The Black Cat (1941)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Albert S. Rogell

Writers:

Robert Lees (writer)
Robert Neville (writer)

Release Date:

2 May 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Mystery

Plot:

Elderly Henrietta Winslow lives in an isolated mansion with her housekeeper and beloved cats. As her health fails, her greedy relatives gather in anticipation of her death.

Plot Keywords:

Cat | Greedy Heir | Heir | Fortune | Scream

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Montague Hartley
Hugh Herbert	...	Mr. Penny
Broderick Crawford	...	Hubert A. Gilmore 'Gil' Smith
Bela Lugosi	...	Eduardo
Anne Gwynne	...	Elaine Winslow
Gladys Cooper	...	Myrna Hartley
Gale Sondergaard	...	Abigail Doone
Cecilia Loftus	...	Henrietta Winslow
Claire Dodd	...	Margaret Gordon
John Eldredge	...	Stanley Borden
Alan Ladd	...	Richard Hartley

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Universal ordered Alan Ladd's billing increased to take advantage of his notoriety in the current Paramount hit This Gun for Hire (1942).

Quotes:

Elaine Winslow: Were you insinuating that Grandmother's death wasn't accidental?
Hubert Smith: Well, she wasn't killed by kindness, was she?

Movie Connections:

Version of Tales of Terror (1962)

Old Dark House Comedy

This is a fairly typical old dark house comedy of the sort that was popular in the wake of the Bob Hope Cat and the Canary of a couple of years earlier. Gale Sondergaard is even on hand, as in the earlier film; and this one, while hardly brilliant, has some wonderful photography and great (and exceedingly familiar) standing sets. It's a routine reading of the will plot, with the usual suspects, here more lively than usual, with Runyon refugee Broderick Crawford, Gold Diggers alumnus Hugh Herbert, deerstalker- and meerschaum-less Basil Rathbone, and a sadly defanged Bela Lugosi, in a minor role. If one goes for old-fashioned studio thrillers and isn't too demanding of dialog, which is far from clever, or plot, which isn't too ingenious, this one might be just what the doctor ordered on a dark and rainy night.