The Black Cat
Studio: Universal Pictures
Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Writer: Paul Cain
Producer: Carl Laemmle
The Black Cat is a 1934 American pre-Code horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. It was Universal Pictures' biggest box office hit of the year, and was the first of eight films (six of which were produced by Universal) to feature both Karloff and Lugosi.
Trivia
- The 1941 film of the same name starring Basil Rathbone, which purports to be "suggested by" the same Poe story, bears little relation to this film, other than the presence of Lugosi.
- The character of Hjalmar Poelzig drew inspiration from the life of occultist Aleister Crowley, while the name "Poelzig" was borrowed from architect Hans Poelzig, whom Ulmer claimed to have worked with on the sets for Paul Wegener's silent film The Golem (1920).
- A score consisting of excerpts from classical pieces composed by Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and others runs through nearly 80% of the film.
Previous Showings
7 Runs • 7 Festivals
4,898 tickets sold
All runs on record (7):
- November 11 - 12, 2000 · 791 ticketsHorror 2000w/ Bride of Frankenstein
- March 19 - 20, 2009 · 627 ticketsWinter 2009w/ Death Takes a Holiday
- October 5 - 7, 2012 · 859 ticketsUNIVERSAL PICTURES Part 1: 1930-1935w/ The Mummy
- September 13 - 14, 2014 · 665 ticketsSummer 2014w/ Dracula
- August 28 - 30, 2018 · 415 ticketsSummer 2018w/ The Mummy
- October 31 - November 1, 2019 · 871 ticketsUNIVERSAL PICTURES 1931-1935w/ Dracula
- October 28 - 29, 2023 · 670 ticketsUniversal Pictures: Horror and Morew/ The Mummy