The Black Room (1935)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Henry Myers (writer)
Arthur Strawn (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 July 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror

Tagline:

Embraced by the Devil! Monster . . . his kiss the password to oblivion!

Plot:

Ignoring an ancient prophecy, evil brother Gregor seeks to maintain his feudal power on his his Tyrolean estate by murdering and impersonating his benevolent younger twin.

Plot Keywords:

Prophecy | Castle | Twins | Impersonation | Servant

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Baron Gregor de Berghman / Anton de Berghman
Marian Marsh	...	Thea Hassel
Robert Allen	...	Lt. Albert Lussan
Thurston Hall	...	Col. Paul Hassel
Katherine DeMille	...	Mashka
John Buckler	...	Beran - the gypsy
Henry Kolker	...	Baron de Berghman
Colin Tapley	...	Paul Hassel as a young lieutenant
Torben Meyer	...	Peter, the majordomo

Also Known As:

The Black Room Mystery (UK)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Present extant version, as presented on Turner Classic Movies, bears title and end credits redesigned for the 1955 wide screen re-release.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Col. Hassell arrives at the inn to meet Anton near the beginning, there is no glass on the carriage window when the carriage arrives at the inn. There is also no sign of broken glass when the carriage arrives at the castle, but a shot is fired through the carriage's glass window en route.

Quotes:

Col. Paul Hassel: [Playing chess] Your attack is weak as your brother Gregor's was brilliant. Chess, by the way, was the only virtue I ever discovered in him.
Baron Gregor de Bergmann: I received a letter today from him from Warsaw. Most of it was devoted to begging me to send his love to you, Colonel.
Col. Paul Hassel: His love to me? Well, if I have to accept it, I'd rather have it by post than any way I can think of.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Spooks Run Wild (1941)

One of Karloff's best performances

Boris Karloff only made a handful of movies that demonstrated he had some real range as an actor, and of that handful, THE BLACK ROOM has to rate as one of the best. In this work, Karloff plays twin brothers of a family of aristocrats. The older brother Gregor is a nasty piece of work. He is the titular head of the family of land barons, and has long developed a reputation for brutality in the region he governs. His estate is notorious for having disappeared several young women. Anton, the younger of the twins, is a cosmopolitan sort, has been away travelling and studying for many years. Both men are haunted by a family prophecy, in which the younger of the two twins is supposed to slay the older in order to complete a family curse, which apparently began in the "black room" of the film's title.

The room itself was ordered sealed shortly after the birth of the twins in order to avert a repeat of the tragedy. Unbeknownst to the villagers, Gregor has found a hidden passage into the black room, and it is the torture pit of the room where he disposes of the bodies of his victims.

Anton, the younger brother, returns home upon the urging of his brother Gregor, who has, after several attempts on his life, realized that he must step aside in order to calm the people down. Gregor has in mind a phoney abdication in which he seems to step aside in favor of his twin. His actual plan is to murder Anton, and to continue to reign in Anton's identity, in his own twist on the family curse. He falls over his own hubris for a number of personal reasons, but before film's end, he manages to indulge in a round of crafty Karloffian mayhem.

Karloff plays both the monstrous and benign brothers, but in addition, he portrays the nasty brother imitating the gentle one. That's what makes this piece fun. Seventy minutes of the grand old man of the gothics at his best. I've probably seen it about thirty times now, and it holds up well.