The Raven (1935 film)

Irene Ware and Bela Lugosi

After Jean Thatcher (Ware) has been injured in a car accident, her father, Judge Thatcher (Hinds) and beau Jerry (Matthews) implore retired surgeon Dr. Richard Vollin (Lugosi) to perform a delicate operation to restore her to health. Vollin agrees and is successful; he befriends the spirited and grateful Jean, in the process revealing his passion for all things related to Edgar Allan Poe, including his homemade collection of torture devices inspired by Poe's works (such as a pit, pendulum with crescent razor, shrinking room, etc.), and identifying the raven as his talisman.

After Vollin reveals his growing love for Jean to her father, the Judge quickly discourages him from the affair. Angered, Vollin hatches a plan when Edmond Bateman (Karloff), a murderer on the run, comes to his home asking for a new face so he may live in anonymity. Vollin admits to not being a plastic surgeon, but says he can help Bateman, and asks him to help in exacting revenge on the Thatchers, which he refuses. Bateman explains that he feels his antisocial behavior is a result of having been called ugly all his life, and he hopes a new face may gave him a chance to end it. Vollin performs the surgery, but instead turns Bateman into a disfigured monster, promising only to operate again on Bateman when Vollin's revenge is exacted. Bateman finally reluctantly agrees.

Vollin hosts a dinner party, among which Jean, Jerry, and the Judge are guests. One by one, the guests are caught in the Poe-inspired traps. Ultimately, Bateman is shot by Vollin as he rescues Jean and Jerry, but throws Vollin into the shrinking room where he perishes, and the guests escape.

The Raven was the final film in the 1930s Universal Pictures Poe trilogy, following their previous Poe adaptations of Muders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat.[2] Among the earliest mentions of the film from Universal was in June 1934 when the studio announced that Bela Lugosi had signed on for a three-picture deal, which included The Raven as part of its productions.[4] For his role in the film, Lugosi was paid US$5,000 and Karloff was paid $10,000.[5]

Between August 1934 and March 1935, at least seven writers worked on script for The Raven.[5] This included novelist Guy Endore who submitted a 19-page treatment based on the poem that contained elements of Poe's "The Gold-Bug".[5] A week alter, Univeral announced that it had signed Chester Morris for a role in the film. Morris does not appear in the final film and Endore's treatment was not used.[5] In October, Michael Simmons and Clarence Marks collaborated on a treatment and wrote a screenplay based upon it.[5] John Lynch and Dore Schary also reportedly contributed to a script, but whether or not their work was used in the film is unknown.[5] Former Warner Bros. dialgoue writer David Boem was then tapped to write a script and turned in three screenplays to Universal for The Raven.[5]

Director Lew Landers was hired to direct the film with shooting scheduled to begin on March 20, 1935 with a 16-day schedule.[6] Four prior to shooting, a conference between Landers, the Production Code Administration (PCA) and Universal studio executives happened that was made to confirm that no scenes of the operation on Batemen would be shown in the film.[6] The PCA reviewed various shots of Bateman to determine their suitability and after styding the final shooting script from March 19, with a written statement that "We [...] deem it necessary to remind you that, because of the sark realism of numerous elements in your story, you are running the risk of excessive horror."[6] Filming completed on schedule on April 5 going $5,000 over-budget, leading to the final cost of the film to be $115,209.91.[6]

The Raven was distributed theatrically by Universal Pictures in July 1935.^a The Raven was banned from several locations on its initial release, including China, The Netherlands and Ontario and British Columbia in Canada.[7][8]

In the United Kingdom, The London Times issued a report on horror films and The Raven in particular on August 4, 1935.[8] noting that:

Every picture should have a purpose, preferably a high one. Any concentration upon Murder as Muder can only kill the films themselves. But it is difficult to speculate as to waht intention, other than the stimulation of a low morbid interest, can be behind such a production as The Raven'....Here is a film of "horror" for "horror's" sake.... It devises shelter under the statement that it has been inspired by the genius of Edgar Allan Poe. Non-sense. Neither story nor treatment give indication of any imaingiatve control.

Nineteen days following this report, the Associated Press reported that The Raven would be the last horror film passe by the British Board of Film Censors.[8] The authors noted that this reception did not alter Universal's plans to have Karloff and Lugosi in The Invisible Ray, a film they described as "decidedly tamer".[8]

Following a renewed interest of Horror films after the reissue of Frankenstein and Dracula in 1938, Universal planned to create a remake of The Raven with both Karloff and Lugosi.[8]

From contemporary reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times declared that "[I]f The Raven is the best that Universal can do with one of the greatest horror story writers of all time, then it had better toss away the other two books in its library and stick to the pulpies for plot material."[8] Thornton Delehanty of The New York Evening Post had a similar reaction, stating that the film "has no more bearing on the original source than a suffed bird has to an elephant."[8]

Decades afters its release, the authors of the book Universal Horrors stated that "few of the vintage Universal shock classics (with the exception of Dracula have sustained as many brickbats as this ill-conceived film.", noting that Karloff was miscast and an undistinguished quality of the writing and direction.[2][9]

• ^ ^a Sources differ on the release of The Raven. The book Universal Horrors declares its release as July 22, the American Film Institute states July 8, and newspapers show releases as early as July 1.[10][2][3]

• List of American films of 1935
• Boris Karloff filmography
• Béla Lugosi filmography

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