I saw The Raven (1935) directed by Louis Friedlander (directed under the name Lew Landers after the year 1936) yesterday in theaters. Because I'm very interested in old horror films, especially on the "precode era" films (movies before the year 1934). I found it very entertaining, funny, touching, all together enjoyable.
The title of the film might make the viewer think this movie is based on Edgar Allan Poe's Raven, but actually the references from it remain low; Death, Gothic romance and of course The Raven statue, it has got the main elements from it. But The Raven took a lot of influences from another book by Poe, The Pit and The Pendulum.
The plot is pretty simple: Dr. Vollin (Bela Lugosi) is a Poe-fanatic and has a remarkable collection of his books. But what makes him special is that he also has a dungeon of his own. A dungeon that is copied from Poe's The Pit and The Pendulum to every single detail. A man needs Vollin's help, because her daughter has injured in a car-crash. Another man (Boris Karloff) seeks for Vollin's help as well. He's a criminal and needs a plastic-surgery for his face. Dr. Vollin agrees to help the man, if he does a favor for him.
Those are the basic ingredients for this exciting horror film. It follows a basic scheme: There's a bad guy who wants to kill and torture people, a young woman and her husband to add some romantic excitement, a sympathetic victim (marvelously played by Boris Karloff). This must be the only film by the couple (Lugosi & Karloff) where Lugosi got the bigger part.
Boris Karloff gives a lot of sympathy to his character, Edmond Bateman as he did earlier in 1931 as Frankenstein. He looks strange and everyone is afraid of him. Where Dr. Vollin looks rich and powerful, so everyone thinks he's a good man. A very touching scene in the film was when Bateman says to Vollin: "Maybe when people are ugly, they do ugly things.." So in spite of the high entertainment level, this movie also deals with prejudice and superficiality.
Highly recommended to everyone interested in old Horror films, highly entertaining, superb acting ( I have always enjoyed the acting of the precode films, there's something funny and marvelous about it ) and an exciting plot.
The film entails some great scenes from these two legendary actors. Karloff makes his famous "grr!" yell. And we hear Lugosi's evil laugh.
7/10
The title of the film might make the viewer think this movie is based on Edgar Allan Poe's Raven, but actually the references from it remain low; Death, Gothic romance and of course The Raven statue, it has got the main elements from it. But The Raven took a lot of influences from another book by Poe, The Pit and The Pendulum.
The plot is pretty simple: Dr. Vollin (Bela Lugosi) is a Poe-fanatic and has a remarkable collection of his books. But what makes him special is that he also has a dungeon of his own. A dungeon that is copied from Poe's The Pit and The Pendulum to every single detail. A man needs Vollin's help, because her daughter has injured in a car-crash. Another man (Boris Karloff) seeks for Vollin's help as well. He's a criminal and needs a plastic-surgery for his face. Dr. Vollin agrees to help the man, if he does a favor for him.
Those are the basic ingredients for this exciting horror film. It follows a basic scheme: There's a bad guy who wants to kill and torture people, a young woman and her husband to add some romantic excitement, a sympathetic victim (marvelously played by Boris Karloff). This must be the only film by the couple (Lugosi & Karloff) where Lugosi got the bigger part.
Boris Karloff gives a lot of sympathy to his character, Edmond Bateman as he did earlier in 1931 as Frankenstein. He looks strange and everyone is afraid of him. Where Dr. Vollin looks rich and powerful, so everyone thinks he's a good man. A very touching scene in the film was when Bateman says to Vollin: "Maybe when people are ugly, they do ugly things.." So in spite of the high entertainment level, this movie also deals with prejudice and superficiality.
Highly recommended to everyone interested in old Horror films, highly entertaining, superb acting ( I have always enjoyed the acting of the precode films, there's something funny and marvelous about it ) and an exciting plot.
The film entails some great scenes from these two legendary actors. Karloff makes his famous "grr!" yell. And we hear Lugosi's evil laugh.
7/10