Short Story: The Black Cat (1843)

Film: The Black Cat (1934)

Directed by Edga G Ulmer (set designer for Metropolis) would direct this pre-Hayes film based on the Edgar Allen Poe film of the same name. It would be the biggest Universal box office smash of that year.

This would be the first of eight films to pair up Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

The film is very loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story. In fact, it is so loosely based that the Poe story is almost non-existent. The film involves a nightmare that involves necrophilia, ailurophobia, drugs, a deadly game of chess, torture, flaying, and a black mass with a human sacrifice.

We are joined by The Literary License Podcast Dark Shadows co-host Tom Diamon.

Opening Credits; Introduction (1.32); Forming the Plot (16.09); Film Trailer (33.59); Lights, Camera, Action (35.39); Epilogue (1:23.04); End Credits (1:30.53); Closing Credits (1:33.26)

Opening and Closing Credits – thanking Purple Planet Music for our fantastic Opening and Closing Credits.