History Film / TheBlackCat

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Poelzig's house at Máramaros can not be that far from Viségrad in Hungary, since the police called to protocol the bus crash arrives from there, yet the real [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maramureș Máramaros]] [[note]]Máramaros is the Hungarian name of the Maramureș region, and unlike in the vicinity of Viségrad, Russian troops did fight there in World War I[[/note]] is 350 km to the east in Romania and Ukraine [[note]]in Modern times, in 1934 the Ukrainian part was in Czechoslovakia[[/note]]. Also, one of the officers tells he is from Pistyan, a town in Slovakia [[note]]in 2020, in Czechoslovakia in 1934[[/note]] 120 km to the northwest. This is probably not due to ignorance, since Edgar Ulmer was born in Austria-Hungary [[note]]in what is Czechia in 2020. All of the above places were in Austria-Hungary in 1904 when he was born[[/note]].

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Poelzig's house at Máramaros can not be that far from Viségrad in Hungary, since the police called to protocol the bus crash arrives from there, yet the real [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maramureș Máramaros]] [[note]]Máramaros is the Hungarian name of the Maramureș region, and unlike in the vicinity of Viségrad, Russian troops did fight there in World War I[[/note]] is 350 km to the east in Romania and Ukraine [[note]]in 2020, in 1934 the Ukrainian part was in Czechoslovakia[[/note]]. Also, one of the officers tells he is from Pistyan, a town in Slovakia [[note]]in 2020, in Czechoslovakia in 1934[[/note]] 120 km to the northwest. This is probably not due to ignorance, since Edgar Ulmer was born in Austria-Hungary [[note]]in what is Czechia in 2020. All of the above places were in Austria-Hungary in 1904 when he was born[[/note]].

* DownerEnding: For some at least, and for Werdegast's sake. Werdegast learns that his daughter was still alive... right before he finds her corpse. With nothing left in his life, he straps Poelzig to his embalming rack, and the film ends as he begins to skin the man alive.

* KarmicDeath: Taxidermy enthusiast Poelzig is hung from his own skinning rack and flayed alive.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Vitus, and justified to all hell.

* DownerEnding: For some at least, and for Werdegast's sake.

''The Black Cat'' is a 1934 American {{horror}} {{film}} starring Creator/BelaLugosi and Creator/BorisKarloff, the first of six movies to pair them together. It was written and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.

''The Black Cat'' (1934) is an American {{horror}} {{film}} starring Creator/BelaLugosi and Creator/BorisKarloff, the first of six movies to pair them together. It was written and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.

* Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor: Well, what else is a Satanist going to play on his pipe organ?

* BeingGoodSucks: Poor Vitus.

%%* KarmicDeath

* ShadowDiscretionShot: The flaying.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Basically, the film is Creator/BelaLugosi vs. Creator/BorisKarloff.

* GratuitousLatin: The incantations during the ritual consist of Latin maxims and idioms, including "Beware of dog" & "With a grain of salt," probably to avoid accusations of blasphemy if actual liturgical phrases (altered or otherwise) were used.

* TheBlueBeard:[[spoiler: Poelzig, though some of those women were probably his sacrifices.]]
* CoolVsAwesome / UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Basically, the film is Creator/BelaLugosi vs. Creator/BorisKarloff.

* FatalFlaw: "He has an intense, and all-consuming [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes horror--of cats]]".

* FollowTheLeader
* GratuitousLatin: The incantations during the ritual are Latin for "Beware of Dog" & "With a grain of salt", probably to avoid accusations of blasphemy if actual liturgical phrases (altered or otherwise) were used.

* HostileWeather: During the bus crash.

* KarmicDeath

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The Alisons intend to spend their honeymoon in Gömbös, “the pearl of the Carpathian Mountains”. There is no such place, however [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyula_Gömbös Gyula Gömbös de Jáfka]] was the Hungarian prime minister from 1932-36. This gives a whole new meaning to the line “[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piešťany Pistyan]] used to be all right 10, 15 years ago, but now...Gömbös is the place.”
* OminousLatinChanting: The words of Poelzig's Satanic rite.

* VillainousIncest: Poelzig doesn't just get Werdegast sent to a prison camp, steal his wife from him, and then kill her-- he goes the extra mile and ''marries the man's daughter'' (after having been with her mother, technically making him her stepfather). While exceptionally vile, consider how much worse it is when you realize that Vitus had been locked away for ''eighteen'' years, and that means that Poelzig was more than likely with Mrs. Werdegast for some time before killing her, which itself means that he was basically the only thing close to a father figure in Karen's life (especially since she was too young to even remember her real father), bringing the creepy factor full circle. What's also horrifying is that Karen seems generally okay (for lack of a better word) with it all.

