The Raven is a 1935 American horror film directed by Louis Friedlander (who started to be credited as Lew Landers the following year) and starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Billed as having been "suggested by" Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 poem of the same title, excerpts of which are quoted at a few points in the film, it was adapted from an original screenplay by David Boehm. Lugosi stars as a neurosurgeon obsessed with Poe who has a torture chamber in his basement, and Karloff plays an escaped murderer on the run from the police whom Lugosi manipulates into doing his dirty work. Three decades later, Karloff appeared in another film with the same title, Roger Corman's comedy gothic horror The Raven (1963), with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre.
Plot After Jean Thatcher, a young dancer, is injured in a car accident, her father, Judge Thatcher, and fiancé, Dr. Jerry Halden, implore neurosurgeon Dr. Richard Vollin, who now only conducts research, to come out of retirement and perform a delicate operation on her cranial nerve roots. Vollin is insensitive to human suffering and initially refuses to help, but when Judge Thatcher tells him that, in the opinion of his former hospital colleagues, only he can perform the operation successfully, Vollin's vanity persuades him to assist. A month after the operation, Jean has recovered, and Vollin has become obsessed with her. She is grateful to Vollin for healing her, as well as for making Jerry his assistant, but when Vollin tells her during a checkup in his living room that he hired Jerry "to give him something to take the place of what he is losing", she avoids his embrace and gives an excuse for why she must go. Knowing Vollin to be a devotee of Edgar Allan Poe, Jean surprises him by performing, as her return to the stage, a solo dance set to a recitation of "The Raven". Judge Thatcher suspects Jean may be falling for Vollin, so he visits the doctor to tell him to be careful not to lead her on. When it becomes clear that Vollin is already in love with Jean, the judge tells Vollin to not see Jean again so she will marry Jerry, who is much closer to her age. Vollin responds that his longing for Jean is distracting him from his important work, so Judge Thatcher must "send her" to him, but the judge says he is crazy and leaves. A man comes to Vollin asking for a new face. Vollin recognizes the man as Edmond Bateman, a bank robber who is on the run after killing two guards while escaping from San Quentin, and says he will help in exchange for a favor that involves torture and murder, but Bateman replies that he no longer wishes to live a life of violence and only ended up on that path after being called ugly his whole life. Vollin agrees to improve Bateman's appearance, but instead disfigures half of the man's face by damaging his seventh cranial nerve, and Bateman reluctantly submits to Vollin so the doctor will undo the procedure. Against Judge Thatcher's will, Jerry persuades Jean to accept an invitation to spend the weekend at Vollin's house with some other guests, so the judge also attends. Everyone feels uncomfortable around Bateman, who is acting as Vollin's butler, but Vollin says he was tortured by Arab bandits during the war, and Jean apologizes to him for having been frightened of his appearance, unknowingly endearing herself to the disfigured criminal. The judge wants to leave as the guests are going to sleep, but Jerry and Jean laugh off his concerns about Vollin. At eleven o'clock, Bateman takes Judge Thatcher from his room. Jerry hears the judge's muffled cries and tries to help, but Bateman knocks him out and brings the judge to Vollin's cellar, where Vollin has built and collected various torture devices, including several inspired by works of Poe such as "The Pit and the Pendulum". The judge is strapped to a slab as a blade that will take 15 minutes to reach him swings above, and Vollin flips a switch to lower Jean's room down to the cellar. Regaining consciousness, Jerry tries to call the police, but Vollin disconnects the telephones and drops steel shutters to trap everyone in the house. Vollin then leads Jerry to the cellar and, at gunpoint, forces him and Jean into a room. When Bateman learns that, inside, the walls are closing in and Jean will soon be crushed, he opens the door, and Vollin shoots him as the couple escape. Bateman tackles Vollin, knocking him out, and drags the doctor to the shrinking room, closing the door and starting the walls with the last of his strength. After Judge Thatcher is freed, the guests, thankful to the now-deceased Bateman for his sacrifice, all go home.
Cast
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