The Black Cat

Bus Driver: All of this country was one of the greatest battlefields of the war. Tens of thousands of men died here. The ravine down there was piled twelve deep with dead and wounded men. The little river below was swollen red, a raging torrent of blood. And that high hill yonder where Engineer Poelzig now lives, was the site of Fort Marmorus. He built his home on its very foundations. Marmorus, the greatest graveyard in the world. Peter Allison: [to Werdegast, about Poelzig] Well, I suppose we've got to have architects too. If I wanted to build a nice, cozy, unpretentious insane asylum, he'd be the man for it. Newspaper review: In Triple Murder, Mr. Alison's latest mystery thriller, he fulfills the promise shown...We feel, however, that Mr. Alison has, in a sense, overstepped the bounds of the matter of credibility. These things would never, but with a further stretch of the imagination, actually happen. We could wish that Mr. Alison would confine himself to the possible instead of le

The Black Cat (1934 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Werdegast: You told Karen I had been killed...I mean you always wanted her. In the days at Salzburg before the war, always from the first time you saw her...You wanted Karen and induced her to go to America with you. I traced the two of you there, and to Spain, and to South America and finally here. Where is she? Poelzig: Vitus, you are mad!

The Black Cat (1934 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Werdegast: [about Joan's unusual cat-like behavior] It is perhaps the narcotic. Hyoscine affects certain people very oddly. One cannot be sure. Sometimes, these cases take strange forms. The victim becomes in a sense, 'mediumistic,' a vehicle for all the intangible forces in operation around her. Peter: Sounds like a lot of supernatural baloney to me. Werdegast: Supernatural, perhaps - baloney, perhaps not! There are many things under the sun. Poelzig: I shall show you your rooms. Peter: It's strange about the cat. Joan seemed so curiously affected when you killed it. Werdegast: That was coincidence, I think. However, certain ancient books say that the Black Cat is the living embodiment of Evil. And if that Evil enters into the nearest living thing, it is... Poelzig: [interrupting] The Black Cat does not die. Those same books, if I'm not mistaken, teach that the Black Cat is deathless. Deathless as Evil. It is the origin of the common superstition. You know, the cat with nine lives.

The Black Cat (1934 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Poelzig: And this was the entrance to the gun turrets. Don't you recognize it? Werdegast: I can still sense death in the air. Poelzig: There is still death in the air. It is just as much undermined [with dynamite] today as ever. And this is the old chart room for the long-range guns. The guns are gone, but the charts are still here.

The Black Cat (1934 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Poelzig: [motioning to Werdegast's wife, in a glass sarcophagus] Now you see, Vitus, I have cared for her tenderly and well. You will find her almost as beautiful as when you last saw her. She died two years after the war. Werdegast: How? Poelzig: Of pneumonia. She was never very strong, you know. Werdegast: And, and the child, our daughter? Poelzig: Dead. Werdegast: And why is she...Why is she like this? Poelzig: Is she not beautiful? I wanted to have her beauty - always. I loved her too, Vitus. Werdegast: Lies. All lies Hjalmar. You killed her. You killed her as I'm about to kill you!

The Black Cat (1934 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Poelzig: [about Joan] You're interested? Werdegast: Maybe. Poelzig: I thought so. Well I'm not. Only spiritually. Werdegast: Spiritually? Poelzig: Tonight, it is the dark of the moon. We shall gather and...You had better come Vitus. The ceremony will interest you. Werdegast: Don't pretend Hjalmar. There was nothing spiritual in your eyes when you looked at that girl. You plan to keep her here. Poelzig: Perhaps. Werdegast: I intend to let her go. Poelzig: Is that a challenge Vitus? Werdegast: Yes, if you dare to fight it out alone. Poelzig: Do you dare play chess with me for her? Werdegast: Yes. I will even play you chess for her - provided if I win, they are free to go. Poelzig: You won't win, Vitus.

The Black Cat (1934 film), CC BY-SA 4.0