The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

October 20, 2013

October 20, 1882

Béla Lugosi,(October 20, 1882 to August 16, 1956 ) was already famous when he starred in The Black Cat.

Here is some  contemporary analysis of that film from a chapter titled "Bauhaus of Horrors: Edgar G. Ulmer and The Black Cat," which appeared in Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row, (2008) a volume edited by Gary Don Rhodes, a lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast.
Quote:

My chapter begins by exploring the star qualities of The Black Cat's (1934) the two leading men, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and situating the filmic narrative in terms of transtextual motivation. [sic, sic, sic]

It is then argued that The Black Cat can be considered an "intellectual" horror film, drawing as it does on Bauhaus architecture, classical music, a pivotal game of chess, and German expressionism. It is my suggestion that Ulmer manipulates various aesthetic filmic forms to create a cerebral form of horror.

It is my suggestion that graduate students not be allowed to utilize modifiers in any circulated material they author.

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