Peter and Joan Allison are traveling abroad when they happen to meet Dr. Vitus Werdegast on a train. The trio depart but when their vehicle crashes in route to the hotel, they find themselves at the mercy of Hjalmar Poelzig, an eccentric architect, and a former acquaintance of Dr. Werdegast, who holds the key to the whereabouts of Vitus’ long-lost family and the freedom of his new house guests. Here are a few movie mistakes to look for while watching “The Black Cat”.

· At the beginning of the movie, Peter and Joan Allison are sitting in the railcar. She is wearing a dark sweater over her shirt. She is still wearing the sweater when they start talking about having dinner in the compartment. But, when the porter comes in a moment later, Joan’s sweater is gone.

· Hjalmar Poelzig bursts into Vitus Werdegast’s room before realizing Peter is sleeping in the bed. Vitus appears in the doorway, wearing his pajamas. Vitus is still wearing the pajamas when the two walk into the adjoining room. Vitus shuts the door and asks, “Where is my wife?” and he’s now wearing a robe over his pajamas.

· Poelzig goes back to his room where Karen asks, “What is it?”. In the overhead view, Karen’s right hand is on the pillow next to her head and she’s wide awake as he explains that it’s nothing. It cuts to a different view as he’s telling her he wants her to stay in the room all day and she’s asleep with her hands by her side.

· Near the end of the movie, Vitus and Poelzig are fighting. Poelzig has Vitus on the floor as they’re scuffling. Thamal opens the door and the close-up shows Vitus gaining the upper hand and is on top of Poelzig. It cuts to a wider view and Poelzig is back on top.

“The Black Cat” (1934) stars Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, David Manners, Julie Bishop, Lucille Lund, and Harry Cording. It runs 65 minutes and is “Unrated”.
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