The first time Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi shared billing, it was in 1934’s The Black Cat. It might have been inspired by Poe but that’s about the extent of it. Instead, it’s a tale of revenge that ends with an incredibly creepy climax for 1934…which apparently was originally to be even more explicit. (Sort of surprised nobody’s come along to remake the thing.) The version we have here isn’t the clearest in the world, but it’s worth watching regardless to see these two go toe to toe on screen. Fantastic moments.
The best place to get this is as part of The Bela Lugosi Collection…which is odd that they just don’t release a Lugosi/Karloff boxed set–Rue Morgue is the only non-Karloff film on there.
Oh, and one post script. This snippet is so bizarre I just have to share it: apparently to publicize the film, Karloff and Lugosi judged a black cat contest. Or something. Showing here.
Last year we were struggling through Blood of the Man Devil. Before then, we were checking out Invisible Ghost, Mystery of the Wax Museum, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Revolt of the Zombies.
Related posts:
32 Days of Halloween III, Audio Day 4: The Black Cat
32 Days of Halloween Part VIII, Movie Night No. 4: Jekyll Sequel Double Feature!
Halloween Audio Day 7: Porphyria’s Lover
32 Days of Halloween, Day 7: Poltergeist
32 Days of Halloween V, Day 25: The Giant Behemoth!
32 Days of Halloween VII, Day 9: The Evil Mind!
At 15:36 of the film as presented above, Lugosi uses a French expression while referring to the architecture of the house. Does anyone know what that means in English? Phonetically, the first word sounds like shek, but I cannot find a French equivalent. Perhaps the second word is d’oueve/of the work, but I still don’t get the idiomatic meaning. Does anyone know?
Thanks