Although he is generally associated with fantastic horror films and the super-natural, cult icon, Boris Karloff, made quite a few straight thrillers in the Tod Slaughter horror tradition, the best of which is undoubtedly 1935's moody "The Black Room", in which Karloff most skilfully portrays twin brothers, one evil, one good. Directed with considerable imagination by Roy William Neill, and produced on a remarkably lavish budget, the movie's only slight demerit lies in the weak performance by the nominal hero, Robert Allen, whose part, fortunately, is surprisingly small.All told, "The Black Room" is Boris Karloff's film, and he makes the most of his many opportunities to excel.

No other worldly creatures. no man made type monsters are in this Boris Karloff film. Instead Karloff plays a pair of twin brothers, one good, one bad in The Black Room set during the 19th century in some German principality.The concept of twins is always an interesting one ever since Romulus and Remus battled in ancient times. Bette Davis did a pair of films playing good and evil women. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. did a great film The Corsican Brothers with the same idea about one good and one cursed apparently evil twin.But there's some prophecy here about a pair of twin heirs that one would slay the other. So the boys who grew up to be Boris Karloff were separated with one going off to live the life of a 19th century trust fund baby.Wouldn't you know it, but the bad twin is left in charge and Karloff is his usual malevolent self. Won't go into it, but he has evil designs on the young women of the domain like Marian Marsh and Katherine DeMille. The prophecy is fulfilled, but in a most ironic way.Note the presence of Robert Allen who at that time was Columbia's B picture western star for once not in cowboy gear for a film. He's a young guards officer with a thing for Marian Marsh.Karloff's double performance makes this one worth watching.

Boris Karloff is reason enough to watch any film that features him. After hearing much about his performance here, that it was one of his best, I knew I wanted to see The Black Room. And I'm glad I did. The supporting cast are only competent, with only the alluring Marian Marsh making a really good impression, mainly because of some bad accents and also because the characters don't get enough time to shine properly. I also think the film could have been a tad longer. However, The Black Room is a handsome-looking film, with suitably Gothic production values and crisp photography. There's a haunting- but never too obvious- music score, as well as solid direction and scripting. The story is tautly written and moves quickly. It is admittedly standard in basic concept, but it is always involving and suspenseful, I did like that the debauchery, torture and sadism was largely implied than shown as it did add to the suspense factor and the ending is splendidly ironic. But The Black Room is worth noting primarily for the performance of Boris Karloff. His dual role as two brothers called for a hateful and sympathetic side, two sides that Karloff in one of his best performances brings across brilliantly. Overall, a very good film with a truly great lead performance. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Fans of Boris Karloff are in for double the pleasure with this early Columbia film. He portrays twin brothers, and though the good versus evil twin concept has been done before and since, Karloff gives it a neat twist based on legend and prophesy. With the titled 'Black Room' lending the picture a mysterious and frightful backdrop, an ancient curse proclaims that a younger brother will one day rise to slay the older. I thought it fairly clever that Gregor de Berghman would renounce his barony only to turn around and victimize poor Anton to remain in power and win over the lovely Thea Hassle (Marian Marsh). Gregor's dispatching of Anton lent new meaning to giving his brother the shaft, and for a while there, I was holding out hope that Anton would have survived his ordeal and found a way out of his predicament. But dead is dead as they say, and Gregor would soon enough get his. The fun was in trying to figure out how the younger Anton would eventually fulfill the ancient curse. There was nothing in the rule book that said he had to be alive to do it, which gave the picture an ironic and fitting conclusion.