FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Nigel P Bela Lugosi, second billed, plays Doctor Vollin, a genius surgeon, accomplished musician and devotee of Edgar Allan Poe. He seems to be held in high esteem, is charming and talented. However, when he's wearing his surgeon's mask, the camera focuses on those sinister eyes, and we really don't know quite what is going on inside the old scoundrel's head.He seems besotted with Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware), whose life he has just saved in a delicate operation. And yet she is promised to ultra-suave, moustachioed Jerry (Lester Matthews – fresh from playing a similarly disapproving, debonair gent in 'Werewolf of London' earlier that year). We then meet Bateman (Boris Karloff), bearded and shadier than a factory full of umbrellas. Every movement, stance and rolling of the eyes tells us Bateman is a villain through and through, and here he is on Vollin's doorstep, asking the surgeon to 'change his face'. Bateman has had a lifetime of rebuttal; "Maybe if a man is ugly, he does ugly things." Karloff, billed first, is not well cast here. His lisping English lilt doesn't convince when given lines like "I don't want to do bad things no more." There was always a studio-managed rivalry between him and Lugosi, but here, Lugosi's theatricals are far more impressive.Vollin does as he is asked and changes Bateman's face, but the result is a grotesque deformity. Bateman is promised another new face if he accedes to Vollin's villainous wishes – which begin with Bateman assuming the role of unsightly butler for a dinner party Vollin is hosting. Being such a fan of Poe, it's not entirely surprising Vollin has a torture room filled with devices taken from Poe's tales, chiefly 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. Vollin doesn't just torture people, he takes time to describe exactly the agonies his victims are facing, with Bateman as his henchman.If this were released today, it would surely fall under the category of 'torture porn'. Seen that way, 'The Raven' was ahead of its time; possibly this proved to be its downfall. Following disappointing returns and heavy criticism, it hastened the premature ending of horror film production (the feint hearts of the UK critics fuelled this too), at least until 1939, when 'Son of Frankenstein' proved there was still an audience for the macabre.To say that Lugosi fails to resist the temptation to go wonderfully over the top towards the film's close is an understatement, whereas Karloff's villain becomes a Monster-esque misunderstood, maligned good guy - and too quickly after the villains have received their just desserts, 'The Raven' comes to an end with a briskly light-hearted ending.Outrageous, but glorying in its outrageousness, this is not Universal's best horror, but possibly it is their best vehicle for Lugosi, who owns every scene he is in. Were it not for the gleeful ham on display, the subject matter could have been deeply unsettling. The censors and critics who were appalled by Vollin's vow to be "the sanest man who ever lived" took it all far too seriously, with dire consequences for Lugosi and horror films in general.

Idiot-Deluxe From Universal Studio in 1935 we have: The Raven, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (and several lesser players) is an extremely brisk running horror film, clocking in at right around exactly one hour and what an hour it is.This is probably Lugosi's most entertaining and unhinged performance, as he really seems to be enjoying himself and relishing the role of the insane Dr. Vollin - blackmail and torture is his game. Karloff is low key and far less spectacular in his role as the escaped convict Edmond Bateman and plays second fiddle to Lugosi, definitely a subservient role.PLot SHakedown: Dr. Vollin (Lugosi) is a retired surgeon who's hung-up on Poe, torture devises and above all death "death is the only certain thing, in an uncertain universe" as he say's to a guest. The doc is called upon by a judge who's young beautiful daughter (Irene Ware), has been gravely injured in a car accident and the doctors attending to her simply aren't good enough to fix her injured neck, they suggest Dr. Vollin after a little stubbornness he relents and operates on her and saves her life. After doing so he quickly becomes intensely infatuated with his young beautiful patient, however she's already engaged to a younger doctor, a colleague of Vollins. Her dad quickly catches on to Vollins infatuations through series of fixated stares and confronts him about it, which really sets him off, only furthering Vollins burning lust for her. Now he's mad with love, a love that can never be. So the only sane thing to do, is to invite them over to his posh home (filled with secret passageways, trapdoors, a fully equipped torture dungeon, and lots of other fun