The Black Cat

press release: USA | 1934 | 35mm | 65 min.

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer; Cast: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners

“Superstitious, perhaps...Baloney, perhaps not.” Horror legends Karloff and Lugosi square off for the first time as an evil architect and a bent-on-vengeance psychiatrist in a scenario bearing absolutely no relation to the Edgar Allan Poe story on which it claims to be based. Made in the last days prior to the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code, this shadowy yet highly suggestive piece of macabre cinema was a rare big studio effort for director Ulmer. Despite the fact that it concludes with a character being skinned alive, it’s great fun! Preceded by the animated short Wax Works (1934, 10 min.).

Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen: It’s a Universal Picture

This lineup of movies released by Universal Pictures from 1928-1936 shows how one of the smallest of the major studios, under the leadership of head honcho Carl Laemmle Jr., held their own with a variety of fun and fast-paced features that delivered innovation in a number of genres: melodramas, comedies, thrillers, war stories, musicals and horror movies. Our series partly focuses on Universal’s top-flight, best-known directors like William Wyler, John Stahl and James Whale, but you will also have a chance to discover the expressive and riveting work of Edward L. Cahn, Paul Fejos, and others. As a bonus, many of the features will be preceded by animated preludes starring Universal’s top cartoon star of the day, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Special Thanks to Dave Kehr, whose series of Universal discoveries curated for New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato provided significant inspiration.

Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times.