Inspired by (rather than based on) Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same title, this Universal horror film stars Bela Lugosi as a surgeon whose obsession with Poe has led to him building torture devices as described in the author's writings. While the devices only exist for display, Lugosi nevertheless sets about putting them into action in a scheme to separate the woman he loves from the man she plans to marry. This plot element could have done with a bit more work as it always seems like a rushed, ill-conceived and illogical scheme, but the chief sell point of the movie is a subplot involving Boris Karloff as a murderer on the run. Things turn rather grisly as Lugosi disfigures Karloff's face on purpose with the promise of only fixing his face if he helps him in his torture scheme, and both Karloff and Lugosi excel in their respective roles. In fact, with the way Lugosi so eloquently quotes Poe while clearly growing crazier and crazier, a good case could be made for this being his very finest performance. The same cannot be said for the rest of the cast with Irene Ware especially underwritten as the love interest who goes from being smitten with Lugosi to being prepared to settle for another man within minutes. Overall though, this is arguably a better paced and more wacky horror film than 'The Black Cat', which is often cited as Lugosi and Karloff's greatest collaboration.

This early shocker isn't in fact an adaptation of Poe's poem, but instead a story of a mad doctor who keeps all manner of torture devices hidden in his basement (The Pit and the Pendulum figures predominantly) and fancies himself as the main character in The Raven. What could have been yet another routine thriller turns into a fun and fantastically entertaining little horror movie thanks to the pairing of Karloff and Lugosi. While Karloff plays it fairly subtle and low-key as a villain whose face is disfigured, Lugosi goes over the top in an extreme way as the totally mad surgeon who says "yes, I enjoy torture!".At the beginning of the film Lugosi is hailed as a hero for saving a girl from paralysis, and seems to be pleasant enough. By the end he has descended into a cackling lunatic hell-bent on a twisted form of revenge and putting innocent victims into old-fashioned torture devices - a young couple are placed in a steel room in which the walls are slowly moving inwards, a man is strapped to a slab while a swinging blade descends upon him. Lugosi plays it for all he's got, just listen to his demented and evil laughter as he thwarts Karloff's plans for a new life. And Lugosi gets to read The Raven out loud in his own inimitable thick-accented tones, something you won't find anywhere else.Karloff plays his potentially villainous role as a sympathetic one, torn between saving himself and saving the life of an innocent girl. He's a servant in this film, low-key and graciously allows Lugosi to hog the limelight as the chief villain. Still, once again Karloff gets to wear some effective make up, this time half of his face is paralysed, complete with dead eye and curved mouth. It's certainly horrific and notable. The rest of the cast merely stand around to provide some unwelcome comic relief or to act stupidly in dangerous situations - frankly, I couldn't give a damn about them. The film is at it's best when Lugosi is playing classical music on his piano or exulting in his own fiendish schemes.While THE RAVEN is not quite as gripping or complex as the year's other Karloff/Lugosi pairing THE BLACK CAT, it still remains a fine, old-fashioned chiller, and Lugosi has never been better when he hams it up here. The extremely short running time (the film clocks in at just over an hour) also means that it's never boring. For nostalgists, and Karloff and Lugosi fans, this is one to watch.

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.

As a companion piece to "The Black Cat," "The Raven" comes off as pretty routine. Taken on its own merits however, it's a very entertaining piece of pulp. While the former film cast the actors against type, "The Raven" has Lugosi and Karloff in parts all ready familiar to them. Lugosi is Dr. Vollin, a mad doctor, a genius, obsessed with torture, prone to making grand-standing, long-winded speeches about his plans, always looking down on every around him. Karloff plays a murderous, but pitiful, grotesque, a bank robber who walks with a limp and soon gains a deformed face. (With what has to be one of Jack Pierce's least convincing make-ups.) Lugosi's sadism is self-assured and only grows deeper as the film goes on. Karloff, cursed with an ugly appearance, a low intelligence, and a deeply unconvincing Southern accent, regrets his crimes and is desperate for redemption. Bela laughs manically, Boris growls like Frankenstein.Despite the thinness of the material, both actors bring their A-game. Bela's over-the-top villainy, going way higher then even Dracula afforded, is fantastically entertaining while Boris fills the role to the best of his abilities. This is what TVTropes calls Ham-to-Ham Combat. Good stuff.The rest of the movie? Not much to report. The film uses Poe's writing as not much more then plot dressing. The raven is quoted a few times and the pendulum is prominently featured, repeatedly. I guess you could say Dr. Vollin's unrequited love for the doctor's daughter is vaguely reminiscent of Poe's themes but only sort of. The film is only an hour long and I like that the entire second half takes place over one whole evening. The wacky, comic relief supporting cast is never annoying, if never really interesting. Irene Ware as Jean Thatcher is more interesting when it seems possible that she might reciprocate Lugosi's mad love. Once it become clear she only has eyes for dull hero Spencer Charters, audience interest fades quickly.The movie has at least one great sequence. Upon seeing his grotesque face, a series of mirrors are revealed. An enraged Karloff shoots out each mirror, the camera panning around the room, Lugosi looking down on him, cackling madly. Images of Bela standing underneath a pendulum or reciting the title poem in the shadow of a stuffed raven are pieces of art for classic horror fans. If "The Black Cat" totally subverts expectations for the time period and the genre, "The Raven" is a textbook example. Ain't nothing wrong with that, some times.