Not only is this the first pairing of Karloff and Legosi, it has two lines which appear in Futurama. Both are originally said by Legosi. One is "You fool! You foolish fool!". The other is "Mumbo, perhaps, jumbo perhaps not!"The movie itself is acceptable. Legosi chews the scenery. Karloff seems to be taking an exam in an acting class. "Do apprehensive. Do assertive. Do tormented." It makes his character a little incoherant. I don't know whose idea it was to sexy him up with a bunch of swanky robes and smoking jackets., but sexually predatory is his consistant characteristic.. There are a lot of indirect references to virgin sacrifice because the honeymooners haven't had a chance to consummate the marriage, so I found myself thinking "Don't stay in seperate rooms, you foolish fools. This is what happens when you don't practice premarital sex!" A lot of effort is put into showing that the bride is attracted to her husband, so it doesn't exactly make sense to modern sensibilities, especially as Legosi is Karloff's enemy and knows what is going on. He could bring the whole thing to an end with one easy suggestion! Visually, the house is an odd space, with a lot of concrete and open spaces with room transitions made by exposed stairwells. It's modern, like a parking garage.

This is a fantastic film, even though there are holes in the plot, strictly because of the stars. Karloff and Lugosi, Lugosi and Karloff. The revenge motif is at the center. Lugosi's character has been devastated by the evil former Frankenstein monster and enters his adversary's home which is a fortress he must invade. There is great tension and lots of dramatic irony. The young couple that finds themselves in the home through circumstances create a secondary sense of danger. The young woman is injured in a fatal car accident (the driver of a bus is killed) and is allowed to stay in Karloff's home. They never wanted to be there but become observers in the craziness. It takes a while to figure out the motivations, even who the real bad guy is. See this. It's a superior movie, not just one of the Universal horror films.

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Black Cat". The movie is not a the poem on film despite this the movie is a very good twisted occult thriller - one of better films from Karloff and Lugosi.Joan and Peter Allison are on their honeymoon and met up with Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Lugosi). They are on a bus when it over turns killing the driver. Verdegast (Lugosi) is close to his destination: the home of his nemesis Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff) and decides to bring the young couple with him for refuge for over night - from there the movie becomes a very creepy occult horror-thriller.I have to say that Karloff's costuming and look in this film is simply awesome and very wicked! Well acted by all but Karloff steals the show.This is a great film for a dark and stormy night!! 9.5/10

"The Black Cat" remains a fascinating film. It must have been like an explosion for audiences in '34. Unlike many of the horror films of the period, the picture is decidedly modern. Its horrors didn't come from supernatural creatures, ghosts, or even bloodless mystery/thriller murders. Instead, it deals with topics like war crimes, torture, Satanism, and implications of necrophilia, rape, and incest. "The Black Cat" hasn't aged a day and remains as potent, stylish, and horrifying now and when it first premiered.Technically, the movie looks fantastic. Hjalmar Poelzig's mansion today looks a bit like a swanky art-deco apartment. It's still a bizarre location, with glass screens randomly bisecting rooms and round swivel chairs artistically placed. As strange as the living room looks, no set stands out more then the Satanic altar at the end. A huge double-t leans against the main altar, like an overturn crucifix. Poelzig, dressed in a red robe, leans against an X-shaped podium. Behind him, a giant pipe organ stands, an odd, crystal-like shape emerging from it. Probably the movie's most famous bit of art design evolves the perfectly preserve body of Bela Lugosi's dead wife, floating in the middle of a glass tube, her hair up on end, like an underwater angel.The creativity extends to the film's direction. Edgar G. Ullman, who later directed surreal film-noir "Detour" and sci-fi favorite "The Man from Planet X," worked on many of the most famous German Expressionism film. (He blatantly references F.W. Murnau's "The Last Laugh," with a verbose cab driver character.) Karloff's introduction involves a slow pan into a bedroom, a white sheet hanging over the bed. A near-nude woman lays beside him as he rises up, totally silhouetted in shadow behind the sheet. Upon seeing Jacqueline Wells as virginal bride Joan, in the forefront of a shot, we see Poelzig clutch a statue of a nude woman, visually illustrating his desire to own her. The shadow of a black cat is cast huge against Lugosi, causing him to fall backwards into a glass wall, drowning in his own phobia. The Black Mass is full of creative angles, starring down at the organ keys, quick cuts between the Satanic worshippers' faces. My favorite moment in the film is one of the most dream-like and inexplicable. As Karloff speaks in voice-over, a monologue about the game Lugosi and him are about to play, about how similar they really are, we the viewer are led on a first-person perspective tour through the underground chambers of the mansion, through the secret doors, up the winding staircase. It's a spellbinding moment. The film is important for its extensive use of music, a daring move at the time. It's a great score too, dark and dreamy, providing exactly the tone needed for the story.Casting the two towering legends of horror as rivals in a game of cruelty is the film's most brilliant masterstroke. Casting both against type was also a surprising move. Hjalmar Poelzig is probably Karloff at his most sinister. The usual whimsy in his eye gives way to a detached psychosis. His mind is cunning but utterly cold. Inspired by Aleister Crowley, Poelzig cuts a sinister figure. His close-crop hair cut, extravagant outfits, and slight eye-liner makes him look like a time-displaced David Bowie. Even then, Karloff can't help but make the guy a little sympathetic. When gazing upon the dead wife's face, he speaks not with a dangerous obsession, but instead a sincere love of her beauty. The hatred that burns between Poelzig and Wendegast is legendary. Wendegast has spent his entire life obsessing over vengeance, determined to unleash his rage on his tormenter. Poelzig meanwhile has gone out of his way to steal or destroy everything Wendegast loves. Took and murder his wife before, never once questioning the incestuous circumstances of the move, marrying his own step-daughter, just to destroy his rival's sanity. Lugosi's gave-it-his-all theatrics works perfectly for a man consumed by revenge. Though toned from the original script, the movie makes it clear that neither man is sane. Both are dangerous, roping the innocent married couple into their deadly game of chess.Not that David Manners or Jacqueline Wells give bad performance. They both do quite well and have a funny, natural chemistry together. But they're outsiders, exiles in the freakish, nightmare world "The Black Cat" inhabits. No doubt they were intended as audience surrogates in 1934.Climaxing with a still disturbing, explicit moment of torture, "The Black Cat" can still raises goosebumps. I wonder if Chan-Wook Park or Jee Woon-Kim have seen it, since you can draw some parallels with their revenge epics. It's a masterpiece of classic horror, floating across the screen like a filmed nightmare.