The Black Cat (1934)

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The Black Cat (1934) – E. G. Ulmer

Karloff meets Lugosi for the first time in this weird tale (that has nothing to do with Poe).  After their carriage turns over, killing the driver, a couple takes refuge in the Eastern European house of a famous architect (Karloff), led there by a doctor (Lugosi) who wants to kill him as revenge for a betrayal years earlier during WWI.  The betrayal resulted in Lugosi being placed in a notorious prison for 15 years during which time Karloff treated his wife to taxidermy and married his daughter.  So, Lugosi isn’t happy. To make matters worse, Karloff is a Satanist (great shot of him reading “the Rites of Lucifer” in bed) and wishes to use the innocent wife of the couple in his next “dark of the moon” rite.  But he agrees to play chess with Lugosi for the fate of the couple.  And all this takes place in a bizarre “modernist” setting, directed adroitly by Edgar G. Ulmer.