History Film / TheBlackCat

* AltumVidetur: 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.

* BlueBeard:[[spoiler: Poelzig, though some of those women were probably his sacrifices.]]

Peter Alison (David Manners) and his new bride Joan (Julie Bishop) 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.

Peter and Joan Alison 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.

* NotSoDifferent: Averted in the final cut of the film, but Lugosi's heroic character was originally set to be not that much better than Karloff's evil priest. It was only thanks to script changes for the audience's sake that he ended up as completely wronged and justified in his revenge against Poelzig.

* DyingDream: A popular interpretation of the film is that it's all in Werdegast's head in the prison camp. A more upbeat version is that he really is Poelzig's friend and he just fell asleep on the train and had a nightmare.

* {{Fainting}}: Like a good 1930s female lead, Joan naturally does this when the nooks attack her husband.

* OminousLatinChanting

* {{Fainting}}

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: "That's what I'm going to do! Tear the skin from your body! Bit - by - bit! Slowly! '''''ALIVE!'''''"

As this movie is nearly eight decades old, unmarked spoilers are most certainly below.

* FlayingAlive

* HollywoodSatanism

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

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

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: "I'm going to ''skin'' you! Bit - by - bit! Slowly! '''''ALIVE!'''''"

* PlayingAgainstType: Béla Lugosi as a good guy? NO WAI!
** Unfortunately, that was only due to a script rewrite. Werdegast was originally playing chess to save Joan Allison's life ''for himself'', if you know what I mean. He was nowhere near as bad as Poelzig, but he didn't start out as a simple wronged family man. Damn it.

As this movie is nearly eight decades old, spoilers are most certainly below.

* BilingualBonus: 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.
** There's also 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.

A rare turn for Lugosi as a heroic character, ''The Black Cat'' was part of a wave of {{horror}} talkies in the 1930s, following the shared success of ''Film/{{Dracula}}'' and ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}''. While Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's name is listed in the credits, [[InNameOnly the movie had little to do with his short story of the same name]].

A rare turn for Lugosi as a heroic character, ''The Black Cat'' was part of a wave of {{horror}} talkies in the 1930s, following the shared success of ''Film/{{Dracula}}'' and ''Film/{{Frankenstein}}''. While Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's name is listed in the credits, [[InNameOnly the movie had little to do with his short story of the same name]].

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

A rare turn for Lugosi as a heroic character, ''The Black Cat'' was part of a wave of {{horror}} talkies in the 1930s, following the shared success of ''Film/{{Dracula}}'' and ''{{Frankenstein}}''. While EdgarAllanPoe's name is listed in the credits, [[InNameOnly the movie had little to do with his short story of the same name]].

[[caption-width-right:302:These two hated each other's guts. [[SylvesterStallone Stallone]] and [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Schwarzenegger]] are good friends, and we couldn't get them on screen together? [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell, Hollywood?]]]]

[[caption-width-right:302:These two hated each other's guts. [[SylvesterStallone Stallone]] and [[ArnoldSchwarzenegger Schwarzenegger]] are good friends, and we couldn't get them on screen together? [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell, Hollywood?]]]]

** Unfortunately, that was only due to a script rewrite. Werdegast was originally playing chess to save Joan Allison's life ''for himself'', if you know what I mean. He was nowhere near as bad as Poelzig, but he didn't start out as a simple wronged family man. Damn it.

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: Vitus, and justified to all hell.

* BilingualBonus: The incantations during the ritual are Latin for "Beware of Dog" & "With a grain of salt", Indicating that the film is not to be taken too seriously.