The Raven poster & wallpaper

Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lester Matthews

A wealthy judge coaxes the brilliant but eccentric neurological surgeon Dr. Vollin (Lugosi), who also has an obsessive penchant for Edgar Allen Poe, out of retirement to save the life of his daughter,...( read more  read more... ) a dancer crippled and brain damaged in an auto wreck. Vollin restores her completely, but also envisions her as his "Lenore," and cooks up a scheme to kidnap the woman and torture and kill her fiance' and father in his Poe-inspired dungeon. To do his dirty work, Vollin recruits a wanted criminal (Karloff), and turns him into a hideous monster to guarantee his subservience.

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614 ratings

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11 critics

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Directed by: Lew Landers

Release Date: July 8, 1935

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Flixster Reviews (66)

  • rubystevens
    October 31, 2008
    rubystevens
    i don't think it gets much campier than this. so bad it's good? it's actually funny. there is a raven but this bears little relation to anything written by poe. lugosi hams it up as a mad doctor who has a poe obssession. karloff is an escaped criminal who wants a new face; i...( read more)nstead lugosi disfigures him. this is part of the dotor's evil plan to possess a woman he's convinced is his 'lost lenore.' it's all pretty silly
  • BloodyKitten
    July 22, 2008
    BloodyKitten
    A fantastic chiller from the early days of horror film, The Raven features chilling Gothic sets and fantastic performances by Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. A must-see for fans of classic horror everywhere.
  • Hexenkult
    June 16, 2008
    Hexenkult
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    Another fantastic Universal classic horror film starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Actually the title card reads "sugges...( read more)ted by Edgar Allan Poe's immortal classic". It would be nearly impossible to make a feature-length film based solely on a poem of 108 lines. So what the filmmakers do is weave elements of Poe's poem into the story. For example, Bela Lugosi's death-obsessed character, Dr. Richard Vollin, is an admirer and collector of Poe's works. In addition to his Poe collection, Dr. Vollin has an extensive collection of torture devices in his hidden "dungeon", including the device from Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (which does get put to use in the movie).

    The Raven (1935)

    The scene which introduces Lugosi is cinematic gold: The huge shadow of a raven fills the screen as Lugosi's distinctive voice intones, "Suddenly there came a tapping/As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door...", and the camera slowly pulls out to reveal Lugosi seated in an antique high-back chair with the raven silouette looming on the wall above him, as he continues to recite the poem, "...open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter/In there stepped a stately raven." Beautiful scene.

    Bela Lugosi as Dr. Richard Vollin in The Raven (1935)

    The story begins with Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) crashing her car and suffering nerve damage to her brain. Her father Judge Thatcher (Samuel S. Hinds) and her fiance Dr. Jerry Halden (Lester Matthews) plead with imminent surgeon Dr. Richard Vollin (Lugosi) to save her life. Dr Vollin agrees and afterwards begins to fall in love with Jean. She also becomes somewhat infatuated with him.

    Irene Ware as Jean Thatcher in The Raven (1935)

    Her father Judge Thatcher sees this and all but threatens Dr. Vollin to put an end to his advances. This unrequited love aspect of the story resembles Poe's literary "lost love", Lenore. Boris Karloff's character, Edmond Bateman, is introduced about 16 minutes into the film. He's an escaped convict and murderer who comes to Dr. Vollin to alter his face, so he won't be recognized and so he won't be "ugly" anymore. However, true to his sinister and sadistic character, Dr. Vollin actually disfigures Bateman's face; and tells him he'll fix it only after Bateman helps him with his plan to possess Jean, even if it involves "torture and murder", as Lugosi nonchalantly states.

    Boris Karloff as Edmond Bateman in The Raven (1935)

    There's another great scene here when Bateman wakes up from his surgery to discover that Dr. Vollin has actually disfigured his face rather than "fixed" it. He's in a hidden surgical room inside Dr. Vollin's house, surrounded by mirrors, which he destroys with a revolver as Dr. Vollin's cackling laughter mocks him from a window, safely above the room.

    Bela Lugosi as Dr. Richard Vollin in The Raven (1935)

    Karloff is great and gets top billing as usual, but it's Lugosi that really shines in this movie (that is if you don't mind Lugosi's over-the-top style of performance which in some instances almost borders on self-parody). Karloff is basically relegated to playing Lugosi's henchman. They're really good together in this film, but I still think their best and most dynamic performance together was in THE BLACK CAT. However, as a whole, this film is very entertaining. For fans of classic horror, THE RAVEN is a must.

    Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in The Raven (1935)
  • mjgildea
    October 22, 2007
    mjgildea
    So atmospheric and creepy--an aesthetic delight. In the minus column it's gimmicky as all hell. Riding Poe's coat tails for the sole purpose of sticking Dracula and Frankenstein in the same movie. It's silly, it's horrible, it's overacted and by today's standards it's more hilari...( read more)ous than scary. But I saw it when I was a kid and I loved it. And I still do.
  • jackgiantkillr
    August 1, 2009
    jackgiantkillr
    Poor Boris Karloff's face. He just wanted some cheap surgery.
  • holmennnguy
    July 3, 2009
    holmennnguy
    I would have never expected The Raven to be this good. Even when I was watching it, I was not expecting much. Maybe that was the key? Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff (of course) gave awesomely creepy performances. The last half of this film was incredible! Basically what a b&w Horr...( read more)or film should be like. I loved it! The first half was a bit slow and lame which is why my rating is lowered.
  • enchantedsundial
    February 5, 2008
    enchantedsundial
    A reallygood film!!!
  • RCMerchant
    December 24, 2007
    RCMerchant
    Bela's finest! "YES! I like to torture!"

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