The Black Cat 1934 Honeymooning in Hungary, Joan and Peter Allison share their train compartment with Dr Vitus Verdegast, a courtly but tragic man who is returning to the remains of the town he defended before becoming a prisoner of war for fifteen years When their hotel bound bus crashes in a mountain storm and Joan is injured, the travellers seek refuge in the home, built fortress like upon the site of a bloody battlefield, of famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig There, cat phobic Verdegast learns his wifes fate, grieves for his lost daughter, and must play a game of chess for Allisons life