The Films of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi - THE BLACK CAT
Over the past few months, I’ve taken a deep dive into classic older movies. Some movies I’ve watched for the first time, while others I haven’t seen for years and I’m getting reacquainted with. I’ve especially been loving the films of Boris Karloff and Bella Lugosi. While they have starred in a lot of separate movies, I thought it would be fun to cover the films that they starred in together.
Maybe I’ll touch on some films that you’ve never seen or even heard of before. I’m going to go through this chronologically. They starred in eight films together over the years and the first one was in 1934 with The Black Cat.
The story follows American honeymooners, Joan and Peter, traveling in Hungary. On their journey, they got in an accident, and when seeking refuge with the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast (Legosi), they end up in the home of famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). It turns out that Poelzig is a Satan-worshiping priest and they become trapped in the home. It turns out that Werdegast and Poelzig share a dark past.
This is actually credited as the first movie to explore the concept of PTSD. While the term wasn't invented yet at the time, the movie illustrates how the stress of war changes a man for the worse. It was also the first horror film to mention Satanism as a cult.
Edgar Allan Poe's story of the same name was credited as being the inspiration behind the film to help draw public attention, but the movie really had nothing to with the story that Poe wrote.
Both Lugosi and Karloff were two of the biggest stars of horror at the time. While there were rumors that two actors were competitive and didn’t like each other, in reality, they had a very pleasant and respectful working relationship. While they never became close or personal friends, they did enjoy their time working together.
Years after the movie was made, Karloff shared how Lugosi was nervous and insecure with Karloff around because he thought that he would steal scenes from him. Karloff said he reassured Lugosi that he didn't believe in such nonsense, and things ended up working out fine between the two actors.
The Black Cat was a fantastic first film for the two actors to star in together and it ended up being Universal Pictures’ biggest hit of 1934. However, the movie was banned in certain countries while others required cuts of the more gruesome sequences.
Universal Studios executives reportedly weren’t happy with the first cut of the film because of the violence and horror. They ordered director Edgar G. Ulmer to do some reshoots to tone it down, but the director ended up doing the exact opposite and added in the now-famous sequence where Poelzig views his dead but preserved wives before he reveals the fate of Karen to Dr. Werdegast.
This is a wonderful must-watch horror movie! If you’ve never seen The Black Cat, you’ve got to watch it! You can check out the trailer for it below.