A couple Peter and Joan Allison are joined by Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Bela Lugosi) who are on their way to a hotel, but suddenly their bus crashes during a storm. Dr Verdegast suggests they seek refuge in Hjalmar Poelzig's (Borris Karloff) house, who is an old acquaintance of his and he's secretly seeking revenge against him for the death of his wife and betraying his country by slaughtering his entire army when it was sacrificed to Satan during WW1. Dr Verdegast discovers that Poelzig has the same idea for Joan, which saw him kill his wife. So to help them escape Dr. Verdegast challenges Poelzig to a game of chess and if he wins they are free and if he doesn't their doom.

Incredibly complex and odd assortments of novelties ranging from Sadism, Superstition to Satan worship fill this stylish yet confusing film. I wasn't particularly gob smacked or incredibly impressed by the film after reading a lot good things about it, but it's the performances and the look of the film that kept me glued and amazed. The plot had an engrossing set up, but the story just didn't compliment it, as it could have been far more interesting than it was. It jumps here to there without real cohesion and becomes rather thin in detail, but there are some surprising revelations along the way. The dialogue on the other hand was rather fine, if too much of it. There was a lot of conversations than actual action or lively scenes. The distinction between Dr Verdegast and Poelzig is pretty even in power and determination to rid each other. With them tossing back and forth sharp and intense dialogue to get the upper hand. All of this mayhem between them leads to a greatly energetic tussle between the two stars.

The set-up is a slow-grinder to begin with, though there are interesting ideas that pop up throughout the film. The reasonably slow dramatic 45-minutes suddenly picks up the pace and energy levels for the last thrilling and involving 15-minutes, which alone is good reason to watch it. This is when Satanists and sacrificial ceremonies fill the story. There is a brilliant climax involving a skinning that is implied to great effect and a big explosion to end it all. The ironic ending was fairly convincing and enjoyable in tying up the film.

It's definitely Lugosi's best performance that I've seen along with ''White zombie''. Though, I've yet to see "Dracula". It was a good change to see him playing a good guy and a much more controlled and subtle character than his eccentric roles. Borris Karloff comes across rather menacing and quite callous in appearance. His body language is impressively noticeable and imposing in creating terror. From his dead looking facials and soft spoken voice really added to the unease. Julie Bishop and David Manners as the couple were fine in their performances.

This is impressively atmospheric and holds such a great awe to it all. The modernistic cold domain of Poelzig's castle truly stands out, with the spiral staircase, sliding doors, the dark dungeon and curvy interior. There is such great composition with lighting and solid camera-work captures the elegance and style of the scenery beautifully. The soaring score takes hold and sometimes it got rather distracting for me. As I kept trying to figure out where I heard the score from before.

Overall, "The Black Cat" is a very good mood piece and holds such great performances. Not as great as I thought it would be, but still it's highly entertaining.

This early horror film concerns Dr. Vitus (Bela Lugosi) and a couple having an accident . They find shelter into the impressive mansion of architect Poelzig (Boris Karloff) . He built it over the corpses of thousands of dead people in a horrible war whose commander was Poelzig . Karloff followed his success in Frankenstein movie with the title role in this low budget terror classic about the leader of a band of devil-worshippers who wants to steal a gorgeous young woman (Jacqueline Welles : Julie Bishop) from her new husband (David Manners of The mummy).

The movie provides genuine chills , suspense , mystery and is rich and dark , although ludicrous at times . It's an exciting ,bizarre film skillfully paced by Edgar G. Ulmer and results to be one of the most unusual horror film ever made and certainly one of the most unsettling. Suggested by the immortal Edgar Allan Poe novel of the same title which was filmed like as one episode ¨The Black Cat¨ into the ¨Tales of terror¨ by Roger Corman and with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre , however here bears absolutely no resemblance . This gem features sets and production design with standards usually found in movies made by the major studios . The rousing mansion , lounges , rooms get an art nouveau and modernism style , besides the satanic mass is developed in a surrealistic scenario. Art director achieves some remarkable tableaux that could be removed from the movie and hung in art galleries alongside the work of famous painters . A minor classic with outstanding performances from Karloff and Lugosi in their first of many pairing. The picture is today deservedly considered a cult favorite thanks the distinguished teaming.

The only thing differentiating this film from a Loony Tunes cartoon starring Daffy Duck and Professor Jekyll, actually, is the music. Instead of being by Carl Stalling, it's a horrible neo-Romantic hodge-podge of Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet Overture, I ask you!), Schubert, Liszt and other Classic Pops. It even has Karloff, as the mad scientist, playing Bach's Toccata and Fugue at the organ for good measure, at a crucial moment, which must already have been a hoary film cliché, even in 1934.

With the plot's melodramatics skidding in constant overdrive, it's hard to decide whether one is being subjected to a shabby little shocker or to an embarrassment of cinematic riches. One clue to the whole set-up is in the ritualistic Latin incantation used by Karloff during the Black Mass he celebrates in the medieval dungeon of his ultra-modernistic castle: it's a mixture of Latin expressions cobbled together, straight from the dictionary, one of which is "cum grano salis", which translates, you guessed it, as "with a grain of salt"...

Otherwise, this film has everything horror fans crave: the young adorable honeymooning Brad-and-Janet-type American couple seeking refuge from the rain and a car accident in a strange castle in the middle of the night in backwoods Hungary, Bela Lugosi as an unsettling traveling companion, Karloff as the weird host (sporting a hairstyle half-way between a pompadour and a flat-top, that would not be seen again until the German "The Third Sex" in 1957), partial to black cats - the only link to the Edgar Allen Poe story - and embalming his mistresses in lifelike poses inside glass cages, like Bluebeard, stalwart man-servants with their own capillary peculiarities that appear to remain on duty at all times (and to sleep standing up in corridors), ultra-modern architecture that eerily foreshadows the sterility of 1950s "Home & Garden" interiors, secret chambers, house foundations resting on a dynamite cache, sliding doors, an early intercom system, spiral staircases, the already-mentioned organ, expressionistic lighting, breast pawing, suggested incest, murder, torture, etc. There's just no end to the wonders of this film. The vices on display run the entire alphabetic gamut from adultery to zoocide, by way of satanism, although if I was Satan, I'd ask to have my name removed from the credits, if only to preserve my highbrow image...

And it all fits neatly in 65 little compact minutes. In the last analysis, it's fascinating to watch Universal's horror stars turning on each other with such unbridled ferocity and playing along with this campy joke while keeping a straight face at all times.

This film is now available on DVD as part of a Bela Lugosi boxset that mostly stars Boris Karloff - his way of getting even, I guess. Another film in the collection, "The Raven", also stars Lugosi and Karloff duking it out, and is just as un-"Poe"-etic as "The Black Cat", despite its title. It also manages to use the Romeo and Juliet Overture to disastrous effect.