Boris Karloff (as Gregor and Anton de Bergmann) plays cursed twins, separated as young children. "Twenty years later" (forty would have been closer to the lead actor's apparent age), good twin "Anton" returns to the old Hungarian homestead, where bad twin "Gregor" presides as Baron. They, and most everyone in town, are aware of a "Cain and Abel"-recalling curse, which dictates that the younger Karloff kill the older Karloff, in "The Black Room". Can two Karloffs survive in the castle, and for how long?
The dualistic Karloff, director Roy William Neill, and photographer Allen Siegler make an otherwise very ordinary, predictable film look much better than it should. Karloff's performance in the later half is especially outstanding; he makes it very difficult to turn away from the screen. Lightly porcelain-faced blonde Marian Marsh (as Thea Hassle) is a beautiful vis-à-vis.
****** The Black Room (1935) Roy William Nell ~ Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh, Robert Allen
The dualistic Karloff, director Roy William Neill, and photographer Allen Siegler make an otherwise very ordinary, predictable film look much better than it should. Karloff's performance in the later half is especially outstanding; he makes it very difficult to turn away from the screen. Lightly porcelain-faced blonde Marian Marsh (as Thea Hassle) is a beautiful vis-à-vis.
****** The Black Room (1935) Roy William Nell ~ Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh, Robert Allen