Trivia / The Black Cat

The 1934 film:

• Executive Meddling: Carl Laemmle Jr., the studio head, strongly disliked the even darker original cut, and demanded reshoots to make Werdegast more sympathetic and give the film more of a Bittersweet Ending.
• Playing Against Type: Béla Lugosi as a good guy, if only due to a script rewrite. Werdegast was originally playing chess to save Joan Allison's life for himself. He was nowhere near as bad as Poelzig, but he didn't start out as a simple wronged family man.

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