Black Castle, The (1952) d. Juran, Nathan (USA)
Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Jr. receive prominent billing in this middling Universal effort, but neither is really given much to do: Chaney turns in another one of his patented “drooling idiot” roles, while Boris skulks in the shadows much of the picture, which could hardly be called a horror film to begin with. Instead, it concerns itself primarily with the dashing Richard Greene’s search for the killers of his companions, leading him to the door of evil count Stephen McNally.
While there, he (of course) falls for McNally’s bride, played by the fetching Rita Corday, and has a few close encounters with an alligator pit. But the overall tone is one of an adventure tale, complete with a climactic plot device lifted from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Good for a rainy day and Karloff completists, but that’s about it.
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