The Black Cat (1941)

This is such a good movie, made way back in 1941, it holds up for many reasons, firstly the story is excellent, so many twists and turns, reminiscent of The Cat and The Canary. The characters are so good, Aunt Henrietta Winslow is delightful, wonderfully eccentric, but possessing a darker side. Montague Hartley is brilliantly devious, Rathbone really brings him to life, and of course there's the strange housekeeper Abigail Doone, Gale Sondergaard as always steals the show, she's fabulous. It is a visual delight, the way it's shot, the costumes etc, puts thousands of films in the shade, beautifully produced.'He thinks he's Sherlock Holmes,' what a great line, proving that even in the early 1940's film makers had a sense of humour. Hugh Herbert though is perhaps a little distracting as Mr Penny, somehow it feels as if he belongs in a different film, although his tea scene with Sondergaard is a joy. It does become a little melodramatic towards the end, and there are some painfully over the top fiery screams at the end, but all in all I have a huge love for this film.Recommended. 8/10

Any time you can get as many familiar movie faces in one film viewing should never be passed up. But The Black Cat and there is a dark feline that is always around when something bad happens is a wonderful film that is right on the edge of mystery and comedy and succeeds at both.Partly that's because so many of these people have played sinister roles in other movies you will have a hard time guessing who the real perpetrator is. Even Alan Ladd whose stardom was yet to come had as his debut contract killer Raven in This Gun For Hire.Even Broderick Crawford who appears as the nominal hero of the piece played a lot of villainous thug types. He also played many a dim bulb before his Oscar in All The King's Men and it's in dim bulb mode that Crawford stays in the movie.Crawford is a real estate salesman and he's accompanied by Hugh Herbert who is an antique dealer and the only one you're reasonably sure is the murderer. They've come to make Cecilia Loftus an offer for her creepy old mansion and Herbert wants the furnishings. They arrive just in time to hear what her intentions are via a will to her grasping relatives. But she doesn't get to reveal all before she's murdered and now the hunt for the killer is on. Some more folks also get eliminated before all is revealed.Any film that has folks like those already mentioned plus Gale Sondergaard, Claire Dodd, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Gladys Cooper, Anne Gwynne and John Eldredge should not be missed.Wouldn't have been something if Hugh Herbert was the murderer?

Elderly, and rich, Henrietta Winslow (Cecilia Loftus) is going to die soon. Her greedy relatives (among them Basil Rathbone and Alan Ladd) go to her creepy old mansion to await her death. She dies (or is killed) soon after and a raging storm keeps all the relatives in her house for the night. Someone starts killing people left and right--but who? Also add Gale Sondergaard (as a sinister housekeeper), Bela Lugosi(as a sinister grounds keeper) and Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert (as totally horrendous comic relief) and you got a great cast in a pretty bad movie.The setting here is suitably creepy and there's some beautiful cinematography but the script is just lousy. The mystery itself is somewhat interesting but the alleged comedy ruins this. The "comedy" is painfully unfunny full of groan worthy jokes and Herbert's "woo woo" which makes you want to hit him. It got to the point that when he appeared I hit the fast forward button. The cast is full of talented actors but some of them give their worst performances. Rathbone walks through his role and Ladd comes off as an obnoxious jerk. However it is amusing to see Ladd billed last in the opening credits (this was made right before he hit it big). Lugosi and Sondergaard are good but reduced to just walking around and acting suspicious. Sondegaard hated making this film but she's enough of a pro to still give a good performance. Crawford comes across best by trying to solve the mystery. I also got a kick out of a glaring lapse in continuity--at one point he's out in a storm getting soaked. Then he walks into the house and is COMPLETELY dry! This is almost worth seeing for the cast alone. Almost. I give it a 4.

Basil Rathbone would of course go on to be best known for his role as the classic London detective Sherlock Holmes; but in-between making the films for Universal studios, he had a starring role in this little mystery flick; which could well have been a part of the classic Holmes series and indeed is very similar to plot featured in 1945's Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear. The title would lead most people to believe that this film is based on the classic Edgar Allen Poe story of the same title; and while the film does give a "suggested by" credit to the great writer, the links between this film and Poe's story are flimsy at best. The plot takes the familiar base of having a family gather together upon the death of a wealthy relative for the will reading. Henrietta Winslow gathers her family and lets them know how they will benefit from her death before she is dead, and naturally her death follows on quickly from that. However, the elderly woman - who happens to live in a big house full of cats - has added another clause into the will.The film is often considered a part of the horror genre, and while it does make a claim to the genre via the "suggested by" subject material as well as the atmosphere surrounding the house and number of cats inhabiting it; the film is mostly a mystery thriller. The cast is good however, although the two main names are underused. Basil Rathbone gives an understated performance in one of the lead roles, while horror star Bela Lugosi doesn't get a lot of screen time. Alan Ladd, however, is given more to do and provides most of the entertainment. The film has some comedy elements to it also and to me they bring it down somewhat and I'd have preferred it had the film have been a bit straighter. There are plenty of films called 'The Black Cat' and while this one doesn't take a lot of influence from the classic story; I would have to say it stands up against some others, although Edgar G. Ulmer's 1934 film is superior. The mystery does play out well throughout the film and the director uses the setting well. It all boils down to a satisfying conclusion and the identity of the murderer comes as a surprise. All in all, this is certainly very much worth watching and I would recommend it to mystery fans.