While one could argue that the speaker’s language in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven is good for a chuckle or two, it’s still a poem about grief and not an obvious choice to be adapted into a movie (let alone a comedy). Obvious or not, Roger Corman directed it, Roger Matheson wrote the screenplay, and the result is joy personified.
Lest there be any question about the film’s source material, Corman’s The Raven begins with Vincent Price reading a passage from The Raven as voiceover. However, while the Raven in Poe’s poem only ever said, “Nevermore,” the Raven (voiced by Peter Lorre) that visits Dr. Craven (Price) is much more talkative.
That because, like Binx the cat in Hocus Pocus, the raven is really Dr. Bedlo, a wizard who was turned into a raven and needs Dr. Craven’s help breaking the curse.
If you only know Lorre from his dramatic roles (where he usually plays shifty types or – in Fritz Lang’s M – a serial killer) then you owe it to yourself to see him in a comedy. Arsenic and Old Lace is another option but, in that film, it feels like one of Lorre’s dramatic characters was transplanted into a comedy. In The Raven he gets to be hilarious and irate and wear a raven costume with feathers on it.
If that weren’t enough, Boris Karloff (Universal’s Frankenstein) plays Dr. Craven’s rival, Dr. Scarabus, while Jack Nicholson appears as a love interest for Dr. Craven’s daughter, Estelle (Olive Sturgess) (who poo poos her father’s suggestion that she stay home and miss all the action).
Everyone is dressed in beautiful, medieval garb that looks straight out of The Adventures of Robin Hood, and sometimes cheesy special effects are better than the high-tech stuff, because there’s nothing more enjoyable than seeing Price shoot laser beams out of his fingers when he’s casting magic.
The first time I saw The Raven on TV it was an extremely fuzzy print, so it was nice to see the film look so much clearer on Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray. Kino Lorber’s release comes with a commentary by film historian, David Del Valle, who reserves his highest praise for Lorre, who was prone to improvisation. Del Valle also talks about Corman’s treatment of Karloff and his insistence on having Karloff wear a heavy robe despite his back issues. There are also two archival, on-camera interviews from 2003 (one with Corman, the other with Matheson) that are Raven-specific and a Trailers from Hell featurette with director, Mick Garris (the trailer for The Raven is deceptive and makes the film look scarier than it is).
When you’re aware of Karloff’s health problems it makes Dr. Scarabus’ final showdown with Dr. Craven make more sense, as they remain seated the entire time. If any other actors tried to duel from their chairs it would feel like a cheat. Karloff and Price are masters at their craft.
If you’re looking for a family-friendly film to watch this Halloween, that’s got all the horror trappings but minimal scares, The Raven is an absolute delight with a cast of horror icons that are revered for a reason. Following The Raven, I sought out some of the other films that Price and Lorre collaborated on but in Corman’s Tales of Terror and Jacque Tourneur’s The Comedy of Terrors (both scripted by Matheson) Price’s characters are much crueler. Personally, I prefer his kindly magician.
The Raven is available on Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.
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