Black Cat, The (1941)

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The Black Cat
Credits
Title:	The Black Cat
Genres:	Mystery Comedy Horror
Directed by:	Albert S. Rogell
Written by:	Robert Lees Robert Neville Frederic I. Rinaldo Eric Taylor
Produced by:	Burt Kelly
Music by:	Hans J. Salter Frank Skinner
Cinematography:	Stanley Cortez
Edited by:	Ted J. Kent
Production
Distributed by:	Universal Pictures
Released:	May 2nd, 1941
Rating:	Unrated
Running time:	70 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
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The Black Cat is an American feature film blending elements of the mystery, horror and comedy genres. It is loosely based on the short story, "The Black Cat", by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was directed by Albert S. Rogell and written by Robert Lees, Robert Neville, Frederic I. Rinaldo and Eric Taylor. It was produced by Universal Pictures and premiered on May 2nd, 1941. The film stars Basil Rathbone as Montague Hartley, Hugh Herbert as Mister Penny, Broderick Crawford as Hubert A. Gilmore "Gil" Smith, Bela Lugosi as Eduardo Vigos, Anne Gwynne as Elaine Winslow, Gladys Cooper as Myrna Hartley and Gale Sondergaard as Abigail Doone.

Plot

Aging wealthy heiress and cat enthusiast Henrietta Winslow draws up a will, leaving the entirety of her estate to her pet cats, with the codicil that the money cannot be claimed by any relatives until after the passing of all of her felines. Henrietta is mysteriously murdered with a knitting needle and all of her greedy relatives arrive at the mansion, hoping to get their share of her money. One of them however, is the killer.

Cast

Credited cast

Actor	Role
Basil Rathbone	Montague Hartley
Hugh Herbert	Mister Penny
Broderick Crawford	Hubert A. Gilmore "Gil" Smith
Bela Lugosi	Eduardo Vigos
Anne Gwynne	Elaine Winslow
Gladys Cooper	Myrna Hartley
Gale Sondergaard	Abigail Doone
Cecilia Loftus	Henrietta Winslow
Claire Dodd	Margaret Gordon
John Eldredge	Stanley Borden
Alan Ladd	Richard Hartley

Uncredited cast

Note: The following is taken from the full credits list for this entry on IMDB. As it is a website with user-submitted information, some of the data listed here, including character names may be inaccurate.

Actor	Role
Erville Alderson	Doctor Williams
Harry C. Bradley	Coroner
Jack Cheatham	1st moving man
Edgar Sherrod	Minister

Notes

• The Black Cat (1941) redirects to this page.

• Despite its title, this is not a remake of the 1934 movie The Black Cat.

• Although often billed as a horror movie (owing largely to its literary source as well as the casting of Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi), The Black Cat is actually a mystery/comedy.

• The Black Cat was re-released theatrically in 1947 and was distributed by Realart Pictures. In this version of the movie, Alan Ladd received second billing to capitalize on his name.

• The Black Cat was first released on home video in VHS format in 1998 by MCA/Universal Home Video.

• This is the second film to use the title, The Black Cat. The first was in 1934 and was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.

• Actor Bela Lugosi also appeared in the 1934 version of The Black Cat where he played revenge-driven Hungarian, Doctor Vitus Werdegast.

• A joke is made in the movie comparing Montague Hartley to Sherlock Holmes. Actor Basil Rathbone had already developed his iconic reputation for playing Holmes by this point after appearing three films.

• This is the only film of the horror genre directed by Albert S. Rogell.

External Links

• The Black Cat at AMG
• The Black Cat at IMDB
• The Black Cat at Wikipedia
• The Black Cat at Themoviedb.org
• The Black Cat at Turner Classic Movies

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