FSU Student Life Cinema

Article by “Dashing” Shane Steele

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Two names forever tied to the Golden Age of Horror. On one hand, the sinister, plotting vampire. On the other, the lonely, angry patchwork monster. Both carved their names in history as icons in the world of cinema for portraying two of the most instantly recognizeable monsters in all of movies.

It was only natural to pair the two together after the combined success of Dracula and Frankenstein. So a mere three years after the release of Frankenstein, Lugosi and Karloff were set to star in Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Black Cat, a film that shared only the title of the Edgar Allan Poe’s story, despite billing that claimed otherwise. Lugosi played Dr. Vitus Werdegast, a psychiatrist recently freed from a prison camp planning to visit an “old friend”; Karloff, Hjalmar Poelzig, that very “friend”, an architecht who Werdegast accuses of condeming him to the prison camp and stealing his wife. David Manners and Julie Bishop were the honeymooners caught in the crossfire between the two enemies, with the Satanic Poelzig planning to make a sacrifice out of Bishop. With its fantastic score, dark atmosphere, creepy setting, and top-notches performances, The Black Cat came to be recognized as a classic, in addition to Universal’s highest grossing movie of 1934.

It is important to note that Karloff and Lugosi were portrayed as equals in the film. They each recieved a fair amount of screen time and equally billed at the time of release. Lugosi’s Werdegast does kill Karloff’s Poelzig in the end (in a rather startling scene-just watch it and you’ll know what I mean), but it’s only in retribution for Poelzig’s previous crimes.

Such equality would later fade.

Karloff and Lugosi would go on to make seven more pictures together, including Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Ray, The Raven, and The Body Snatcher. But the dynamic had changed. No longer were their names shown in equal font on the posters. Karloff’s began to dominate, while Lugosi’s grew smaller and smaller. Karloff also began to recieve the more prominent roles, with Lugosi relegated to being a sidekick of sorts.

Today, we still remember both men as Dracula and The Monster. Their legacies would not be tarnished by this rift. But looking back, it is sad to see Lugosi slip into addiction and Ed Wood movies while Karloff continued to get decent work both on the screen and on stage.

So if the Karloff-Lugosi pairing is to be seen at it’s finest, The Black Cat is a must. It’s a gripping, thrilling tale of two of horror’s best at odds.

The Black Cat will be playing at 8 PM on Thursday, October 27th at SLC’s Phantom Theatre.