The Black Cat (1934)

When the bus they are in crashes, Hungarian physicist Bela Lugosi and honeymooning newlyweds David Manners and Julie Bishop make their way to the nearby home of Lugosi’s friend Austrian architect Boris Karloff. The honeymooners are mostly secondary characters as the home has actually been built on top of a fort where Lugosi and Karloff served during the war and the visit is an opportunity for the two to hash out various indiscretions that have occurred over the history of their relationship. Firmly ensconcing it as a Pre-Code film, there’s also touches of Satanism, torture, drugs, and incest. Obviously that’s a lot to work with in a movie that’s barely over an hour, but it is great to see these masters in the first of their eight films together.