Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

bkoganbing In a story set in the Black Forest of 18th century Germany Richard Greene is entrusted with a most unofficial mission by his government. Two friends of his and people of some standing disappeared in the Black Forest while guests of one eye Count Stephen McNally.McNally is a power unto himself in his region and unless there is tangible proof the Holy Roman Emperor will not intervene. When Greene goes to the area he finds McNally every bit as sinister as his reputation which proceeded him.Boris Karloff is in this film in a role similar to what he played in The Strange Door, a retainer of McNally the way he was with Charles Laughton in another film. He's a doctor in this one. Though Karloff is the biggest name here, the conflict in the film is between McNally and Greene. McNally is both shrewd and cruel and as high and mighty as any member of the nobility of that time was. Perks without responsibility is his motto.Good thing that Richard Greene got to the small screen. He was backup Tyrone Power over at 20th Century Fox and never rose to the ranks of top stardom. His years as Robin Hood on television finally made him a first class star.The Black Castle will have enough Karloff to satisfy his fans, but this one is a good and evil story and the opposites are rarely as spelled out as they are in The Black Castle.

mark.waltz Give a movie character an eye patch, hump, menacing eyes or a thick accent, and you've got the villain du jour, so sinister in his methods and so obviously evil that no human element remains. Stephen McNally is a murderous count, Richard Greene the hero out for justice, and Paula Corday the fragile heroine in the middle. Red herrings played by Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. (Tor Johnson must have been busy doing Shakespeare) add to the silliness. The only thing missing is Abbott and Costello providing comic relief which is something this film desperately lacks. The only interesting horror twist is a plot development involving premature burial that is wrapped up too easily without comeuppance for the villains in a satisfactory manner. The nadir for me came when they identified an obvious panther as a leopard.

kevin olzak 1952's "The Black Castle" was a followup to the prior season's "The Strange Door," Universal Gothics preceding the studio's switch to science fiction with 1953's "It Came from Outer Space." The opening credits roll in front of the miniature castle seen in "The Ghost of Frankenstein," with familiar musical cues from "The Wolf Man," "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man," "House of Frankenstein," even "Son of Frankenstein." Charles Laughton enjoyed a field day in "The Strange Door," which focused on the villains, while this slightly lesser feature (both scripted by Jerry Sackheim) centers on the heroic Englishman Sir Ronald Burton (Richard Greene), who journeys to The Black Forest and the domain of Count Karl Von Bruno (Stephen McNally), a former adversary in Africa, who had set himself up as a god with the local natives, only to be driven out after encountering Sir Ronald's forces, losing his right eye in the process. Burton is certain that two trusted allies were victims of the sadistic Von Bruno, whose lovely Countess (Paula Corday, "The Body Snatcher") takes a shine to the newcomer (soon to play Robin Hood on British television), who demonstrates his swordsmanship in a brief encounter with Michael Pate and John Hoyt, as henchmen of the Count. This castle comes with a dungeon, a black leopard, a pit full of alligators, and a coffin containing the skeleton of the wicked Count's first wife. Lon Chaney gets a stirring entrance but little screen time as Gargon, the Count's hulking mute caretaker, whose tongue was ripped out by the angry natives, while Boris Karloff also gets shortchanged in the small role of Dr. Meissen, physician to the Count but devoted to the Countess. He at least sets up the climax, the lovers taking a page out of Shakespeare by swallowing a potion that simulates death, delighting the villains who congratulate the doctor for allowing such a fitting demise for their enemies (buried alive). Together for the second time (after 1944's "House of Frankenstein"), Karloff and Chaney would be reunited once more, in the ROUTE 66 episode "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing." Stephen McNally has fewer opportunities to shine than Charles Laughton, but rises to the occasion once faced with Burton's true identity. Michael Pate enjoys more screen time than he had in "The Strange Door," and would work with John Hoyt again in 1959's "Curse of the Undead." Like most of Universal's popular 50s catalog, this film aired on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater four times- Dec 8 1973 (following 1960's "Psycho"), December 21 1974 (preceding 1956's "The Mole People"), June 21 1975 (preceding 1955's "Tarantula"), and March 12 1977 (following 1958's "Monster on the Campus").

Spikeopath The Black Castle is one of those film's that has found its way into a Boris Karloff collection and is mistakenly expected to be an outright horror movie. Whilst some horror elements exist within Nathan Juran's movie, this really is a multi genre piece that's tightly produced and effectively portrayed. Joining Karloff, in what is a small but critical role, are Richard Greene, Stephen McNally, Lon Chaney Jr, Rita Corday, John Hoyt & Michael Pate. It's produced, unsurprisingly, out of Universal International Pictures. The plot sees Greene's English gentleman travel to the castle home of the sinister Count von Bruno {McNally}. He's following an investigation into the disappearance of two friends, an investigation that is fraught with danger and surprise at every turn.This has everything that fans of the old dark house/castle sub-genre could wish for. Genuine good and bad guys, a fair maiden, dark corners for doing dark deeds, devilish traps, ticking clock finale and we even get a good old fashioned bit of swashbuckling into the bargain. The cast are all turning in effective performances, particularly Greene and the wonderfully sneering McNally. Whilst Jerry Sackheim's writing is lean and devoid of the pointless filler that has so often bogged down similar film's of this ilk. A very recommended film on proviso that Karloff fans understand it's not really a Karloff movie, and perhaps more importantly, that horror fans don't expect blood letting to be the order of the day. A fine atmospheric story with a sense of dread throughout, The Black Castle is a fine viewing experience. 7/10