stuff) for a party over the weekend (and this is where the plot thickens). Which everyone eagerly excepts the doctors invitation (Mr. Judge is deeply suspicious all along of Vollins intentions) and so they all party it up a bit, then it gets late and they turn in for the night - and here's where the fun begins. Vollins deformed butler, Bateman (Karloff) is blackmailed into helping the mad doctor deal with his guests. You see Bateman is a convict who's on the run and desperate for some kind of disguise, who foolishly trusts Vollin to "fix his face" and basically Vollin does a hatchet job on him, severing some vital nerves which paralyses the entire right side of his face. He'll fix his face, but ONLY if he'll help him torture his guests to death. Breezing over the second half of this very short film - Vollin has all his guests right where he wants them, but Bateman has a change of mind, stops the torturing and attacks Vollin, knocks him out cold and drags him into one of his own torture devises, which Doctor Vollin finds to be a real -pressing- situation. The evil doctor is vanquished and ...........well it's a happy ending.This movie is a lot of fun, great acting from Lugosi, some terrific dialog (Lugosi can say just about anything and it's prime entertainment) great looking sets (i.e. the torture devices in his stonewalled torture dungeon). Lugosi is a real full-blown psychopath in this film and most of his scenes exude exactly that, up until the very end he's in complete control of the proceedings. Karloff was fresh off the success of -Bride of Frankenstein- just three months earlier, so it's likely this is the very next film he did; while certainly not as good as Frankenstein or any of James Whale's godly horror classic's - The Raven still has a hell of a lot going for it and should keep most fans of vintage horror happy for a solid hours worth of entertainment. A most charming horror flick and Lugosi proves quite capable as the devilishly deceitful host. "Doctor Vollins House of Horror's" could fittingly be an alternate title.Early in the film, when Lugosi's reciting Poe's poem The Raven, is that not a perversely picturesque shot, when he's sitting next to that raven statuette. Sure it's a simple shot, but perfectly composed.The Raven is no masterpiece, but it's still very good.

mark.waltz In "The Black Cat", Boris Karloff (billed only as "Karloff") and Bela Lugosi were equals in the cat and mouse game. Now the former "Dracula" has gotten the same privilege to be billed just with his last name in the film where he has the upper hand over Karloff until the very end, and oh, what an end it is. Lugosi is an Edgar Allan Poe obsessed doctor, a man whose ego is so large that he compares himself to God and in one sequence, screams "Poe, you are avenged!". The opening scene is the car accident of a young dancer (Irene Ware) who is treated by the reluctant Lugosi, able to remove her scars with little effort. But Lugosi is so vain he feels that this entitles him to more with her, making her judge father (Samuel S. Hinds) filled with suspicion and certainty that Lugosi is a nut case. "Send her to me!" Lugosi orders Hinds as if she were a waitress, not caring that she's engaged to another man. Of course, Ms. Ware didn't help matters by dancing in public to a ballet of Poe's poem "The Raven" which Lugosi is first seen dramatically reciting. A knock on Lugosi's door puts his evil plan in motion. It is Karloff as an escaped convict who demands plastic surgery, and Lugosi uses this as his method for revenge against his self-created enemies. Karloff is filled with hate, realizing that great ugliness breeds great hate, something Lugosi himself finds profound. He agrees to give Karloff the surgery he demands but turns him into something even more hideous. But there is something in Karloff's soul which will not let him be used for the vicious revenge Lugosi seeks and this leads to the evil doctor's downfall in one of the most frightening of ways that will leave you in chills as it does every time I see this masterpiece.This is my favorite of the Lugosi/Karloff pairings because it really shows the depths of one man's downfall. Lugosi is obviously deranged, but his madness increases as the film goes on, laughing evilly as Karloff shoots out mirrors of his own image. He is initially somewhat gentle, very touched by the ballet which Ware performs in his honor, and that makes the decent into depravity all the more horrifying. There's a bit of comedy thrown in as is used in most of these films, here surrounding two of Lugosi's guests who can't sleep, but the overall atmosphere is absolutely frightening. Lugosi would go on to repeat this style of character in many films, but never would it be as well developed as this man, gifted with genius but one who turns it into a method of revenge that can only mean his eternal damnation.

