THE RAVEN (1963)
I can't stop ravin' about this movie!  It's one to crow about! (sorry)

  You don't see many Poe adaptations quite as loose as this.  Poe's poem is quoted from at the beginning in voiceover by Vincent Price, and its events set up the plot.  After that, we don't see anything Poe-ish until the ironic "Nevermore" punchline at the end.  Not only that, but this is one seriously goofy movie!  Refusing to take itself seriously for even a minute, The Raven feels kind of like a gentle introduction to the horror world for children.  And you know what?  I loved it.

Price plays Dr. Erasmus Craven, a peaceful, apparently reclusive wizard mourning the passing of his beloved Lenore, who is interrupted one night by a raven tap tap tapping at his chamber door.  The raven tells him (yes, the raven talks) that he's really human and needs to be turned back, and when Erasmus does so, this feathery human (Peter Lorre) suggests to him that maybe Lenore is still alive, at the castle of the very wizard (Boris Karloff) which transformed him!

Price's benevolent sorcerer is likeable (c'mon, it's Price!) and Karloff makes an enjoyable (though not too despicable) villain.  Everybody else is having fun with their roles, and there's even a young Jack Nicholson playing Lorre's son, though I didn't recognize him and didn't even know this until I was reading the credits later on.  Damn, I wish I'd noticed it would him, it would be refreshing to see him playing a role other than the same silly "Look at me, I'm so cool" role he's been regurgitating for the past twenty years.

Like I said, this is like introductory horror for kids, in that there's no real attempt to spook (well, maybe once early on), but still, the sets and cinematography are all doom and gloom.  The plot is fun, with more backstabbing than half a season of Melrose Place, leading towards a wizard-vs.-wizard duel of sorcery which employs a lot of very dated special effects which don't blunt the fun one bit.

Corman.  Price.  Poe.  How many bad ones were there?  Of course you should see it.  Masque Of The Red Death it ain't, but why should it be?

BACK TO MAIN PAGE BACK TO THE R's