I was a bit disappointed with this film, considering that I expected more from a movie that has like major stars the great Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and that is in the book "1001 movies to see before you die".
The story is quite absurd and the explanations and consequent understanding about what really happened in the common past of the two main characters is not minimally developed, it would be very interesting to explore this strand. Despite the good interpretations, especially of Bela Lugosi, and some reasonably well-done moments, this horror film falls far short of others that were made in the 1930s: "DRACULA" (also this one with Bela Lugosi), "FRANKENSTEIN" (with Boris Karloff), "M", "FREAKS", "THE MUMMY" (with Boris Karloff), "VAMPYR", "THE INVISIBLE MAN", "BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN" (with Boris Karloff).
Just a reasonable movie, nothing more.
Review of The Black Cat
