The Bela Lugosi Collection
Universal Pictures
Unrated

Review by: Larry Thomas

Universal is releasing a five-feature box set of Bela Lugosi titles, four of which co-star Boris Karloff. Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932) is Bela's solo outing, and the Karloff pairings are in The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936) and Black Friday (1940).

These great examples of the studio system in Hollywood's heyday is factory filmmaking at it's low-budget best. The Black Cat is my favorite due to the overall creepy nature of the story, the imaginative direction by Edgar G. Ulmer, and the astounding art deco set design. The house looks as if it were created by "Frankenstein Lloyd Wright!" Even though Lugosi's career was heading downhill at this early stage, he still managed to turn out this package of decent flicks for Universal.