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Director: Roger Corman
Screenplay: Richard Matheson
Cast: Vincent Price (as Dr.
Erasmus Craven); Peter Lorre (as Dr. Adolphus Bedlo); Boris Karloff (as Dr.
Scarabus); Hazel Court (as Lenore Craven); Olive Sturgess (as Estelle Craven); Jack
Nicholson (as Rexford Bedlo)
A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #20
The Raven is one of the few Corman adaptations of Edgar Ellen Poe that's deliberately
humorous. One of the best things about these adaptations is that, while fun,
they took themselves seriously. The Raven
is different in terms of having its tongue in its cheek but because it's still
depicted with sincerity, the result is entirely riveting. The original poem of The Raven is merely an opening catalist
to start a completely unique story, more drastic than the other Poe adaptations
I've seen from this series in changing the original narrative, where isolated
but humble magician Dr. Erasmus Craven (Price)
lets a raven into his study only to find soon after that it can talk. The raven,
once helped by magic, is revealed to be fellow magician and alcohol enthusiast Dr.
Adolphus Bedlo (Lorre), turned into a
bird after a duel with the sinister leader of the main magician's guild Dr.
Scarabus (Karloff), whose maleficent
reputation is matched by the possibility he has captured the soul of Craven's
late wife Lenore (Court) and made her
his possession, leading Craven and his daughter Estelle (Sturgess), alongside Bedlo and his son Rexford (Nicholson) to head to Scarabus' castle.
There's a great sense with The Raven that everyone is having fun
while contributing said energy to great performances. Playing a hero for once
in these Poe films for Corman, Price is so affable and a gentleman it's not surprising this his
real off-screen personality effectively comes through, Craven the warm milk
drinking man hesitant to get involved with Scarabus but pressed on to do so
through Price giving him nobility
rather than plot contrivance. Some might find Lorre's bumbling, drunken Bedlo an embarrassment for the actor,
near the end of his life, but for me personally (in drastic contrast to the opinion
of Harun Farocki's documentary The Double Face of Peter Lorre (1984))
this doesn't come off as an insult to Lorre
but a talented actor gladly throwing himself into a lovable buffoon with decent
material. Other actors had worse ends to their careers, such as Karloff sadly, who here thankfully gets
to play menacing but by a grace without need for going over-the-top, the elegance
of his performance even for slapstick a reminder the most beloved actors in
horror cinema then and now had theatre experience or had worked in areas which
had them flex their acting talents, not to mention a natural nobility to many
of them away from the camera. Add to this Court
vamping it up, and chewing more scenery than Price, Karlof and Lorre combined, and a very young Jack Nicholson in a role that surprises
knowing where he'd be a decade on, at one point showing the stereotypical
mannerisms when possessed while driving a horse driven coach but effectively
playing the slightly bumbling son figure to Lorre.
Also significant is how Corman emphasised a clear quality to
these films technically. Having Richard
Matheson, legendary author and the man who penned the Poe films that came before this one helps, as does the rich
production design onscreen. Still low budget, Corman's decision to use the money used to make two smaller films
to make one Technicolor work with distinct sets helped immensely, the gothic
look of the film elegant even in a film like this that's exceptionally goofy at
points, the colour especially restored for Blu-Ray as well immensely appealing
for this type of story. While it has significantly less of the psychedelic
colours and none of the dream sequences of other Poe films, the distinct style is pitched at a quality above a lot
of substandard colour horror films at this point in the sixties which couldn't
use any of this then-new aesthetic properly. Even the antiquated magic effects
have a handmade charm especially in the final magician's duel which comes off
as a series of Looney Tunes punch
lines one-after-another. It's with the serious tone here that, even if it has
the likes of Price and Lorre involved in comedic pratfalls, it
never becomes obnoxious irony and retains a respectability that makes the
humour and chills work.
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