THE BLACK CASTLE (1952)
Article #35 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 4-20-2001
Posting date: 9-2-2001

A nobleman (Richard Greene) believes the evil Count von Bruno (Stephen McNally) is responsible for the death of two of his friends. He gains an invitation to the Count’s castle in the Black Forest for a hunting party, and attempts to find evidence of the crime. There he meets the Count’s beautiful wife (Paula Corday), and falls in love with her.

This is one of those movies that gets lumped into the horror genre because it features both Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. in minor roles. Chaney plays the mute hulking brute Gargon (a role he would play repeatedly under different names in other movies), and Karloff is wasted as Dr. Meissen; both actors do the best they can with what they’re given, but it wasn’t much. The film is largely a gothic revenge story, with minor touches of horror and even a smidgen of SF (a drug that makes people seem dead for twelve hours). The movie is only so-so, but at least director Nathan Juran knew how to add some life to the proceedings.