USA, 1935
70m
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
An American horror film directed by Roy William Neill.
Plot Summary
Anton de Bergmann returns to the family castle for the first time in ten years and is reunited with his twin brother, the tyrannical Baron Gregor. When the local peasants revolt, Gregor renounces his title in favour of Anton, then murders his own brother and assumes his identity. He then sets about pursuing Anton’s lover Thea – but there’s a prophecy, that Anton will murder Gregor in the castle’s Black Room…
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Roy William Neill
Copyright MCMXXXV [1935] by Columbia Pictures Corp, Harry Cohn president
Productyion Company: Columbia Pictures Corporation presents
Screen Play: Arthur Strawn & Henry Myers
Story: Arthur Strawn
Assistant Director: C.C. Coleman *
Photography: Allen G. Siegler
Camera Operator: Fayte M. Browne *
Assistant Camera: Gert Andersen *
Film Editor: Richard Cahoon
Music: R.H. Bassett, Milan Roder, Louis Silvers [all uncredited]
Musical Director: Louis Silvers
Sound Recordist: Edward Bernds *
Western Electric Noiseless Recording
Costumes: Murray Mayer
Process Shots: Roy Davidson *
Matte Painter: Jack Cosgrove *
Art Director: Stephen Goosson
Cast
Boris Karloff (Anton [de Bergmann/Baron Gregor de Bergmann])
Marian Marsh (Thea [Hassel])
Robert Allen (Lt [Albert] Lussan)
Thurston Hall (Col. [Paul] Hassel)
Katherine DeMille (Mashka)
John Buckler (Beran)
Henry Kolker (Baron de Berghman)
Colin Tapley (Lt Hassel [as a young lieutenant])
Torben Meyer (Peter)
Edward Van Sloan [doctor – uncredited]
Egon Brecher [lead villager – uncredited]
Helena Grant [Anna – uncredited]
Marion Lessing [Maria – uncredited]
Robert Middlemass [the prosecutor – uncredited]
Alternative Titles
The Black Room Mystery – UK title
Horror en el cuarto negro – Spanish title
Das Schwarze Zimmer – German title
Det sorte værelse – Danish title
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.7 p.10
- Daily Film Renter no.7474 (26 September 1957) p.7 – review
- Film Weekly vol.14 no.360 (6 September 1935) p.32 – review
- Kine Weekly no.2616 (3 October 1957) p.20 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.2 no.20 (September 1935) p.121 – credits, synopsis, review
- Today’s Cinema vol.89 no.7868 (25 September 1957) p.7 – review
- Variety 17 July 1935 p.3 – credits, review (uncredited)
Books
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.60
- Boris Karloff: A Critical Acount of His Screen, Stage, Radio, Television, and Recording Work by Scott Allen Nollen pp.137-141; 376
- Caligari’s Children: The Film as Tale of Terror by Siegbert Solomon Prawer p.201
- Censored Screams: The British Ban on Hollywood Horror in the Thirties by Tom Johnson p.121 – note
- The Columbia Checklist: The Feature Films, Cartoons, Serials and Short Subjects of Columbia Pictures, 1922-1988 by Len D. Martin p.29
- Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928-1982 by Michael R. Pitts pp.20-22
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.31
- The Ghost of One’s Self: Doppelgangers in Mystery, Horror and Science Fiction Films by Paul Meehan pp.9, 95-96, 99, 103, 211, 212
- Golden Horrors: An Illustrated Critical Filmography, 1931-1939 by Bryan Senn pp.314-322
- Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Films from the Genre’s Golden Age by Gregory William Mank pp.157-183
- Horror and Science Fiction Films IV by Donald C. Willis p.48
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.38 – credits
- Sound Films, 1927-1939: A United States Filmography Volume 1 by Alan G. Fetrow p.53 – credits, review
