The Black Castle
1952 film by Nathan H. Juran
The Black Castle is a 1952 American historical gothic horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran, produced by William Alland and starring Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Stephen McNally, Rita Corday and Lon Chaney Jr.
Plot
British gentleman Sir Ronald Burton investigates the disappearance of his two friends at the Austrian estate of the sinister Count von Bruno, who secretly seeks revenge against the leaders of a British force who set the natives against him in colonial Africa. Burton's missing friends are among Bruno's victims, and Burton is now also in the trap. Burton plans to escape with Bruno's abused countess, but the count's henchmen bar the way.
Cast
Richard Greene as Sir Ronald Burton, alias Richard Beckett
Boris Karloff as Dr. Meissen
Stephen McNally as Count Carl von Bruno
Rita Corday as Countess Elga von Bruno (as Paula Corday)
Lon Chaney Jr. as Gargon
John Hoyt as Count Steiken
Michael Pate as Count Ernst von Melcher
Nancy Valentine as Therese von Wilk
Tudor Owen as Romley
Henry Corden as Fender
Otto Waldis as Krantz the Innkeeper
Leslie Denison as Sir David Layton
Production
The film was scheduled to be directed by Joseph Pevney, with Nathan Juran as the art director, but Pevney became unhappy with the script. When Universal-International Pictures refused to adopt the changes that he wanted, Pevney withdrew and Juran was named director two weeks before filming commenced. The film was shot over the course of 20 days. Its sets were designed by the art directors Bernard Herzbrun and Alfred Sweeney.
“The Black Castle” enters the record as 1952 film by Nathan H. Juran. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Black, Castle and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3224916. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Black Castle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.