The Black Cat is a 1941 American comedy horror and mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Basil Rathbone.

It stars Basil Rathbone as Montague Hartley, the head of a greedy family who await the death of Henrietta Winslow (played by Cecilia Loftus) so that they can inherit her fortune.

[4] The film was initially given a $176,000 budget with director Albert S. Rogell signing on to direct on January 22, 1941, five days before production was set to start.

[4] Several cast members were changed at last minute before filming began, including Paul Cavanagh as Montague Hartley which went to Basil Rathbone.

[3] Following the release of the film, Rathbone was to be teamed with the writers Lees and Rinaldo for one more project in an Abbott and Costello comedy titled By Candlelight which did not go into development.

[3] The Film Daily noted the direction and screenplay as good and that "the cast is fine, the horror element in the story is sufficient".

[3] One Harrison's Reports reviewer found the film was "somewhat slow in getting started; as a matter of fact, it is not until the closing scenes where the murderer's identity becomes known and the heroine's life is endangered that the action is really exciting".

[3] From retrospective reviews, the authors of the book Universal Horrors stated that the primary interest in the film how it was "squandering a fine cast and the considerable skills of a top technical crew on bottom-drawer material.

That such a patchwork script ever made it out of the story department in the first place to become the most polished genre piece Universal produced in 1941 (including The Wolf Man) is amazing".

[5][6] Hal Erickson of AllMovie declared the film as "Hardly one of the classic Universal horror efforts", noting its primary interest was "the advantage of some spook camerawork, courtesy of Stanley Cortez".