The Black Room (1935)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Arthur Strawn (screenplay) &
Henry Myers (screenplay) ...
(more)

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 | Twins | Baron | Castle | Estate

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Baron / Anton
Marian Marsh	...	Thea
Robert Allen	...	Lt. Lussan
Thurston Hall	...	Col. Hassel
Katherine DeMille	...	Mashka (as Katherine de Mille)
John Buckler	...	Beran
Henry Kolker	...	Baron de Berghman
Colin Tapley	...	Lt. Hassel
Torben Meyer	...	Peter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Enrique Acosta	...	Judge (scenes deleted) (uncredited)
John Beck	...	Court Clerk (uncredited)
Daniel Joseph Bleifer	...	Anton as a Child (uncredited)
John Bleifer	...	Franz - Captured Assassin-Villager (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey	...	Gregor's Hairdresser (uncredited)
Egon Brecher	...	Karl - Lead Villager (uncredited)
Carrie Daumery	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Edwards Davis	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Victor De Linsky	...	Michael the Footman (uncredited)
Abe Dinovitch	...	Gatekeeper (uncredited)
Von the Dog	...	Thor (uncredited)
Herbert Evans	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Phyllis Fraser	...	A Bridesmaid (uncredited)
John George	...	Inn Waiter (uncredited)
Octavio Giraud	...	Judge (uncredited)
Grace Goodall	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
James Gordon	...	Gentleman (uncredited)
Helena Grant	...	Anna the Housekeeper (uncredited)
Bert Howard	...	Gentleman (uncredited)
Edith Kingdon	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Richard Lancaster	...	Gentleman (uncredited)
Marion Lessing	...	Maria the Chambermaid (uncredited)
Lois Lindsay	...	A Bridesmaid (uncredited)
Ivan Linow	...	Gatekeeper (uncredited)
George Burr Macannan	...	A Servant (uncredited)
George MacQuarrie	...	The Judge (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Peasant (uncredited)
Eric Mayne	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Alex Melesh	...	Judge (uncredited)
Louis Merrill	...	Story Teller in Trailer (uncredited)
Robert Middlemass	...	The Prosecutor (uncredited)
Wilfrid North	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Reinhold Pasch	...	Gregor's Tailor (uncredited)
Constantine Romanoff	...	Peasant (uncredited)
John Singer	...	Raoul the Butler (uncredited)
Bert Sprotte	...	A Peasant (uncredited)
Count Stefenelli	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
John M. Sullivan	...	The Archbishop (uncredited)
Edward Van Sloan	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Frederick Vogeding	...	Josef, Resentful Villager with Heavy Moustache (uncredited)
Hans von Morhart	...	A Servant (uncredited)
Paul Weigel	...	A Peasant (uncredited)

Directed by
Roy William Neill		(as R. William Neill)

Writing credits
Arthur Strawn		(screenplay) &
Henry Myers		(screenplay)
Arthur Strawn		(story)

Original Music by
R.H. Bassett		(uncredited)
Milan Roder		(uncredited)
Louis Silvers		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Allen G. Siegler

Film Editing by
Richard Cahoon

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson

Costume Design by
Murray Mayer

Sound Department
Edward Bernds	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Jack Cosgrove	....	matte painter (uncredited)
Roy Davidson	....	process shots (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Gert Andersen	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Fayte M. Browne	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Louis Silvers	....	musical director
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Edmund Ross	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Harry Cohn	....	president

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1935) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Screen Gems (1958) (USA) (TV) (syndication)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Cinema Classics (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2011) (USA) (DVD) (DVD-R)

Also Known As:

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:

Part of the SON OF SHOCK package of 21 titles released to television in 1958, which followed the original SHOCK THEATER release of 52 features one year earlier. This was also one of the 12 Columbia titles, the other 61 all being Universals.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film is set in the early 1800s, yet a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux (Therese Martin) is prominently displayed in the castle three times (at 17:26, 40:09, and 47:08). Therese Martin was not born until 1873. Furthermore, no statue of St. Therese was made or displayed until after she was canonized, in 1925.

Quotes:

Baron de Berghman:This house began with murder. It will end the same way.
[Reading from the coat-of-arms]
Baron de Berghman:"Principio Et Finem Similia." I end as I began!

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Horror: Boris Karloff (1996) (V)

Bravo! Bravissimo! Extraordinary Karloff Performance

The Black Room is a great movie. The sets are poor, it lacks the grandeur necessary for a period movie, it obviously had an incredibly low budget, even the premise is poor (though the script had a good twist), mostly Z-grade material, and if that weren't enough, the acting by Karloff's colleagues is abysmal. However Boris Karloff is GREAT in this, I have seen many of his films, which range in quality quite staggeringly, my favourites being the Tourneur movies (least favourite the mad doctors), however in this film his acting is EXTRAORDINARY.

In what is perhaps his greatest performance he plays twin brothers Anton and Gregor so incredibly convincingly. One is an innocent sensitive fop, the other an evil sociopath, what range, what awesome acting! Somehow he seems to make both of them endearing! Let me tell you they certainly don't do it like this anymore.

I am an identical twin myself and it is hard to believe that you aren't watching the performances of twin brothers. The twin dynamic is certainly there, and the scenes when both characters are on screen together are seamless, due to some obviously very clever trickery and Karloff's skill. I can't think offhand of many examples of greater acting in film history, certainly few other actors have Karloff's range.

Highly recommended movie. A fratricidal epic!