The Black Cat

Flicks with The Film Snob

The Black Cat

Nov 09 2026 | 00:03:31

00:00 / 00:03:31

Show Notes

How to explain my affection for the least typical of all Universal horror films, 1934’s The Black Cat, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer? It won’t be easy, because by most conventional measures concerning story, dialogue, or even just plain scariness, The Black Cat would usually be judged absurd, a failure, even a bad film. But it has a unique quality that fascinates me, a near abstract style through which we can hear a faint, sad, poetic melody. Edgar Ulmer was an Austrian Jewish émigré who came to the U.S. as an assistant to F.W. Murnau, one of cinema’s all-time greatest directors.…

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