TheLittleSongbird The Black Castle does end too abruptly, and while haunting at times the music does sound too stock and occasionally too lively, seven composers were on board and it sounds like it. However, the sets and photography are beautiful to look at and fit the Gothic atmosphere wonderfully. The scripting is smart and sharp, as well as intelligent, very little if anything came across as awkward or too padded out. The story is never dull and keeps the attention throughout, complete with a truly exciting leopard hunting scene. The atmosphere conveyed is not scary as such(some viewers today may find it tame), creepy is a more appropriate word and it does work in bringing some chills and ghoulish thrills up the spine. Nathan Juran's direction is solid, nothing mind-blowing but he doesn't undermine anything in any way. The cast are fine as well, their roles are on the clichéd side but even that doesn't take away from the fun. Richard Greene is a very likable hero, and Rita Corday is eerily beautiful and passionate. Stephen McNally is genuinely sinister and seems to be having a whale of a time, while Boris Karloff brings great command, menace and sympathy to an intriguingly ambiguous role and Lon Chaney Jnr is appropriately creepy if like Karloff deserving of much more screen-time. Overall, creepy, atmospheric and entertaining, not masterpiece-status but very enjoyable stuff and not one to be avoided. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Woodyanders Brave and dashing adventurer Sir Ronald Burton (a solid and likable performance by Richard Greene) goes to the castle of the sinister Count Karl von Bruno (splendidly essayed with divinely wicked glee by Stephen McNally) to investigate the disappearance of two friends who were guests of the Count. Complications ensue when Burton falls for the Count's fetching wife Countess Elga von Bruno (an appealing portrayal by the lovely Rita Corday). Director Nathan Juran, working from an engrossing script by Jerry Sackheim, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, does an expert job of creating and sustaining a supremely spooky ooga-booga gloom-doom mood, and stages the stirring outbursts of action with real aplomb. McNally's deliciously slimy and sadistic villainy keeps the picture humming throughout. Moreover, it's nice to see the always terrific Boris Karloff in a sizable change-of-pace good guy role as Dr. Meissen, a kindly physician who helps Ronald out, Popping up in sturdy supporting parts are Lon Chaney Jr. as the hulking, brutish Gorgon, Michael Pate as the haughty Count Ernst von Melcher, John Hoyt as the equally snooty Count Steiken, Tudor Owen as Ronald's loyal servant Romley, and Henry Corden as browbeaten coachman Fender. Irving Glasberg's crisp black and white cinematography and the robust shuddery score are both up to par. An enjoyable movie.

dbdumonteil The writer drew on famous sources :Edgar Poe ("buried alive") and Shakespeare ("Romeo and Juliet").The beginning is quite scary and the interest is sustained till the end.The screenplay is certainly smarter than the average horror flick.Boris Karloff is the stand-out ,even if he is not really the scariest thing of the movie.The castle in question is full of traps,dark dungeons and crocodiles pit (which makes sense ,for the story really begins in Africa).The countess and the hero make a good romantic couple inside the gloomy walls of her husband's desirable mansion.The leopard hunting is also a very exciting moment.Very entertaining and a must for Gothic horror buffs.

MARIO GAUCI This is a watchable and entertaining, but also contrived and predictable, Gothic melodrama; an atmospheric low-budget production with the castle set especially notable, of course - with its dark, cobwebbed dungeons and handy crocodile-pit. Still, as soon as the Universal-International logo came on, I had to smile - the all-too-familiar main theme of THE WOLF MAN (1941) is heard on the soundtrack (were they honoring Lon Chaney Jr.?)! The cast list looks impressive on paper but on-screen it's a different thing altogether: Richard Greene is too cheerful a leading man under the circumstances; Stephen McNally a ripe enough villain (though, clearly, no match for Charles Laughton in THE STRANGE DOOR [1951]); Paula Corday makes a lovely damsel-in-distress; Michael Pate and John Hoyt appear as McNally's grinning, leering henchmen (the former practically repeats his role from THE STRANGE DOOR - is that typecasting or what?); but the worst-off are the two 'horror' stars, who had brought in so much money for the studio back in the day: Boris Karloff spends the first half lurking about the place doing nothing of consequence and only comes to the fore towards the end, while Chaney is even more wasted by essaying the giant/mute/dim-witted/brutish 'caretaker' part (or, to be exact, keeper of the dungeons) - how quickly he slid after ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948)!! The villain's obsession with hunting recalls the Count Zaroff of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932) and - though I can't be certain about this - I also feel that the scriptwriter was partly inspired by J. Sheridan LeFanu's "The Room In The Dragon Volant": not only does Greene hide under the identity of one Richard Beckett (as the hero of that short story is called) but he 'cheats' death - with Karloff's help - in the exact same manner (though LeFanu has the villains administer the drug to the hero in order to get rid of him)!; incidentally, I had read the story some years back and loved it so much that I even wrote (with my twin brother) a screenplay adaptation of it!!