The Universal logo (1932 – 1936) at the beginning of The Black Cat. Image from the Universal DVD.
The main title card for The Black Cat. Image from the Universal DVD.
The Black Cat, Universal’s 1934 film teamed up their two kings of horror, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi for the first time. While the movie starts on a “dark and stormy night”, there’s no “old dark house” here but a very ultra modern one. This is the only 1930s Hollywood film with sets so directly inspired by Bauhaus design.
A Black Cat lobby card with Boris Karloff as architect Hjalmar Poelzig. This card shows Poelzig’s bedroom. Notice the lamp on the night stand, more on that later. Image from alamy.com
During the 1920s Universal Pictures association with the horror genre began. The studio had massive success with The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). With the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary art director Charles D. Hall, in collaboration with director Paul Leni, created an American expressionist look for an “old dark house” story. Enhancing the mood with the use of lighting and shadows.
The “old dark house” of The Cat and the Canary, Universal 1927, Paul Leni director, Charles D. Hall set designer. Frame capture from the Image DVD.
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- The hall of billowing curtains. The Cat and the Canary, 1927. Frame capture from the Image DVD.
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- Charles D. Hall’s excellent use of gothic style furniture to create the feeling of a cage. The 1927 version of The Cat and the Canary, with Laura La Plante and Tully Marshall. Frame capture from the Image DVD.
Charles Hall’s work on Dracula and Frankenstein, both from 1931, cemented the look of the typical 1930s horror film. Gothic, creepy and dark. These films established Universal as the leading producer of the horror genre. And they made stars of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. As the depression deepened the popularity of the horror film continued to grow. Lugosi and Karloff would alternate starring in the parade of macabre titles Universal produced over the next two years.
Bela Lugosi greets a confused Dwight Frye in the crumbling section of Dracula’s Transylvania castle. This set epitomizes the look of the Universal horror film of the early 1930s, dark and sinister. Image from the Universal DVD.
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- A more comfortable room of Castle Dracula, but still on the creepy side. Image from the Universal DVD.
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- Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler and Dwight Frye on the gothic staircase leading to the catacombs of Carfax Abbey, Dracula’s residence in England. Image from the Universal DVD.
Charles Hall’s set for the tower laboratory set for Frankenstein became the standard look for a mad scientists workplace. Colin Clive as Frankenstein and Dwight Frye as his assistant Fritz. Image from the Universal DVD.
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- The interior of Baron Frankenstein’s home. Gothic and sinister. Image from the Universal DVD.
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- The exterior of Frankenstein’s tower laboratory. Image from the Universal DVD.
As the depression starting to loose its grip, a little bit, during the second half of 1933 and into 1934, the mood in the United States lightened. If prosperity was not exactly here, at least it felt it was on the way. The movies reflected this change. Musicals, practically off screens for two years, returned and the popularity of horror films began waning. So it only seemed natural to team Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in a film to boost box office potential. And why not throw some Edgar Allen Poe into the mix. Though the finished film has no relation to the Poe tale, except the title.
Directorial credit title in the opening credits of The Black Cat. Image from the Universal DVD.
Universal originally planned to shoot The Black Cat in the autumn of 1933 with E. A. Dupont directing. But owing to financial constraints at the studio, the film did not go before the cameras until the end of February, 1934. By this time Edgar G. Ulmer was in the director’s chair. Born in what is now the Czech Republic, he lived in Vienna as a young man. There he worked as an actor and set designer while studying architecture and philosophy. Ulmer designed sets for the legendary Max Reinhardt and served an apprenticeship with film director F. W. Murnau. Ulmer accompanied Murnau to Hollywood in 1926, where he worked as an assistant set director on all of Murnau’s films.
The director of The Black Cat (1934) Edgar G. Ulmer. Image from imdb.com.
Ulmer’s first Hollywood directed film was Damaged Lives (1933), a low budget movie about syphilis. Soon after completing the film he landed the job of directing The Black Cat. Going before the cameras on February 28, 1934, principal photography finished three weeks later on March 17th. After a few days of retakes at the end of March and post production completed in April, The Black Cat went into release on May 7th. The cost of the film came to an economical $95,745.31 ($1,842,004.00 in 2020).
Although Charles D. Hall did design the sets and receives credit as such, Ulmer’s influence for the look of the film is obvious. Coming from Germany Ulmer knew of the Bauhaus and its design aesthetic. it permeates throughout the film. Even naming Boris Karloff’s character, Hjalmar Poelzig, after German architect, set designer and painter Hans Poelzig. In the 1920’s Poelzig mentored Ulmer at the Ufa studio and during Ulmer’s early days with Max Reinhardt. The two men remained friends till Poelzig’s death in 1936.
Hans Poelzig in 1927. Image from Wikipedia.org.
Most of the action of the film takes place at Poelzig’s home. Built on the ruins of the fictional Fort Marmorus, site of one of the First World War’s bloodiest battles. The film’s plot is a revenge story. Dr, Werdegast (Lugosi) imprisoned by the Russians since the war when his commander, Poelzig (Karloff) abandoned the Hungarian fort. He is now returning after 15 years to find his wife, whom Poelzig married, and his daughter. On the train from Budapest Werdegast shares a compartment with a honeymooning couple, played by David Manners and Jacqueline Wells. After transferring to a bus to complete their journey it crashes on the obligatory “dark and stormy night”. Luckily, or maybe not so luckily, the crash just so happens down the hill from Poelzig’s ultra modern mansion.
Poelzig’s mansion in The Black Cat is built above the graves of the war dead, is very inspired by Bauhaus architecture. Image from the Universal DVD.
