tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2185153333321865771.post6998033062783553356..comments2023-05-04T04:42:56.812-07:00Comments on My Movie Addiction: October 10- The Black Cat (1934)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14260631226144954981noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2185153333321865771.post-64044701654326593022014-01-22T20:32:56.301-08:002014-01-22T20:32:56.301-08:00The Black Cat is a weird and tasty cookie indeed. ...The Black Cat is a weird and tasty cookie indeed. I don't know that I would say that Lugosi out-performs Karloff. His role is a bit more emotional. after all, he;s returning from being betrayed by Karloff and in a dungeon for the last 15 years. and in pursuit of his wife and daughter, whom he is convinced have been stolen by Karloff. And he's right about it all. And Lugosi does play it for all it is worth, as he usually does. Which isn't a knock on Lugosi. He's accused of always over acting or hamming it up, but Lugosi could be very subtle and down play as well. See The Invisible Ray, an understated, controlled performance with a sense of nobility and gravitas. <br />But back to Black Cat. Karloff underplays his role to perfection, I think. He's like an evil presence as much as a living character within the film. The whole back story is compelling enough, and then we find out he is the high priest of a satan cult? Wow. Strong stuff for 1934. And a really neat plot twist.<br />And how creepy is it when we see all of the sacrificial victims propped up in glass cases, Lugosi's wife one of them. that is seriously creepy stuff. <br />The Black Cat, like most of the Universal horror classics have great moments or aspects about them that I love. For instance, the swell of the music and shot of Karloff's house lit up on the top of the hill as the little group scampers up the hill in the pouring rain. It isn't the usual gothic castle, but a modernistic structure that is just as mysterious. How about the lighting of the film? Another departure for a Universal production. Ulmer's direction is nearly perfect. I loved how Harry Cording is directed when he gets shot. I really believed he not only got shot, but is in the last moments of life as he hangs on just long enough to help Lugosi. I got his whole past as a soldier and as Lugosi's sergeant at arms with out any dialogue.<br />But the center of the film is, of course, seeing Lugosi and Karloff together. It is one of Lugosi's best performances, nuanced, tragic, heroic, dark - the voice of reason and totally insane at the same time. Karloff is like the cat he constantly petting, like <br />Don Corleone and his cat. It is designed to make him seem harmless. But he is the most dangerous guy in the joint. And was David Manners ever more limp as a leading man? A perfect foil to the masters of horror, Bela and Boris.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com