Truly Dreadful Film

Just what I expected

A lot of fun.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Bela Lugosi returns to the world of Edgar Allan Poe in this non- remake of "The Black Cat", just like Boris Karloff would do over twenty years later with "The Raven". While Karloff had a late career triumph with that comic version of Poe's sonnet, Lugosi got to do little here, pretty much going around, picking up cats and calling, "Here kitty kitty", in one of his most embarrassing non-Ed Wood screen moments. Even so, the veteran actor gets billing above the credits with Basil Rathbone, Broderick Crawford, and woo-hoo, get this, Hugh Herbert.The last name alone is an indication that this "Old Dark House" rip- off is a comedy, or at least a spoof, and a mildly funny one at that. It's another variation of "Kill the old relative so we can get their loot" plot, and in this case, the poor old thing is Cecilia Loftus, a feisty old bat who has made room for all of her greedy relatives and spooky servants in her will, with strict guidelines that concern her dozens of cats. Of all the cats she has, she refuses to keep any black ones, having made strict orders that the one black kitten born in a litter years ago be destroyed. She also has a creepy crematorium where a statue of a black cat guards all the urns of the ashes of her dead felines.Acting honors, or at least camp acting honors, go to Gale Sondergaard as the strikingly beautiful but severe and mysterious housekeeper who has been taking care of Loftus for years and is assigned the responsibility of doing the same with her cats. "What did you say?", she inquires dramatically through a slot in the front door towards Herbert whom she has just slammed the door on, only to hear an insult made at her expense. Every time she is on screen, she commands all the attention, while Hugh Herbert makes you want to turn your head in aggravation at some of his antics. He was very amusing doing his shtick in all those Warner Brothers musicals and comedies of the 1930's, but here, it just seems a bit too much and after a while is more annoying than funny.It is surprising to see a young Broderick Crawford in a romantic lead role, with that booming voice that later dominated "All the King's Men" and "Born Yesterday" in bully roles. Here, he's an old friend of the family who has been hired to try to find a buyer for the spooky house against Loftus's will. Herbert is his client who does nothing but walk around and wreck the furniture. Among the greedy relatives are Gladys Cooper as a niece who has been "little trouble", Basil Rathbone as her philandering husband, a very young Alan Ladd as his son from a first marriage who calls Loftus "grandmother", and among others, Anne Gwynne and Claire Dodd. Sliding panels, a love-seat with a foot switch that moves it 180 degrees, and other various nooks and crannies are among the tricks of this Poe's trade.Entertaining, yet somehow totally unbelievable, this is acceptable but easily forgettable, although I must admit that I have an affection for it. The killer is shown carrying a body that is obviously beyond their weight, yet they get a great come-uppance at the conclusion. Some of the frights are real, taking this beyond the farcial moments that Herbert provides a bit too much to the point of annoyance. Basil Rathbone has a great line concerning one of his most popular screen characters that will leave you in stitches.

Any time you can get as many familiar movie faces in one film viewing should never be passed up. But The Black Cat and there is a dark feline that is always around when something bad happens is a wonderful film that is right on the edge of mystery and comedy and succeeds at both.Partly that's because so many of these people have played sinister roles in other movies you will have a hard time guessing who the real perpetrator is. Even Alan Ladd whose stardom was yet to come had as his debut contract killer Raven in This Gun For Hire.Even Broderick Crawford who appears as the nominal hero of the piece played a lot of villainous thug types. He also played many a dim bulb before his Oscar in All The King's Men and it's in dim bulb mode that Crawford stays in the movie.Crawford is a real estate salesman and he's accompanied by Hugh Herbert who is an antique dealer and the only one you're reasonably sure is the murderer. They've come to make Cecilia Loftus an offer for her creepy old mansion and Herbert wants the furnishings. They arrive just in time to hear what her intentions are via a will to her grasping relatives. But she doesn't get to reveal all before she's murdered and now the hunt for the killer is on. Some more folks also get eliminated before all is revealed.Any film that has folks like those already mentioned plus Gale Sondergaard, Claire Dodd, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Gladys Cooper, Anne Gwynne and John Eldredge should not be missed.Wouldn't have been something if Hugh Herbert was the murderer?

Basil Rathbone would of course go on to be best known for his role as the classic London detective Sherlock Holmes; but in-between making the films for Universal studios, he had a starring role in this little mystery flick; which could well have been a part of the classic Holmes series and indeed is very similar to plot featured in 1945's Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear. The title would lead most people to believe that this film is based on the classic Edgar Allen Poe story of the same title; and while the film does give a "suggested by" credit to the great writer, the links between this film and Poe's story are flimsy at best. The plot takes the familiar base of having a family gather together upon the death of a wealthy relative for the will reading. Henrietta Winslow gathers her family and lets them know how they will benefit from her death before she is dead, and naturally her death follows on quickly from that. However, the elderly woman - who happens to live in a big house full of cats - has added another clause into the will.The film is often considered a part of the horror genre, and while it does make a claim to the genre via the "suggested by" subject material as well as the atmosphere surrounding the house and number of cats inhabiting it; the film is mostly a mystery thriller. The cast is good however, although the two main names are underused. Basil Rathbone gives an understated performance in one of the lead roles, while horror star Bela Lugosi doesn't get a lot of screen time. Alan Ladd, however, is given more to do and provides most of the entertainment. The film has some comedy elements to it also and to me they bring it down somewhat and I'd have preferred it had the film have been a bit straighter. There are plenty of films called 'The Black Cat' and while this one doesn't take a lot of influence from the classic story; I would have to say it stands up against some others, although Edgar G. Ulmer's 1934 film is superior. The mystery does play out well throughout the film and the director uses the setting well. It all boils down to a satisfying conclusion and the identity of the murderer comes as a surprise. All in all, this is certainly very much worth watching and I would recommend it to mystery fans.

Truly a ham-athon, featuring an impressive array of character actors of that period. I loved Gale (The Spiderwoman) Sondergaard as the house manager -- or would you say butlerette? And seeing the young Alan Ladd in an insipid role -- no Shane moves here! -- was very interesting. Like a previous poster, I would have liked to see Hugh Herbert get knocked off first, but that wouldn't have made sense within the plot because he wasn't in line to inherit. So we're stuck with him doing his usual schtick throughout the movie.There is one huge plot-hole. Herbert picks up the old lady's will and uses it as a bookmark, but drops it later. As soon as he does that, a spooky hand (belonging to the murderer, perhaps?) reaches out of the curtains and picks it up. So what happens to it after that?Anyway, I'm glad I didn't buy a theater ticket to see this old turkey, but it was worth the hour and ten minutes to see it in streaming video on Netflix. Might watch it again some time too.