THE BLACK CAT (1934)

 

Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer
Based on the short story by: Edgar Allan Poe
Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Jacqueline Wells, Egon Brecher, Harry Cording, Lucille Lund, Henry Armetta, Albert Conti, John Carradine

69 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
Honeymooning in Hungary, Joan and Peter Allison share their train compartment with Dr. Vitus Verdegast, a courtly but tragic man who is returning to the remains of the town he defended before becoming a prisoner of war for fifteen years. When their hotel-bound bus crashes in a mountain storm and Joan is injured, the travelers seek refuge in the home, built fortress-like upon the site of a bloody battlefield, of famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig. There, cat-phobic Verdegast learns his wife's fate, grieves for his lost daughter, and must play a game of chess for Allison's life.