Hellen
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Scott LeBrun
Ever-delightful George Zucco, that great genre character-star of the Golden Age of Hollywood, is front and centre in this zippy, enjoyable PRC programmer. He plays Amos Bradford, the proprietor of an inn near the U.S. / Canada border whose side business is smuggling criminals across the border. A disparate group of individuals - a milquetoast embezzler (Byron Foulger), a racketeer (Noel Madison), a couple (Robert Livingston, Wanda McKay) attempting to elope, her big shot politician father (Robert Middlemass), and others - gather for an eventful night of murder (during a terrible rain storm, naturally) at Zuccos' establishment.This is actually quite fun, and it does keep you on your toes regarding the mystery aspect of the story (written by Fred Myton); since there are a few shady types hanging around, and there is more than one motive for wanting the first victim out of the way, the viewer doesn't automatically focus on one character. A strong sense of humour also helps matters a lot, with Amos coming off as a very unflappable and sardonic man, who has a genuine interest in figuring out whodunit. Much of the comedy relief is provided by none other than Glenn Strange, who plays Amos' excitable, bumbling assistant, and he's pretty amusing. Overall, the cast is good. Also appearing are Charles Middleton as a humourless Sheriff and top character actor I. Stanford Jolley as the slimy prison escapee Whitey Cole."The Black Raven" has solid atmosphere, an excellent pace (clocking in at BARELY over an hour long), and a bittersweet wrap-up. It's good fun for any fan of thrillers and horror films from this era.Seven out of 10.
mark.waltz
"You'll have to turn back! The bridge is washed out!" This is always followed by the friendly suggestion, "You can always stay at the Black Raven right down the street" With that raven's feather in his cap, the man turning drivers back sends these poor travelers possibly to their doom to this dark inn run by George Zucco. Among the travelers are a couple eloping against the will of her father and a single middle aged accountant heading to Canada on vacation. Before long, the bride to be (Wanda McKay) is confronted by her pompous father (Robert Middlemass) who also recognizes the single accountant (Byron Foulger) as an accused embezzler. Bizarre creeping figures make for a spooky evening as thunder and lightening darken the rain-soaked night. It's the spooky Glenn Strange lurking in the hallways, frightening Foulger while Zucco offers support to McKay's groom-to-be (Noel Madison). It's no shock when Middlemass is found dead, discovered right after the spooky music utilized in several PRC horror films is played over and over again.Cheezy fun, this dimly lit "Old Dark Inn" horror yarn is thrilling and short with the perfect atmosphere for murder and mayhem. I can just hear the director on the wind and rain machine barking "Faster!" to the technical workers on the set. "Oh dear, how did this happen?", suspect Foulger asks to which Zucco dryly replies, "Obviously, somebody didn't like him!" Zucco gets some really funny lines, telling one of his paranoid staff members, "With your mind, you could see the statue of liberty doing a conga!" Veteran film villain Charles Middleton goes onto the right side of the law for a change to play the sheriff, but when it comes down to it, on a dark and stormy night, anybody could have done it! There are a lot of patches of simply the suspects roaming around the hotel as the music plays with no dialog at all, and although this slows it down a bit, it really doesn't matter. It's all over in an hour, giving chills, laughs and overall, a memorably macabre atmosphere that ends up being harmless fun.
Robert J. Maxwell
Zucco, with his British accent, was usually a heavy -- a mad scientist or Professor Moriarty. Here, he's a man more or less of probity, although he has a secret past involving cheating his partner and seeing that the partner is convicted and sent up for the embezzlement. Now, however, Zucco runs a legitimate boarding house near the Canadian border.During a terrific thunderstorm that drenches the plastic studio greenery, all the bridges to Canada are washed away and a number of guests pile up at Zucco's Black Raven Inn, mostly escapees from the states. They're a diverse lot.First to show up is Zucco's ex partner, recently escaped from the slams and now ready to take violent revenge on Zucco. Next, a mousy clerk, Bryan Foulger, who has several thousand dollars he stole from the bank where he worked as a teller. A sneering gangster wanted for murder shows up and demands that Zucco arrange his transport across the border. Then an innocent young couple who have just eloped and are headed towards another country where they will be free of the interference of the girl's rich and nasty father. The rich and nasty father shows up last and makes a great pain of himself because, by coincidence, he owns the bank that Foulger, the timid teller, has fleeced and now he wants the money back.The angry, domineering bank owner is the first to go, by unknown hands. The movie's pace is so fast that his daughter isn't given any chance to grieve. Nobody else is particularly upset either. Everyone seems to have a motive to bash him in the head. A determined sheriff, who seems to have the IQ of a parsnip, shows up and recklessly blames the young would-be groom. But another murder takes place, and then another.It's nice to see George Zucco as a reasonable and half-way decent man, miscreant though he may be. But he puts little into the role. He's wooden, machine processed. The others -- all of them -- act like actors being paid to act in a low-budget B movie produced by PRC studios, which is not MGM. I kept thinking of what someone like James Mason would have done with the role.The young girl is Wanda McKay who had been a model and never did develop much of a movie career, probably because she changed her birth name, Quackenbush, which would have been memorable. She's cute as hell though. The groom's haste in getting her across the border is understandable.And the atmosphere is appealing -- a windy downpour beating against the windows and everyone trapped inside the inn. The set dresser, alas, didn't exert himself. The interior of the inn itself isn't very spooky and apart from one or two conspicuous shadows, the lighting is flat and uninspired.Watch it when you can't sleep and are too dopey to care.
Chase_Witherspoon
A group of strangers holed up at a quaint lodge (The Black Raven) during a fierce storm discover that one of the guests has embezzled a large sum of money and is carrying the stash en route to Canada. Predictably, murder and subterfuge soon follow as the parties vie for the tainted bounty.Solid cast includes Zucco as the inn's apparently benevolent manager, Glenn Strange (a sort of 1930's version of Mike Lane) his lanky, trusted goon and Byron Foulger as the cashed-up fugitive. Wanda McKay and Bob Randall play an eloping couple, pursued by the bride's possessive father (Middlemass) who has vetoed the nuptials. It's the typical assortment of guests each brining their own travails to bear upon the common intrigue and nobody is above suspicion.Zucco is a masterful thespian and his patient, assured (not to mention immaculately attired) presence easily eclipses the surrounding mediocrity, an otherwise average tale that plays the clichéd formula 'dark & stormy night with strangers' with few innovations or surprises.
