‘Your monstrous ugliness breeds monstrous hatred…’
The Raven is proof positive that just throwing a bunch of horror legends together is not enough to make a good movie. The combination of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Edgar Allen Poe should be enough to elevate any project. Unfortunately, Karloff is miscast, Lugosi can’t salvage the thing on his own, and this is an adaptation of Poe’s original short story in the loosest sense of the word…
Dr. Richard Vollin (Lugosi), a Poe-obsessed neurosurgeon, agrees to operate on Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware), a young dancer, following a car accident. Vollin falls in love with Jean following the surgery. Later, Edmond Bateman (Karloff), a dangerous bank robber, also shows up at the doctor’s house asking for a new face… which Vollin delivers. The rest of the film sees the characters exiting and entering a secret room that contains the pendulum from The Pit and the Pendulum and another room where the walls close in.
Despite only being an hour long, I found my mind wandering throughout The Raven. While it is always enjoyable to see Karloff and Lugosi sparring with each other, there isn’t much else here of note. Apparently, this film was the last straw for the BBFC, who declared they wouldn’t be issuing a rating to any future horror films after this one, which is strange because the little horror there is here is very much suggested rather than shown outright.
The Raven is a competent film. The dialogue is well written and well performed, and there are moments of visual ingenuity, but it also feels unfinished – a waste of the talent involved.
