• 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