In the allegorical tale written by Lang""s wife Thea Von Harbou (from her own novel), the luxurious, futuristic, Art Deco city of 2026 - an industrial world with skyscrapers and bridges, was divided or stratified into an upper, elite, privileged class of powerful industrialists and a subterranean, nameless, oppressed and exploited, ant-like worker/slave class.A black cat enters and interrupts the attempt on Poelzig""s life, paralyzing cat-phobic Werdegast with fear a second time.Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) also died when searching for the beast in the air vents with a flamethrower."During the botched plan, hey engaged in a struggle in the hall of his opulent home, and Ned was able to lethally strike Edmund over the head with a wooden plank.