The Black Cat
1934
**
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast: Boris Karloff, Béla Lugosi, David Manners, Jacqueline Wells, Lucille Lund, Egon Brecher, Harry Cording
An American couple and a Hungarian psychiatrist end up travelling together in Hungary. When their bus crashes, they become stranded at the home of a mysterious Austrian architect. This pre-Code horror film features two big stars and some dark and daring themes, but it is incredibly dull and long-winded even at 66 minutes. While James Whale was making the brilliant Bride of Frankenstein around the same time, Edgar G. Ulmer's cheap-looking work looks like he doesn't know the first thing about filmmaking. It is nice to see Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi share the screen, but their performances sadly remind us why they were most famous for playing monsters. Peter Ruric's script was suggested by Edgar Allan Poe's short story.
