The Black Cat (1934 film)
Overview
 
The Black Cat is a 1934 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 that became Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

' biggest box office hit of the year. It was the first of eight movies (six of which were produced by Universal) to pair actors Béla Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...

 and Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...

. Edgar G. Ulmer directed the film; Peter Ruric (better known as pulp writer "Paul Cain"
Paul Cain (author)
Paul Cain was the pen name used by George Carol Sims , an American pulp fiction author and screenwriter...

) wrote the screenplay. The classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 soundtrack, compiled by Heinz Eric Roemheld
Heinz Eric Roemheld
Heinz Roemheld was an American composer.Born Heinrich Erich Roemheld in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was one of four children of German immigrant Heinrich Roemheld and his wife Fanny Rauterberg Roemheld. Heinrich was a pharmacist, but all the members of the family were musical...

, is unusual for its time, because there is an almost continuous background score throughout the entire film.
Two young honeymooners, Peter and Joan Alison, are vacationing in Hungary when they learn that due to a mix up in the reservations, they must share a train compartment with Dr.
Quotations

You must be indulgent with Dr. Werdegast's weakness. He is the unfortunate victim of one of the commoner phobias, but in an extreme form. He has an intense and all-consuming horror of cats.

[to Karen] Oh, it's nothing. Only an accident in the road below. I want you to stay in this room all day tomorrow Karen. You are the very core and meaning of my life. No one shall take you from me. Not even Vitus, not even your father.

Did you hear that, Vitus? The phone is dead. Even the phone is dead.

After all, better to be frightened than to be crushed.

[to Peter, about his stroking Joan's hair while she sleeps] I beg your indulgence my friend. Eighteen years ago, I left a girl so like your lovely wife to go to war...She was my wife. Have you ever heard of Kurgaal? It is a prison below Amsk...Many men have gone there. Few have returned. I have returned. After fifteen years, I have returned.

It has been a long time Hjalmar. The years have been kind to you.

[to Peter, about Poelzig's house] It is indeed hard to describe. It's hard to describe his life — or death. It may well be an atmosphere of death. This place was built upon the ruins of the same Ft. Marmorus that our unfortunate friend, the driver, described so vividly. Herr Poelzig commanded Marmorus during the last years of the war. He is perhaps sentimental about this spot.

Supernatural, perhaps... Baloney, perhaps not. There are many things under the sun.

 
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