Poelzig besides being a master architect also dabbles in necrophilia and is a high priest of Satan. With a Satanic ceremony taking place the following night, for which the young bride is perfect for the sacrifice, Poelzig keeps the crash victims from leaving. They are prisoners in an extremely stylish “jail”.
The first glimpse of the interior of Poelzig’s house. Staircase in front of wall of “glass” block. Image from the Universal DVD.
A daytime shot of the staircase in much better detail with David Manners at the top. Image from the Universal DVD.
A focal point of the set is the curving staircase located in front of what appears to be a wall of glass block. The budget for the sets of The Black Cat came to approximately $3,700.00. This set is a perfect example of the cost saving economy of the design. It appears at first that the “glass block” is actually painted to look like glass. But upon closer examination, the wall is actually translucent. And some of the blocks had what looks like wrinkles. So it seems to be a wooden grid covered in a muslin scrim. Which is a lot cheaper and easier to instal and tear down than a real glass block wall.
Unusual shadows or wrinkles can be seen on the right hand side of the “glass block” wall. Image from the Universal DVD.
A highly polished Bakelite floor completes the living room set. While this gives the room a glossy look, it must have been very difficult to walk on.
Poelzig’s entrance hall. Image from the Universal DVD.
Bauhaus inspiration is clearly evident in the entrance hall of Poelzig’s house with its simple lines. Notable features of the hall are the sliding front door and the lighted ceiling. In the living room a chrome, glass top table is accompanied by two chrome tube chairs. Some sources attribute these chairs to Hungarian designer and architect Marcel Breuer. There is no evidence that any of the furnishings used on the set of The Black Cat are European.
Poelzig’s living room featuring chrome and glass table and two Lloyd Loom Manufacturing side chairs. Image from Universal DVD.
The chairs in The Black Cat look very much like a KEM Weber design for Lloyd Loom Manufacturing.
The decor of the guest rooms is typical of the moderne style enjoying popularity thanks to industrial design shows and exhibits at Chicago’s Century of Progress exposition in 1933.
One of the guest bedrooms in Poelzig’s house. Image from the Universal DVD.
The then current decorating trend of using horizontal metal bands divide the walls of the guest rooms and give it a streamline effect. Also in one of the guest rooms is a very modern clock. The clock looks like an early model from Lawson, a California company, that has been painted to match the set.
Night stand with a Lawson clock. Image from the Universal DVD.
Lawson began production of these digital clocks in 1933. Numerals on rotating wheels tell the time, so it’s not exactly digital by today’s definition. Their advertisements claim this was the “first innovation in telling time since 1687”. Today these clocks are quite collectible and command premium prices. For an in depth history of Lawson clocks check out The Lawson Clock Story at Decopix.
The unusual modern radio in the living room, seems to be a fantasy creation out of the mind of the set designer, Charles Hall. The tuning dial sits above a louvered cabinet built into the wall and a very large aerial stands to the right. In the corner of the living room is a striking floor lamp with a great metal shade.
Poelzig’s modern radio, probably a creation of Charles Hall or Edgar Ulmer. Image from the Universal DVD.
There is another great lamp in the film and it must have been on sale. Because it is in almost every room of Poelzig’s house. Of course it just the one lamp over and over again on different sets. It’s a table lamp, rising from the circular base is a black metal cylinder that sets back to a shorter cylinder, just like a skyscraper. Chrome banding accents each set back. topping the lamp is a striped vellum shade and a glass or painted metal ball finial.
Poelzig’s study desk featuring a Koch Chrometal lamp. Image from Universal DVD.
The nightstand in Poelzig’s bedroom with that table lamp and a great combination cigarette box and lighter, possibly made by Ronson or Elgin. Image from the Universal DVD.
And here is the lamp on a living room side table. Image from the Universal DVD.
This lamp is also nice for a guest room. Here it is seen in Werdegast’s room. Image from the Universal DVD.
Like all the other furnishings in the film this lamp is not European, it is American. It was sold through the 1934 Kochs Chrometal catalog. Kochs Chrometal specialized in furniture and accessories for barber shops and beauty parlors.
The 1934 Koch Chrometal catalog. Circled in red is the lamp that is so prominently featured in The Black Cat. Image from worthpoint.com.
Poelzig, being a high priest of Satan, of course has an alter room to practice his black arts. In comparison to the rest of his house the alter room is simply done and is sparse with decoration.
Boris Karloff as Poelzig officiating a black mass in the alter room in The Black Cat. Image from the Universal DVD.
The six-sided alter sits above a pentagonal stepped platform, all painted in what appears to be off white. The dramatically lit walls are in dark gray. Four obelisks stand around the room. Dominating the alter is a double cross (I’m sure the pun was intended) on an angle, making it look something like a giant hashtag. The retable behind the alter resembles stylized skyscrapers. The double cross, the retable and the obelisks are very striking in their silver metallic paint. The retable is very similar in appearance to the tag on Paul Frankl’s Skycraper Furniture line.
Detail of the double cross alter and the skyscraper retable. Image from The Black Cat Universal DVD.
Tag for Skyscraper Furniture by Paul Frankl. Photo from tftmmelrose.com
A lobby card for The Black Cat (1934). Image from Heritage Auctions.
So next Halloween or when ever you’re in the mood for a classic Universal horror film check out The Black Cat. The running time is a brisk 69 minutes, Karloff and Lugosi are great and it’s easy to tell they enjoy working together and if the film does not frighten you, the sets will surely impress you.
The 1932 – 1936 Universal THE END logo. image from the Universal DVD.
Closing Universal credit, 1932 – 1936. Image from the Universal DVD.
The closing cast credits for The Black Cat. Image from the Universal DVD.
Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, ‘tiquen guys)
