The Raven (1963)

Director: Roger Corman

Starring: Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Jack Nicholson, Hazel Court

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: The supreme adventure in terror!

Plot: A magician who has been turned into a raven turns to a former sorcerer for help in this film loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Would I watch it again? I don't think so

Best part of the movie? The opening two minutes as Vincent Price recites Edgar Allen Poe's classic poem with some groovy 60s background. The worst part? THE RAVEN is two hours too long for its 86 minute run time.


I just...didn't...care. I REALLY wanted to but it bored me to tears. And the humor is often far too broad for what I felt should have been taken more seriously. Make it a black comedy instead of a broad one. My taste in humor runs the gamut from Oscar Wilde to the Three Stooges. Maybe it's because I'm such a HUGE Hammer Horror fan that these Poe films of Corman's just pale in comparison. It's clear that Corman is trying to replicate their style for America. I think they fail.


It's got to come down to the Hammer-wannabe nature of it that turns me off. It kills me because I LOVE Price, Karloff and Lorre. How is it possible that these cats together in the same film doesn't send me into a complete nerdgasm? Sure, Lorre and Karloff are looking ragged from their advanced age but geez! It feels like almost no one is taking this all that seriously, knowing they're in a "comedy". They're probably doing the best with the lackluster material they're given but still.

Maybe it's the often silly music from Les Baxter, whose scores I usually dig but here it's just borderline cartoon-y at times.

There's barely a plot. A raven shows up a Price's digs (voiced by Lorre) and tries to get Price (a wizard) to reverse the curse Karloff (a wizard) placed on him and turn him back into a man. Done. That's the first 15 minutes. Then there's another 15 of Lorre trying to convince Price to confront Karloff and reclaim his father's title as grand wizard or something.


31 minutes in Jack Nicholson shows up as Lorre's son. I've never seen Nicholson more inept and juvenile as an actor. I know that's his part in the picture but he clearly looks like he doesn't know what to do when he's not speaking. It's awkward and shocking that this guy actually develops into a very good actor just years later. There's hope for us all. It's just embarrassing watching his performance. Woof.

"Golly!"

8 minutes later we meet Pope Boris the Karloff.


Lots of talking and silly looks for the half hour (OK, so there's a little bit of business about Price's wife is believed to have been long dead but it turns out she's been shacking up with Karloff) until the big wizard fight between Price and Karloff. It's 10 minutes of one-upsmanship. Price wins, surprise!, the castle burns down and our heroes escape and live happily evermore.



The sets are huge and nice but they lack the warmth the Hammer pictures had. There's a lack of rich atmosphere in THE RAVEN that makes it feel cheap. But that's how Corman made his pictures. This one, with the other Poe films he made with some of the same cast around this time, has a bigger budget than most of his films. You can see that right off the bat, so to speak. But he fails to bring a vibrant life to everything that begs to breathe and breathe deeply. Sure, the pictures are moving but it's a pale existence compared to what they were doing in the UK at that time.

EXACTLY!

Karloff delivers another fine performance and between him and the very tasty Hazel Court as his "mistress without sex", Lenore, they're the best things about this picture.


Damn, she's hot. I know she just recently passed and all but she needs to have my babies. Price is too hammy, Nicholson is hard to watch without cringing with laughter and Lorre is just playing up the Lorre caricature. Combine that with silly music and it's just too much. Toooooo much, quoth the raven nevermore.