Double Edgar Allan Poe! The Universal Classics deep dive continues with two very loose Poe adaptations: The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935) both starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. From wiki: “The Black Cat is a 1934 American pre-Code horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. It was Universal Pictures' biggest box office hit of the year, and was the first of eight films (six of which were produced by Universal) to feature both Karloff and Lugosi. In 1941, Lugosi appeared in a comedy horror mystery film with the same title, which was also named after and ostensibly "suggested by" Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story.”

The Raven is a 1935 American horror film directed by Louis Friedlander (who started to be credited as Lew Landers the following year) and starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Billed as having been "suggested by" Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 poem of the same title, excerpts of which are quoted at a few points in the film, it was adapted from an original screenplay by David Boehm. Lugosi stars as a neurosurgeon obsessed with Poe who has a torture chamber in his basement, and Karloff plays an escaped murderer on the run from the police who Lugosi manipulates into doing his dirty work.

Also discussed: ™, gay Halloween, Bubble Bath (1980), Frankenstein (2025), deaf crocodile, Soviet fantasy films, Knives Out,  

NEXT WEEK: Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

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