THE BLACK CASTLE
US, 1952, 82 minutes, Black-and-white.
Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Stephen Mc Nally, Paula Corday, Lon Chaney Jr, John Hoyt, Michael Pate, Nancy Valentine, Tudor Owen, Henry Corden, Otto Waldis.
Directed by Nathan Juran.
The Black Castle is an enjoyable film from the early 1950s – seeming more like a film from the 1930s or 40s. It was directed by Nathan Juran (himself born in the Austro- Hungarian empire, in Romania), who won an Oscar for art direction for How Green was My Valley – and it is interesting note the detailed art direction for this film, even with the black-and-white photography.
The hero is Richard Greene, television’s Robin Hood. He is an English Lord who has been in Africa, his friends disappearing from a Castle of a sinister Count who had lorded over the tribes in Africa and made his fortune. Sir Ronald now travels to the Castle, encounters the Count (scene-chewing Stephen Mc Nally), meets his arranged-marriage wife (Paula Corday), is involved in the leopard hunt, is chivalrous towards the Countess.
The film opens with Sir Ronald and the wife in a trance, in coffins, the lids being put on – with the rest of the action a flashback, leading to a kind of Romeo and Juliet (referenced) solution.
The strong supporting cast includes Australian Michael Pate as a toadying courtier, Tudor Owen as a faithful retainer. The cast also features Boris Karloff as the court doctor, a kindly man, and Lon Chaney Jr once more as monstrous character (with no redeeming features).
1. Period drama? With aspects of period horror films?
2. Sets and decor, costumes? Lavish recreation? Black-and-white photography? The countryside, the Castle, the interiors, the leopard, the crocodiles? The musical score?
3. The framework, putting the lids on the coffin, Sir Ronald and Helga still alive, in the trance? The suspense throughout the film? The resolution?
4. The background story? Germans in West Africa? Exploitation? British against Germans? The local uprising? The count, his power in Africa, wealth, his associates, loss of his eye? The conflict with the British? Sir Ronald and his visit, permissions from the British in Vienna, his entourage, disguise? Wanting answers – and vengeance?
5. Sir Ronald/ Richard Beckett, the travels, Romley as his assistant, at the inn, the confrontation with the Count’s friends, the swordfights? Reception at the Castle, interactions with the Count? The tour, the leopard, the crocodiles? Helga and the attraction, his chivalry? The hunt, his falling into the pit, the fight with the leopard, the Count shooting the leopard, the pistols as prize? The dinner, the dance, Helga, her necklace, the romance, his telling her the story, overheard?
6. The Count, his background, power and evil? The killing of the British? The arranged marriage with Helga? His women friends? His associates and their support, their toadying attitudes? His treatment of Helga? Women friends? The doctor? The information about Sir Ronald?
7. The doctor, in the court, Boris Karloff, friendly? Treating the friend with the wound? Listening? Helping Helga? The Romeo and Juliet poison story? His confessing to the Count? His repentance, being stabbed? Sir Ronald and Helga escaping, the crocodile pit, trapped by the Count?
8. The character of Gargon, Lon Chaney Jr, mute, brutal, with the leopard, his death?
9. Helga and Sir Ronald, alive, seeming dead? Fender and his associate, Sir Ronald’s kind treatment of him, the meal? Putting on the lid, the noises from inside, removing the lid? The count and his associate? Sir Ronald and the pistols which the doctor had put in the coffin?
10. The happy ending? And the kind treatment of Fender?
