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The Raven

1963, Movie, NR, 86 mins

The Raven: Review

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Another of Roger Corman's Poe films, THE RAVEN is a wonderfully funny sendup of the genre that begins as a recently retired wizard, Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price), has gone into seclusion after the apparent death of his wife, Lenore (Hazel Court). His gloomy meditations are interrupted by the arrival of an obnoxious talking raven, which claims to be a wizard put under a spell by the most powerful magician in the land, Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff). After some clever banter, Craven restores the raven-wizard to his human form...almost, as the raven becomes Dr. Adolphus Bedlo (Peter Lorre), a pudgy character with winged arms--a mutation corrected by another dose of potion. Adolphus informs Craven that a woman who greatly resembles Lenore is Scarabus' mistress, and Craven decides to pay a visit to Scarabus' castle. When the rival wizards meet face to face, a stunning battle erupts, filled with fireballs and flashing lights. The charming comedic success of THE RAVEN sprang from a Corman cast and crew that had grown tired of the repetitive Poe series and wanted to have some fun. Most of the laughs on the set (and in the film) came from watching an impish Lorre improvising one-liners that would catch cool professionals Price and Karloff by surprise and test their straight-faced skills. Lorre is a joy to watch and obviously relished the role. Corman brought the film in under budget and ahead of schedule, and, since he had Karloff contracted for three more days of work, decided to make another quickie horror film, THE TERROR. This was the first time the three horror film stars--billed as the "Great Triumvirate of Terror"--appeared together. They would gather again the following year in the less successful COMEDY OF TERRORS. leave a comment
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