- Great film for multiple reasons: Yes, we have Bela Legosi and Boris Karloff going head to head but to the more seasoned admirer of cinema we have ulmer’s expressionist work with shadows and set design
- Universal vehicle after Dracula and Frankenstein
- The Edgar Allen Poe story has nothing to do with the film
- Legosi’s mannerisms are very strong—it’s a performances that walks the line of effective over-the-top-ness and campy—I think it’s the former
- Ulmer shows what he’d do 11 years later in detour/noir- we have constant rain and shadows here
- The Karloff cult here in Austria hints at Nazism
- Great use of lighting- the bed Karloff gets up in—lots of wonderful shadow work
- All atmosphere- the narrative isn’t brilliant- we have some bad pauses and an overall weak cast outside of the two dynamic leads—ulmer makes up for it with ominous house and architecture
- It’s pretty cool to see the two leads together like this- even if it’s not pacino and de niro in heat or stewart and wayne in liberty valance
- Tremendous set piece—the spiral staircase in the basement
- There’s a good tracking shot right after through the basement as well
- An awful wide edit to signify day change half way through
- The musical cues are not always on and solid
- Occult, uniform and symbolism
- HR- top 10 of the year quality film
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