Macabre Movie Masterpiece Makes Milestone

ALBANY, Ga. - June 25, 2015 - PRLog -- When wildly creative Edgar G. Ulmer dared to direct a story that depicted black magic, a man skinned alive, treachery, phobia, and a chess game with lives at stake, he foisted a film onto the world that not only shocked studio founder Carl Laemmle but ultimately achieved a macabre milestone and has stood the test of time.

Albany, Ga.– BearManor Media announces the release of The Black Cat by Gregory William Mank, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the unforgettable horror masterpiece.

In 1934, Universal Studios released The Black Cat, a dark, twisted, sadistic, and subversive horror film that was based on Edgar Allan Poe’s shocking tale. The bizarre back story of the making of the film nearly rivaled the fantastically demonic features of the film that paired Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) and Bela Lugosi (Dracula) in their first film together.

This entertaining research work unveils the studio politics, a World War I fortress filled with burned-alive men, a satanic high priest who called himself “The Beast of the Apocalypse”), production facts and figures, Pre-Production Code censorship battles, on-the-set crises, publicity stunts, the shocked critical responses, and box office figures.

Based on author’s interviews with several of the film’s co-stars and the director’s widow and daughter, the book includes a copy of the film’s original press book, as well as Randall D. Larson’s detailed analysis of the film’s famous score that drew from Beethoven.

Over 90 illustrations, including posters, posed portraits, scene stills, behind-the-scenes candid photos, and photos of the people and places that influenced the film.

About the author: Gregory William Mank is the author of such acclaimed books as It’s Alive! The Classic Cinema Saga of Frankenstein; Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration; and The Very Witching Time of Night: Dark Alleys of Classic Horror Cinema. He’s written many magazine features and written and narrated audio commentaries for the DVD releases of such films as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Island of Lost Souls. He’s won the 2009 Rondo Award for his Lugosi and Karloff book, as well as “Writer of the Year” for that work, and in 2014, won a Rondo Hall of Fame Award.

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Available exclusively from BearManor Media in paperback, hardback, and e-book editions.

About BearManor Media: The award-winning and Pulitzer-nominated press publishes cutting-edge entertainment books, audio books, e-books, CDs, and DVDs on movies, television, radio, theater, animation, and more. Founded in 2001 by Publisher Ben Ohmart, the BearManor Media catalog now features more than 900 outstanding subjects from the obscure to the eminent. Visit www.bearmanormedia.com

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