Theo Robertson Dr Richard Vollin a retired brain surgeon gets a phone call from Judge Thatcher whose daughter Jean has been seriously injured in a car crash . Despite being somewhat reluctant Vollin agrees to operate on her and saves her life . Later on Judge Thatcher returns to Vollin's house and informs that Jean despite being engaged has developed an emotional attachment to him and forbids any contact with Jean , much to Vollin's resentment . Later on a man appears at Vollin's house , an escaped convict called Edmond Bateman who wants the doctor to change his faceMany , many years ago BBC2 used to show a horror double bill in the Summer months and this was shown alongside another Lugosi/Karloff film THE BLACK CAT . It wasn't until the era of the internet that I found out THE RAVEN was the cause of so much controversy on its initial release , so much so that it effectively killed off the Universal horror film for several years . That said there's several factors at play . One is the Hays Code had been brought out the previous year limiting what could be shown on screen and the pre-code film by Tod Browning FREAKS was banned in Britain on its release . Certainly compared to the Browning film THE RAVEN is relatively tame but like FREAKS it too was banned in Britain and THE RAVEN's relatively poor box office in America meant that Universal Studio's the prime producer of horror movies thought the bottom had fallen out of the horror market so concentrated on making other movies The one aspect the film is very very good at it is its psychological undertones of horror . Watching it today it is slightly bizarre on how it remains restrained and yet it has a rather sadistic edge just waiting to surface . Dr Vollin is played superbly by Lugosi as a sadistic control freak with an obsession with both Edgar Allen Poe and torture devices , devices it transpires that he's all too ready to use when circumstances dictate it . Would a doctor in real life be capable of such cruelty ? Let's not forget in Germany the Nazis had risen to power and were making plans for the worst crimes in human history . The Nazi death camps were governed by medical sadists of which Josef Mengele was the most notorious and was not unique in his crimes . Just over ten years after THE RAVEN was released , a separate war crimes trial took place at Nuremburg called The Doctors Trial where those indicted were tried of conducting the most cruel medical experiments against fellow human beings Where the film fails quite badly is on a logical level . Vollin is held at gun point by Bateman and agrees to operate on him but Bateman never jumps to the conclusion that Vollin might contact the police while he's under the anaesthetic and one wonders why Vollin never thought of this . Of course as it transpires Bateman is needed to carry out some dirty work . Again the problem is how does Bateman fit in to this plan ? Surely if Vollin wants to torture and kill Judge Thatcher , Jean and her fiancé then he doesn't need Bateman's help to do this and what is Vollin going to do with the other party guests ? Kill them probably because they're witnesses but how likely is it that these seven guests have not told anyone where they'll be staying at that weekend ? Surely if they all disappear that means the police will know where to look for them ? The more you think about it the more the plan starts falling apart . Surely a simpler plan would have been Vollin blackmailing Bateman in to becoming a hit man who goes to Jean's fiancés house to kill him and one wonders why Vollin didn't do this but I guess that means we wouldn't have had a story in that case As I said this was made just after the Hays Code was introduced and its interesting in how the cinematic morals of the time are played out on screen . If you're about to get married this means you're still not allowed to have sex , you have to stay in separate rooms , get chaperoned by a parent and even if you are married you have to sleep in different beds . The code also stipulates that anyone doing anything bad has to be made to suffer the penalty for their crimes which means the body count of the entire film is rather low at two Despite being a very flawed horror film THE RAVEN is a very enjoyable one too . You have to meet it on its own terms and constantly remind yourself of the context of when it was made but the film is carried by its two stars . It's also a film dealing with psychological obsessions and it's here the story works very well indeed