Horrorfest 25: The Raven

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi return for THE RAVEN, another movie with the title of an Edgar Allan Poe work that has basically nothing to do with the source material. I gather this one is generally less well-regarded than THE BLACK CAT, but I'm pretty sure I liked it better.

Lugosi stars as Dr. Richard Vollin, a brain surgeon who has retired from his practice but who is called in at the last moment to perform surgery on the daughter of a prominent judge who has been nearly-fatally injured in a car accident. Although Dr. Vollin would rather spend his days building torture devices inspired by the tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe, including THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, in his secret basement, he finds himself falling in love with the judge's daughter once he's saved her life.

The daughter, Jean (Irene Ware) is engaged to be married to Dr. Holden (Lester Matthews). So, when it becomes obvious to the judge (Samuel S. Hinds) that Dr. Vollin is putting the mack on his daughter, the judge steps in to make sure his daughter ends up with the young doctor rather than the old, mad scientist. Of course, this rubs Dr. Vollin the wrong way, and he vows revenge against basically everyone in sight for keeping him away from his love.

Dr. Vollin has a theory: Poe's story were obsessed with torture because Poe himself was tortured by the death of his lover. Only through writing about horror and torture could Poe free himself from his own torture. Similarly, Dr. Vollin reasons, only by inflicting pain on his victims can he lift the pain of rejection from himself.

You might be wondering where Boris Karloff comes into all of this. Well, he shows up as an escaped convict who wants Dr. Vollin to change his face for him so he can elude the authorities. As Vollin, Lugosi cruelly disfigures Karloff's face until he's a hideous monster. He promises to fix the face if Karloff will help him in his elaborate revenge plot, which involves inviting all of the key players to his booby-trapped mansion for a night of torture.

Once disfigured, Karloff is somewhat reminiscent of his famous Frankenstein monster character. Acting as Lugosi's servant, it's interesting that Karloff was considered the biggest star at the time, and even got top billing over Lugosi, who has most of the heavy dramatic lifting, starring in almost every scene of the movie and delivering more dialogue than probably all of the other characters combined.

THE RAVEN is reminiscent of THE BLACK CAT, probably on purpose, since THE BLACK CAT came first and was such a hit for Universal. Both films feature a battle between Lugosi and Karloff and a "normal" couple who get caught in the cross-fire. In THE BLACK CAT, Lugosi is the hero and Karloff is the villain. In THE RAVEN, Lugosi is the villain and Karloff isn't exactly the hero, but becomes heroic as he ultimately betrays his master.

Lugosi quoting the original text of Poe's THE RAVEN in the first few minutes of the film is worth the price of admission alone, but there's plenty more here for classic horror fans. Specifically, Lugosi is at the height of his mad-scientist mania here, delivering his threatening lines with such relish that you'd think he was quoting Shakespeare. Similarly, Karloff does what he does best, bringing sympathy to an almost mute monster, using his body language and the look in his eyes (or eye as the case may be).

The climax feels a bit rushed, but I guess if I had to choose between a nicely brisk running time and an overblown climax, I'd rather go with the rushed feel. Thanks to the mad torture plot, the over the top acting, and the fast pace, THE RAVEN and its predecessor THE BLACK CAT are reminiscent of a good comic book or piece of pulp fiction -- short stories crammed between the dusty pages of an old horror/sci-fi magazine.