If you bought the Lugosi set for MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE then you're in luck cause you have this one too.
THE BLACK CAT (1934)
Directed by Edgar Ulmer
Stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
Based on the Edgar Allan Poe story only in that they have the same title. It's hard to describe this one.
A honeymooning couple decide to travel to Eastern Europe on their honeymoon and end up in the Fritz Langish style home of devil worshiper Boris Karloff. Lugosi plays kind of the good guy here but that's not why this movie remains one of my favorites of all time-- right up there with Citizen Kane.
The acting is particularly hammy-- David Manners is the bride groom but he probably should have worn the dress to the party since he's the most foppish and least heroic hero ever committed to celluloid. He says things like "Papier Mache" and insists Lugosi leave his bedroom door open to their adjoining rooms in the Karloff house while his wife sleeps alone down the hall.
Lugosi is outrageous as the (by comparison) he-man who has a terrifying fear of cats-- to the point that when he see's one he throws a knife at it once time while another it causes him to fall backwards through a plate glass window. That's what I call fear. I admit to a hatred of Spiders and the instant reaction to kill 'em, but I've yet to stumble backwards out a window due to their sudden appearance.
This one is delightfully over-acted and melodramatic. You won't be sorry if you give it a chance.
