Black Room (1935)

Black Room Mystery

Cast:

Boris "Fire bad...." Karloff is Baron Gregor de Berghman / Anton de Berghman
Marian Marsh is Thea Hassel
Robert Allen is Lt. Albert Lussan
Thurston Hall is Col. Paul Hassel
Katherine DeMille is Mashka

What the IMDB says about the plot:

Ignoring an ancient prophecy, evil brother Gregor seeks to maintain his feudal power on his his Tyrolean estate by murdering and impersonating his benevolent younger twin.

Plot:

A baron is told of that his wife just had twins. He's filled with impending doom sense the house was founded by brothers. One grew jealous and killed the other. Since, the house has lived in the fear that another set of twins will be the end the house in the Black Room. The Baron's friend suggests he seal the torture room up.

Years pass by, the baron dies and the older son, Gregor, takes the title. His younger brother, Anton, left the estate and stayed away for years because of how Gregor was so terrified that he'd be killed by his younger brother.

Why do you think I need to seen an orthodonotist? The local villagers aren't too fond of Gregor with the numerous assassination attempts they've tried on him recently and they blame him for the numerous disappearances of sisters and other female relatives.

The nobility along with their friends are celebrating. Thea, the innocent girl is casting eyes at Lt Albert. She doesn't seem to notice how Gregor is watching her. Later that night, the maid mentions to Gregor how he should marry her since of what she's seen in the Black Room. Gregor gets rightly riled and chokes her.

You shall face the wrath of the CLAW!!! Using a secret passage into the Black Room, he disposes of her body. The butler, Peter, finds the maid's shawl.

At the tavern, the men are talking of the maid who's disappeared. Peter tells about the shawl. That angries up the peasants to a lynch crowding posses. Marching to the castle for blood, Colonel Hassel tries to calm them down. Gregor announces that he'll renounce the title to his younger brother, Anton.

As Gregor prepares to move, he leads Anton into the secret tunnel to the black room. Anton sees the body hidden in a pit and realizes that Gregor has been killing the villagers for years. He knocks his younger brother in the pit. Gregor plans to assume Anton's identity because no one will suspect Anton is evil.

Later, disguised Gregor is playing chess with the Colonel. Disguised Anton wants to marry Thea, the Colonel's niece and ward. Lt. Albert wants to marry Thea and makes a few threats to the Colonel before storming off. Colonel notices the baron signs with his right hand which he realizes that means it must be Gregor who kills the Colonel.

The Colonel is found the next day. The trial of Lt Albert goes fast enough Perry Mason couldn't stop it. Judge sentences Lt. Albert to death by a firing squad.

Un-Anton(disguised Gregor) plies the kindness on Thea. He wants to marry her. Cue the wedding bells, as the couple gets ready. Un-Anton checks in the Black Room to make sure that Anton is definitely dead.

At the jail, a friend tries to talk Lt. Albert into escaping during the wedding. He sneaks out to see Thea and then run.

As the wedding procession begins, the priest gets to the "speak now or forever hold your piece" part when Anton's dog runs up. Everyone sees Un-Anton is actually Gregor and the angry peasants begin another run.

Gregor heads back to the castle with the peasants in hot pursuit. Breaking down the door to toe Black Room, the dog knocks Gregor into the pit to be impaled by the drawn sword of the dead Anton.

What I say:

The 1930s had Boris Karloff acting in high gear from Frankenstein and some of his other big roles to his far more numerous smaller roles in the lower budget movies such as Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome or Mr Wong, Detective. Decades before the 1960s where he just seemed to be merely acting as cameos in movies like the Terror and finally the 1970s when his last appearance was edited into several movies including Snake People. Though to be honest the late 1960s movie, Targets, which had Karloff playing a kindly, elderly retiring horror actor is a much memorable role.

Boris Karloff could always do the kindly gentleman even though almost everyone would think he's automatically evil. This time, he plays both evil and good characters, the identical twins. One actor playing twins hadn't quite became the sitcom Patty Duke joke it would a couple of decades down the line. Eventually, Gregor killed his younger brother, Anton. However, his plans still fall apart due to a prophecy of brothers doomed to end a line of nobility that does sound out of Shakespeare.

The Black Room is more of a costume piece period thriller like Dragonwyck with Vincent Price than the typical Karloff horror movie like Body Snatcher or the Ape with a bit of mystery. It is also more in the vein of Edgar Allen Poe's Pit and the Pendulum style of castle decoration and torture especially with the pit.

All small villages have to be filled with irate peasants just seething for the opportunity to storm nearby castles. They may not be carrying the required number of flaming torches acceptable in a Frankenstein movie but are loaded enough to hunt down nobles that have been starting a serial killer career

That Dog is awfully close to the miracle worker in this movie. It runs from castles to villages and backs without tiring. It being able to automatically sense the difference between Anton and un-Anton is definitely far more than any of the people even realizing there was something different about the younger brother...

Quotable Dialogue
" 'Principio Et Finem Similia.' I end as I began! "
"This house began with murder."
"Lots of juice in a pear."
"I like the feel of a pear."
"Perhaps you will come back from the dead to kill me?"
"You're lovely even for a baroness."
"Never use your right arm again."
Morals of the Story
Boris Karloff is aexpert swordsman.
Harps are entertaining musical instruments.
Walls should be made of onyx.
Dogs sense evil.
Germany looks like the American Southwest.