Episode 233 · Film year 1934
The Black Cat (1934)
- Special Guests
- Noah Isenberg, Edward G. Pettit
- Guest Co-Host
- Maitland McDonagh
Show notes
The first big American studio film -- and last big American studio film - directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, The Black Cat is, uh, "inspired" by Edgar Allan Poe’s short story and stars Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in a taut game of life and death.
We talk with Noah Isenberg (opens in a new tab), author of Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins and the "Philly Poe Guy", Edward G. Pettit to compare the film with the Poe story. And, we're joined by special guest co-host Maitland McDonagh.
Superstitious? Perhaps... Baloney? Perhaps not.
We talk with Noah Isenberg (opens in a new tab), author of Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins and the "Philly Poe Guy", Edward G. Pettit to compare the film with the Poe story. And, we're joined by special guest co-host Maitland McDonagh.
Superstitious? Perhaps... Baloney? Perhaps not.
Labels: Bela Lugosi Boris Karloff Ed Pettit Edgar G Ulmer Maitland McDonagh Noah Isenberg
Watch
Music credits
- "Allegro Moderato" - Franz Schubert
- "Andante Con Moto" - Franz Schubert
- "The Cat Came Back" - Sonny James
Links & resources
- Buy The Black Cat on DVD (opens in a new tab)
- Buy The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe (opens in a new tab)
- Buy Edgar G Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins by Noah Isenberg (opens in a new tab)
- Read For Criterion Consideration: Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat by Joshua Brunsting (opens in a new tab)
- Visit Maitland McDonagh's 120 Days Books website (opens in a new tab)
- Buy books by Maitland McDonagh (opens in a new tab)
- Follow the Philly Poe Guy on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
- Listen to our episode on Ulmer's Detour (opens in a new tab)
- Hear more Maitland McDonagh (opens in a new tab)
- Hear more Ed Pettit (opens in a new tab)
Related episodes
Episodes that share keywords with this one.
Detour (1945)
Shared: Director Edgar G. Ulmer, Edgar G Ulmer, Noah Isenberg
Noah Isenberg, Richard Edwards
The Good Fairy (1935)
Shared: Composer Heinz Eric Roemheld, Universal Pictures, Luis Alberni
Rahne Alexander, Federico Bertolini
Comments (2)
Craig Calman At 9:16 it is stated that 1930 was the start of the Hayes Code and therefore "The Black Cat" is a "Post Code Movie." In 1930 the Code was NOT strongly enforced and for the next four years those movies we consider "Pre-Code" flourished. July 1, 1934, signaled the end of the pre-Code era. Wrote historian Thomas Doherty in PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD SEX, IMMORALITY AND INSURRECTION IN AMERICAN CINEMA, 1930-1934: “American cinema changed. During that month, the Production Code Administration, popularly known as the Hays Office, began to regulate, systematically and scrupulously, the content of Hollywood motion pictures. "The Black Cat" was released in May 1934. If it had been presented to the Censors just two months later, it would have been COMPLETELY REJECTED.Craig Calman https://www.facebook.com/pg/theprojectionbooth/about/?ref=page_internal