Black Cat

The Black Cat is a 1934 horror film that became Universal Pictures’ biggest box office hit of the year. It was the first of six movies to pair actors Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Edgar G. Ulmer directed the film; Peter Ruric (better known as pulp writer “Paul Cain”) wrote the screenplay. The classical music soundtrack, compiled by Heinz Eric Roemheld, is unusual for its time, because there is an almost continuous background score throughout the entire film.

Trivia:

The satanic prayer Poelzig chants during the black mass scene consists of phrases in Latin, the most recognizable being “cum grano salis” (with a grain of salt).

Edgar G. Ulmer admitted in an interview that Edgar Allan Poe’s story was credited to draw public attention, despite the fact it had nothing to do with the story in the movie.

Censors in Italy, Finland and Austria banned the movie outright, while others required cuts of the more gruesome sequences.

This was Universal’s biggest hit of 1934.

The set of the main room in Poelzig’s house were built for $1,500.

The first of eight movies to pair Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

Among the unconventional elements of this film was the soundtrack. At a time (early 1930s) when movie music was usually limited to the titles and credits, Edgar G. Ulmer had an almost continuous background score throughout the entire film.

Boris Karloff’s character is named after Austrian architect and art director Hans Poelzig. Poelzig worked on Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920), on which director Edgar G. Ulmer was set designer.

Edgar G. Ulmer dubbed Boris Karloff’s line at the end of the chess match: “You lose, Vitus”.

Edgar G. Ulmer dubbed Bela Lugosi’s voice instructing his servant to “wait here” before accompanying Boris Karloff down to be shown his preserved dead wife.

The ill-fated bus driver is a direct homage to the doorman in Der letzte Mann (1924), on which Edgar G. Ulmer worked as Production Designer.

Director Edgar G. Ulmer, when writing this film, loosely based the villain Hjalmar Poelzig, played by Boris Karloff, on director Fritz Lang. Ulmer knew Lang from the German-Austrian film scene and, though he was a huge admirer of Lang’s films, felt Lang to be a sadist as a director.

The only Universal picture until The Wolf Man (1941) to introduce the major characters during the opening credits, and the actors playing them, with brief clips from the movie.

Part of the original SHOCK THEATER package of 52 Universal titles released to television in 1957, followed a year later with SON OF SHOCK, which added 21 more features.

Filed under: GoreMaster 100 Films

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