The Black Cat (1934)
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The Black Cat Movie Review
The Black Cat is a 1934 pre-Code horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. It’s a flawed, but undeniably interesting film.
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“After all, better to be frightened than to be crushed“
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American honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident. First off, this movie has nothing to do with the eponymous Edgar Allan Poe short story, which was a shame as it constituted false marketing. The story at hand is definitely inferior, but it has its strong elements that have to be appreciated.
This is one of those movies that have to be read about and analyzed in order to appreciate them more. When watched in a vacuum, it’s standard horror stuff from the thirties. It’s nothing special and it doesn’t stay with you after seeing it. However, after doing my homework and reading about it extensively, I could understand its true intentions and I started to admire it more.
This American couple staying in a Hungarian house unaware of the imminent danger there is an apt allegory of Americans’ involvement in World War I, where they only entered it during the last year, disappearing from the scene quickly and never having to deal with the post-war trauma in the same way as Europeans did. This metaphor is actually quite clear and very clever.
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The movie is also very disturbing in its implied imagery of a person being skinned alive during that creepy ending. What also gets implied here is necrophilia, pedophilia and all the worst things you can imagine while of course Satanism is on full display here. All of these elements were interesting, but again the movie shows too little of these things and the very slow pace hurt any momentum that it could have possibly achieved.
This is the very first movie where they paired Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi together and the results are superb. Their dynamic is infectiously playful and fun. Karloff is quite menacing as the villain while Lugosi is very charismatic himself. Both overacted the hell out of their roles, but in this instance this approach was suitable, so you cannot really argue against it. The couple that stayed in the house were infinitely less memorable as both the acting and their characterization were subpar.
The Black Cat is very thin in terms of storytelling and memorable sequences. The dialogue is also only serviceable while the character development left a lot to be desired. Where the film excelled at are the technical aspects. The cinematography is gorgeous with the use of shadows being particularly effective at achieving that menacing feel. The score and directing were also quite good. But the highlight is of course the art direction as the Art Deco sets looked absolutely splendid. Couple that with the very modernist and futuristic look of Karloff in his make-up and hairstyling and you’ve got a film that would have worked better in the SF department.
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The Black Cat is a flawed, but interesting 30s horror feature that had the first ever pairing of Karloff and Lugosi. Both are excellent and they had a terrific dynamic together. The movie itself is too sluggishly paced, thus never achieving full horror momentum. The overall story and characterization are rather slight. However, the central WWI metaphor included here is quite potent and the film’s technical aspects are marvelous with the Art Deco production design being particularly awe-inspiring.
My Rating – 3.5
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