Just so...so bad

disgusting, overrated, pointless

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This film is really bad. An old woman is killed by one of her greedy relatives; she is very fortunate, she gets out of the film in the first ten minutes. Some terrible director named Beebe was unable to overcome this horrible script. Even more horrible than the plot were the attempts at humor by Broderick Crawford, who played sort of a virile Lou Costello. His sidekick was trying to be funny, also, but he did as well as grandmother. I liked all of Crawford's other films; he should have bought the copies of this one and had it burned. This is also the worst thing ever done by Basil Rathbone, a very decent actor, who could not escape strangulation from a horrible script. And you thought Ed Wood was a bad director and that Bela Lugosi hit bottom with Plan 9 From Outer Space. Wrong on both counts. Ed Wood is Hitchcock compared to this amateur who tried to direct this film. And Lugosi, as bad as he was in Plan 9, was much better in that film than this one. The script was written during a lunch break at the studio lot; or maybe not even that long.I understand that this film opened in Tokyo one week before Pearl Harbor; I am pretty sure it was the primary reason that Japan started a war against the US. Actually one star is too high a rating, but I felt sorry for Broderick.

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.

1941's "The Black Cat," not to be confused with Bela Lugosi's 1934 classic, is merely another 'Old Dark House' murder-mystery in a comic vein, in the wake of 1939's "The Cat and the Canary." The unfunny comedy relief is supplied by Hugh Herbert, while the remainder of the stalwart cast maintain interest throughout, despite a severely dragging middle in which virtually nothing of interest happens, one red herring topping another. The young Broderick Crawford is certainly likable, and pairs nicely with lovely Anne Gwynne, but top-billed Basil Rathbone is reduced to playing a weasely scoundrel, fooling around with beautiful Claire Dodd behind the back of desperate wife Gladys Cooper, to the annoyance of her devoted stepson (Alan Ladd). Henrietta Winslow (Cecilia Loftus) has been at death's door for some time, but makes certain that her many cats will be taken care of, along with longtime housekeeper Abigail Doone (Gale Sondergaard) and caretaker Eduardo Vedos (Bela Lugosi); when she gets stabbed to death with a long hatpin, hardly anyone bats an eye. One of the nicer aspects of the film is that the titular black cat actually becomes the hero during the admittedly thrilling climax, first alerting Crawford to his girl's danger, then causing the killer's demise. Claire Dodd was enjoying a resurgence at Universal ("In the Navy," "The Mad Doctor of Market Street"), where she had previously starred in 1934's "Secret of the Château," while the relatively unknown Alan Ladd remained a year away from stardom in "This Gun for Hire." Lugosi is genuinely amusing but sadly wasted, happily hamming it up in numerous gag photos on set; Gale Sondergaard, the one cast member from "The Cat and the Canary," remains stuck in dour mode, the still attractive actress amply filling out her uniform. No classic but entertaining, "The Black Cat" appeared four times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater: Jan 4 1975 (following 1945's "A Game of Death"), Aug 28 1976 (following 1960's "Dr. Blood's Coffin"), July 23 1977 (following Al Adamson's "Man with the Synthetic Brain"), and June 11 1983 (solo). The 1934 "Black Cat" had been a 5 time broadcast before this 1941 title debuted, totaling 8 overall.

Given one of the most abused titles in cinema history (innumerable films were supposedly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story but few, if any, bothered to be faithful to it), the plot of this one could go in any direction. Universal had already used the title for one of its most stylish (and potent) horror offerings in 1934, so the 'remake' tried something entirely different: an old dark house comedy-chiller on the lines of THE CAT AND THE CANARY (itself brought to the screen several times, the most recent up to that time emanating from 1939). As always with this kind of film, we get a plethora of characters brought together for the hearing of a will and then starting to die violently one by one; the cast is notable and eclectic – including two horror stars (Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi: the latter was also in the earlier version, where his role was far more substantial), whereas the comedy is supplied by Broderick Crawford (proving surprisingly adept and likably accident-prone!) and the insufferable Hugh Herbert. Of course, there is a damsel-in-distress (pretty Anne Gwynne, also serving as Crawford's love interest) being invariably the one to receive the lion's share of the fortune possessed by the dotty (and cat-loving) owner of the estate; also on hand are Gale Sondergaard (as the sinister housekeeper, a virtual reprise of her role in the aforementioned version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY) and Gladys Cooper and Alan Ladd(!) as mother and son (the former is married to Rathbone, but he carries on an affair with another relative present). Being definitely a B-movie, the film is best compared to similarly modest ventures in this vein: even so, not involving recognizable comics (such as THE GORILLA [1939] did with The Ritz Brothers) or a horrific figure (a' la NIGHT MONSTER [1942]) – both films, incidentally, feature Bela Lugosi in an almost identical (and equally thankless) part – the film ends up not satisfying anyone…even if it is harmless enough as entertainment, the eerie atmosphere well up to par and the identity of the villain (who perishes flamboyantly in a blaze) a genuine surprise.