The Bela Lugosi Collection (Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven / The Invisible Ray / Black Friday) DVD
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Rating:  -
So this guy has an unprecedented reputation as the original bad guy, or at least he should... theatrically - Robert Pattinson would do well to take notes.
Oh, but then he smiles. Belas smile, is a ray of sun incarnate.
Not just the lips, but his eyes.
Even in the lo-fi black and white, his dear eyes glimmer and glow, and it is a pleasure to be destroyed....
Slowly! & with great dramatization!!
Rating:  -
THE BLACK CAT(1934)---(directed by Edgar G. Ulmer)---Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Jacqueline Wells(aka, Julie Bishop), Lucille Lind, Henry Armetta, Harry Cording.
This film features the first on-screen pairing of Karloff and Lugosi. Despite its reputation as a landmark horror film, I found it to be a major disappointment. The plot is ridiculous and incoherent, the acting is stiffer than a starched shirt, and the climax is "anti-"!!! A freshly married couple(Manners and Wells) are on a train heading for some unpronounceable destination in Hungary. Due to a "booking mistake", they find themselves sharing their compartment with Lugosi, who plays an "eminent" psychiatrist. By the damnedest coincidence, they are all headed for the same place---the newlyweds to honeymoon---the shrink to "visit an old friend"(played by Karloff). When they arrive at their destination, it's raining "cats and dogs", so they share a horse-drawn "taxi". The "taxi" flips over in the storm killing the driver and leaving the three travelers stranded in the deluge. By another coincidence, the home of Lugosi's friend is nearby so they all head for shelter there. They are welcomed by Karloff(who happens to be an "eminent" architect) and then things really get bizarre. We learn that Lugosi and Karloff had served together in WWI and that Karloff had betrayed his unit to the enemy so that he could get Lugosi's wife and daughter for himself; Lugosi escaped a massacre but was thrown into prison where he has languished for the past 15 years. In the interim, Karloff has built an extravagant house on the site of the gun emplacements where the betrayal took place!!! We also discover that Lugosi's wife died two years earlier but Karloff(who happens to be a Satan worshiper) has kept her corpse perfectly preserved and is now married to Lugosi's daughter! What a surprise when we learn that Lugosi has not come to pay a "social call" but to extract revenge on Karloff for "cutting up" the way he has. Karloff plans to conduct a Satanic ritual that will transfer the "life"(I think) of the newlywed bride to his wife(Lugosi's daughter) in order to "keep her young". Lugosi and the groom eventually manage to foil Karloff's plans, the newlyweds escape, and Lugosi blows himself and Karloff up(it seems that not only did Karloff build his house over the old gun emplacements, but also over an underground stash of dynamite!!!!!!). If this synopsis has you confused, try watching the movie---I kept it simple!!! This is truly an awful film, given the stars and the reputation it has garnered over the years. The best things about the movie are the "over the top" Art-Deco sets. As a general rule, I'm a fan of Edward G. Ulmer---his films are always a little "out there", but he has made some movies that I really like, e.g., STRANGE ILLUSION; DETOUR(a terrific little film noir); and RUTHLESS. However, he went totally "off the reservation" with this turkey---it is so full of plot inconsistencies, non-sequiturs, and truly awful acting that I regret buying it. By the way, the film takes its title from the fact that Lugosi suffers from a pathological fear of---you guessed it---black cats!
Rating:  -
several of these movies are just modern adaptations of edgar allen poe stories and my opinion is Vincent price versions were beter and true o the story lines.video quality and sound is good but not as good as the newer color stuff.
Rating:  -
This is a good quality print of my favorite Universal Studios horror classics. The Black Cat has some of the most amazing art direction including a digital clock in one of the scenes. Its a must have for any horror fan.
Rating: -
And you thought Henry Frankenstein had a quality control problem when he put Fritz in charge of acquiring a brain for his creation. I bought the Bela Lugosi Collection and the Frankenstein Legacy Collection and they both have flawed discs! I was going to return them until I learned how pervasive these problems are. I've read horror stories of buyers who had to return up to 5 copies before receiving one that worked properly! Universal should haul their remaining inventory up to a spooky old windmill, light a torch and....well, you know.
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