The Black Castle

The Black Castle
Original film poster
Directed by	Nathan H. Juran
Screenplay by	Jerry Sackheim
Story by	Jerry Sackheim
Produced by	William Alland
Starring	Richard Greene Boris Karloff Stephen McNally Rita Corday Lon Chaney Jr.
Cinematography	Irving Glassberg
Edited by	Russel F. Schoengarth
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	November 20, 1952 (1952-11-20) (Los Angeles) December 25, 1952 (1952-12-25) (New York City)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Black Castle is a 1952 American historical gothic horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Stephen McNally, Rita Corday and Lon Chaney Jr. It was produced by William Alland. The film was made in the United States but premiered in Sweden.^[1]

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Plot

Sir Ronald Burton, a British gentleman, investigates the disappearance of two of his friends at the Austrian estate of the sinister Count von Bruno. Bruno secretly seeks revenge against the leaders of a British force that set the natives against him in colonial Africa: Burton's missing friends are among Bruno's victims, and Burton is now also in the trap. Burton plans to escape with Bruno's abused Countess, but the Count's henchmen bar the way.

Cast

Richard Greene as Sir Ronald Burton, alias Richard Beckett
Boris Karloff as Dr. Meissen
Stephen McNally as Count Carl von Bruno
Rita Corday as Countess Elga von Bruno (as Paula Corday)
Lon Chaney Jr. as Gargon
John Hoyt as Count Steiken
Michael Pate as Count Ernst von Melcher
Nancy Valentine – Therese von Wilk
Tudor Owen as Romley
Henry Corden as Fender
Otto Waldis as Krantz the Innkeeper

Production

The film was going to be directed by Joseph Pevney with Nathan Juran doing the art direction. Pevney was unhappy with the script and when Universal refused to make the changes he wanted, left the picture. Universal decided to promote Juran to director two weeks before filming commenced. The shoot time was twenty days.^[2] The sets were designed by the art directors Bernard Herzbrun and Alfred Sweeney.

Juran says he was helped greatly by the cast, particularly Boris Karloff ("he put so much into the character that wasn't in the script"), and his assistant director, William Holland. Universal was impressed with Juran's work and offered him a one-year contract as director.^[3]

Release

Universal released The Black Castle as a "special pre-release show" on Halloween night on October 31, 1952, before placing them in general release from the first week of November.^[4] The Black Castle was then released in major cities including Philadelphia and Los Angeles which were among the first cities to release the film.^[4] The film circulated between January and April 1953 but was only released in midwestern, southeastern, and southern towns with populations between 5000 and 50,000 until August 1953.^[4]

Reception

In contemporary reviews, Harrison's Reports declared it "a good program horror melodrama, the kind that gives one the chills", and noted that "The three principals do good work, and so does Boris Karloff".^[4] The Hollywood Reporter found the film "stacks up as excellent program fare".^[5] Time commented that the film "tries hard to chill the moviegoer's spine. Most of the time, however, this boy-meets-ghoul melodrama is only tepid theatrics."^[5] A statement Motion Picture Exhibitor echoed, stating "it is just a programmer, with the names not too potent for the marquee."^[5]

In a retrospective review, Fangoria commented in 1996 that Black Castle "features all the necessary equipage for this type of full-bodied Gothic", noting it had an "admirable atmosphere, an agreeably adventuresome flavor and some genuinely fine art direction and photography" before declaring it "The last of the old-fashioned Universal horror costumers, The Black Castle dishes up action and chills with ghoulish gusto".^[4]

Home media

This film, along with Night Key, Tower of London, The Climax and The Strange Door, was released on DVD in 2006 by Universal Studios as part of The Boris Karloff Collection. On August 25, 2020, Scream Factory released "Universal Horror Collection: Volume 6", a four-movie set in which "The Black Castle" featured a Tom Weaver audio commentary.

References

Footnotes

^ Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011 p 359-360
^ "Interview with Nathan Juran". Directors Guild of America.
^ Swires, Steve (April 1989). "Nathan Juran: The Fantasy Voyages of Jerry the Giant Killer Part One". Starlog Magazine. No. 141. p. 59.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Weaver, Schecter & Kiss 2017, p. 75.
^ ^a ^b ^c Weaver, Schecter & Kiss 2017, p. 79.

Sources

Weaver, Tom; Schecter, David; Kiss, Robert J. (11 September 2017). Universal Terrors, 1951–1955: Eight Classic Horror and Science Fiction Films. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476627762.