"Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not."

The Film: The Black Cat (Universal Pictures, 1934). Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Screenplay by Peter Ruric (Screen Story by Edgar G. Ulmer, Peter Ruric). Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, David Manners, Jacqueline Wells. Running time: 65 minutes.

When I first saw it: Mmm... 1981. Shortly after we purchased our first VCR. 

A few words about it: This art deco horror film is dark as hell. And for a movie made in the depths of the Great Depression, it was way, way ahead of its time. This movie has the distinction of being the film that I've seen more than any other film ever made. I missed a lot of school when I was a teenager, and I spent a lot of that time with The Black Cat in the VCR, watching it over and over and over again. I memorized every scene and every line in this movie. Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Vitus Werdegast, a World War I veteran who is returning to settle an old score with evil Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff). Karloff gets top billing (by this time, Universal was simply referring to him by his last name -- KARLOFF). But make no mistake about it: This picture belongs to Lugosi. It's his finest moment. Better than Dracula. Better than White Zombie. Better than any of his other movies. Lugosi is sympathetic in this film. It's his most sympathetic role ever, in fact. He is sympathetic to the point of being heartbreaking. The poor guy has been in a prisoner of war camp for years (long after the war ended, he was still held captive there). During the war, Lugosi was ripped apart from his wife and daughter. By sharp contrast, Karloff's Poelzig, a war criminal who now owns a uber-high tech house on the ruins of notorious old Fort Marmorus. The movie opens with Lugosi on a train meeting a young couple on their honeymoon (played by Manners and Wells). After leaving the train, a bus accident leaves the couple, along with Lugosi and Lugosi's servant (a tall, spooky looking dude called "Thamal," played by character actor Harry Cording) stranded at Herr Poelzig's fancy house. The house is actually one of the stars of the film. It is cool as hell, in a funky, retro, art deco kind of way. Turns out that Poelzig is a Satanic high priest (!). There is also a dark secret involving Werdegast's wife and daughter that simply adds to the pathos of the film. Ultimately, Poelzig and Werdegast play a chess match that will decide the fate of the young married couple. If Werdegast loses, the cute young lady (played by Wells) will get sacrificed in a Satanic ritual! One other note: The film has an amazing classical music soundtrack; in fact, it probably utilizes more classical music than any other movie ever made, from Franz Lizst's Sonata in B Minor to Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture. The list goes on and on. 

Why I dug it: The Black Cat is one of the most unique films ever made. It's a pioneering film noir -- a paleo-noir of sorts. It's almost impossible to believe that such an edgy and dark film could've been made in the 1930s. But here it is. The final scene in the film -- I WILL NOT GIVE IT AWAY (no spoilers here!) -- is still shocking, even after 75-plus years. Let's just say you will not forget the ending  -- or the rest of the nightmarish film, for that matter. 

Parting Shot: I will never see another film as many times as I've seen this one. This movie got me through my teen years. I love Lugosi in this film. He reveals in The Black Cat what an astonishing actor he is. The intensity in his eyes, the facial expressions, the range of emotions... There will never be another Lugosi. My favorite line from The Black Cat is when Lugosi tells David Manners' naive young character: "Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not." 

A film I savored with my father...

The Film: The Sting (Universal, 1973). Directed by George Roy Hill. Screenplay by David S. Ward. Starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan. Running time: 129 minutes. 

When I first saw it: First in 1973 (at the ripe old age of 5), then about 10 years later for the second time. 

A few words about it: The Sting takes more twists and turns than Lombard Street in San Francisco. It is not a movie for kids. Not that there's anything gruesome or graphic about it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre it ain't. But it's a movie about con men and their art. And these con men are damn good at what they do. It's also a movie about good, old-fashioned, All-American payback. Revenge. It's about Johnny Hooker's (Robert Redford) effort to avenge the death of his beloved friend, Luther (played by James Earl Jones's father, Robert Earl Jones -- the two men look different but sound identical). Luther is murdered by gangsters working for underworld kingpin Doyle Lonnegan (brilliantly played by Robert Shaw, a tremendously gifted actor who died much too young of a heart attack in Ireland in 1978 at age 51). Hooker enlists in the aid of his fellow con man Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), a burned-out, old-school scam artist who believes in going big when he schemes. Hooker and Gondorff plan a massive and intricate plot to con Lonnegan. In order for it to work, everything has to come together just so.... The real tension in the film comes in when you wonder whether this Mount Everest of con jobs is actually going to work. I won't give away any spoilers. Like the con job it depicts, the film is seamless. It's beautifully made, with a screenplay by David S. Ward that speaks the language of the 1930s with authenticity. Director George Roy Hill (who teamed Redford and Newman together for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid four years earlier) is in top form. Too bad Hill would never direct another masterpiece to equal The Sting or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (although fans of Hill's 1977 hockey comedy-drama Slap Shot --and there are plenty of 'em here in Canada -- might beg to differ). Backing the powerful trio of Redford, Newman and Shaw are great character actors Charles Durning, Eileen Brennan and Ray Walston and Harold Gould, who all seem like they've been plucked out of a fast-talking, Depression-era movie. 

Why I dug it: The Sting is one of the first films I actually recall seeing in the movie theater. I didn't understand it at age 5. It was far too intricate. A decade later, I saw it with my father. We watched it on VHS. He would stop it every few minutes and explain the con job to me and make sure I was following it. It was a wonderful bonding experience between the two of us. I'll never forget it. 

Parting Shot: The Sting still packs a punch. It's not a perfect film. The Scott Joplin music seems curiously out of place in it. Ragtime was out of fashion in the 1930s. The story is complicated -- not the sort of film you can start and stop, start and stop. It isn't always a delightful romp. But it's a film with heart and soul. And nothing can quite beat having your father dissect it for you. Grade: A- (but an "A" for sentimentality).