also doing creditable work are Thurston Hall, Katherine DeMille, John Buckler, and Henry Kolker. The dog, Thor, is great too.Highly recommended to Karloff fans.Eight out of 10.

Aware of a vicious curse rumored to fall on them, a man murders his benevolent twin to continue rule in his stead as he has been doing, only to slowly see his plan unravel when he falls for a young woman and threatens to find his ploy exposed.This here has a lot of problems that really hold this one down a lot. One of the biggest problems here is the simple fact that not a lot happens at all, as there's very little happenings that really generate any suspense or tension at all because it's gone ahead with the switch at the earliest possible convenience. Rather than build up the possible effects of the curse driving him mad and then making the switch to everyone's complete shock, this has them go out in quite early fashion so instead of anything remotely horror based going on it's left with his attempted wooing of the family and romance with the daughter while everyone else at the castle is nary a suspect to the real situation, a possible product of the time that may have been scary then but instead renders the entire middle segment of the film a complete bore. The fact that it takes a completely obscure plot-point with the dog knowing the truth to finally undo the ruse, who comes out of nowhere and is treated rather flimsily anyway as it's ignored most of the movie, and while it does have some fun in the chase back to the castle as well as the attempts to hide amongst the different passages for an exciting conclusion, it's not enough to rise above the dreariness before it.Today's Rating-PG: Violence.

Boris Karloff is reason enough to watch any film that features him. After hearing much about his performance here, that it was one of his best, I knew I wanted to see The Black Room. And I'm glad I did. The supporting cast are only competent, with only the alluring Marian Marsh making a really good impression, mainly because of some bad accents and also because the characters don't get enough time to shine properly. I also think the film could have been a tad longer. However, The Black Room is a handsome-looking film, with suitably Gothic production values and crisp photography. There's a haunting- but never too obvious- music score, as well as solid direction and scripting. The story is tautly written and moves quickly. It is admittedly standard in basic concept, but it is always involving and suspenseful, I did like that the debauchery, torture and sadism was largely implied than shown as it did add to the suspense factor and the ending is splendidly ironic. But The Black Room is worth noting primarily for the performance of Boris Karloff. His dual role as two brothers called for a hateful and sympathetic side, two sides that Karloff in one of his best performances brings across brilliantly. Overall, a very good film with a truly great lead performance. 8/10 Bethany Cox