* WifeHusbandry:[[spoiler: Since Karen said her mother died when she was very young, this may have been what Poelzig did to his eventual wife.]]

Peter Alison (David Manners) and his new bride Joan (Jacqueline Wells) are on their honeymoon in Hungary when they discover that a mixup in train reservations has left them sharing a compartment with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi), a psychiatrist traveling to see an old friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). After leaving the train, they continue their journey on the same bus, since they are going in the same direction. When the bus crashes near Poelzig’s house and Joan is injured, however, the couple find themselves subject to the dubious hospitality of Poelzig, and discover that Wendergast seeks not friendship, but vengeance. Poelzig, for his part, is revealed to be the leader of a satanic cult, and plans to sacrifice Joan in a ritual.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Poelzig's house ''Máramaros'' can not be that far from Viségrad in Hungary, since the police called to protocol the accident arrives from there, yet the real [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maramureș Máramaros]] [[note]]Máramaros is the Hungarian name of the Maramureș region, and unlike in the vicinity of Viségrad, Russian troops did fight there in World War I[[/note]] is 350 km to the east in Romania and Ukraine [[note]]in 2020, in 1934 the Ukrainian part was in Czechoslovakia[[/note]]. Also, one of the officers tells he is from Pistyan, a town in Slovakia [[note]]in 2020, in Czechoslovakia in 1934[[/note]] 120 km to the northwest. This is probably not due to ignorance, since Edgar Ulmer was born in Austria-Hungary [[note]]in what is Czechia in 2020. All of the above places were in Austria-Hungary in 1904 when he was born[[/note]].

* BilingualBonus: There's a surprisingly comical scene around the middle of the film that has Werdegast serving as an interpreter and translator for the police sergeant and police lieutenant that come to Poelzig's home to question him and the Allisons on the carriage crash earlier. Most of the conversation is in English, but when the two policemen first enter the introductions are in Hungarian, with Werdegast having to tell them that the Allisons are Americans. It's actually a real treat to hear Béla in his native tongue, if only for a sentence.
* BattleButler: Poelzig’s majordomo actively helps his master’s nefarious deeds, including knocking out Peter and shooting Thamal.

* FlayingAlive: How Werdegast avenges himself against Poelzig.

* HandicappedBadass: Thamal is mute but incredibly strong and agile. Even fatally wounded in the chest he manages to overpower Poelzig (who was about to strangle Verdegast) and his armed majordomo.

* HellholePrison: The gulag where Vitus was locked away after the battle of Fort Marmorus.

* HostileWeather: During the car crash.

* TheSpeechless: Verdegast’s mute Mongolian servant Thamal.

* {{Uberwald}}: The Alisons leave the real world at Viségrad station and enter Überwald on the bus ride to their fictitious destination Gömbös, when the accident strands them at equally fictitious Máramaros. While not as famous as ''Dracula'' or ''Frankenstein'', ''The Black Cat'' is among the Universal horror films that codified the Überwald trope in the 1930s and 40s.

* HauntedCastle: The establishing shot shows ''Máramaros'' illuminated by flashes of lightning, looming amid drifting fog above leaning crosses and twisted trees. However, it is an example of then-latest avant-garde architecture, “A masterpiece of construction built upon the ruins of the masterpiece of destruction.” Fittingly, in a variation of the mad scientist, Poelzig is a mad architect.

* {{Uberwald}}: The Alisons leave the real world at Viségrad station and enter Überwald on the bus ride to their fictitious destination Gömbös, when the accident strands them at equally fictitious ''Máramaros''.\\
While not as famous as Dracula or Frankenstein, The Black Cat is among the Universal horror films that codified the trope in the 1930s and 40s.

Peter Alison (David Manners) and his new bride Joan (Jacqueline Wells) are on their honeymoon in Hungary when they discover that a mixup in train reservations has left them sharing a compartment with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi), a psychiatrist traveling to see an old friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). When the train crashes and Joan is injured, however, the couple find themselves subject to the dubious hospitality of Poelzig, and discover that Wendergast seeks not friendship, but vengeance against Poelzig. Poelzig, for his part, is revealed to be the leader of a satanic cult, and plans to sacrifice Joan in a ritual.

* ArtDeco: All of the sets and a lot of the furniture.