The Raven

An unabashed ladling of pure hokum.

Lugosi's not a very good actor, but he plays the creepy and slightly insane Dr. Vollin pretty well. It's a simple film with not much meat on its plot, relying mostly on the two leads being creepy/scary and the various contraptions. Not a complete success but an enjoyable hour.

A mean-spirited premise, terrible dialogue, over-the-top hammy performances, and short runtime. All of these elements come together to make a quick entertaining, trashy little horror film.

Lugosi is delightfully entertaining in a stereotypical mad doctor role that he makes entirely his own. His performance is all maniacal laughs, intense stares and exaggerated line readings, but he is clearly having a ball, and there is tremendous pleasure to be had watching him be this evil. His Poe obsession is another off-kilter touch, and Karloff acquits himself more than adequately in an ambiguous 'stooge' type role. The set designs and torture contraptions are also quite inventive.

I'm sorry, but whatever his other charms Lugosi was just never a very good actor

Not bad, but nor is it all that good. Lugosi and Karloff are both awesome in their roles, but there isn't much else to it. The other characters are so bland that I barely remember them a day later. The story is also relatively mediocre. Definitely inferior to the other Lugosi-Karloff-Poe flick- "The Black Cat".

Beside a ballet recitation of the famous opening of the poem, the connection with Poe in this one is that Lugosi plays a mad scientist who is big Poe nut. Lugosi's character is very one-dimensional, but you can just see him having a blast with it. He is outshined in the acting department by Karloff tho, as criminal made into deformed minion by Lugosi. Still this was the weakest of the bunch of Poe adaptations since it lagged the most when these two giants aren't on screen.

85.500

Certainly not peak Universal horror, but cool as a two-man freak show -- Lugosi as retired surgeon obsessed with Poe's work to the point he constructs torture chambers in his mansion and Karloff as assassin on the run trying desperately to change his face, only to be met with ruin by trusting Vollin. Finale is cool - bunch of guests trapped in mansion, probably facing pain and death -, but it gives the impression Poe's creations built by Vollin could've been used in larger portions of the film.

What do you get when you mix Karloff, Lugosi and Poe? A charming little horror movie that, rather than many other films, chooses to use Poe's work as a framework rather than be another boring adaptation. Fine performances from all parties in involved, and the set design is rather fun!

Silly gothic fun that doesn't bother to adapt Poe but creates a Grand Guignol framework of its own on which to hang the fun teaming of Lugosi and Karlkoff. Lugosi is in fine way-over-the-top form, Karloff provides the real chills, such as they are; very mild by today's standards, but that's part of its charm. Just think of George Bush and Dick Cheney when Lugosi cries "YESSS! I _LIKE_ to TORTURE!!!"

A short horror film starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. It takes Poe's poem "The Raven" and adapts it in a way that is both a unique interpretation as well as faithful to the themes of the poem. Lugosi is in top form here, ranging from sympathetic to stark-raving mad.

This felt like a quicky-horror script thrown together to ensure another Lugosi-Karloff pairing. While Karloff's makeup is very good, it's the set design that pushes this up a notch, with its amazing set of torture contraptions. Best black humor line: "Do you mind if I smoke?"

O Corvo estreava há 85 anos nos EUA. A sacada de um doutor maluco por Poe que realiza o que o escritor apenas ousou imaginar é bem bacana, mas o resultado geral é meio tolinho. Box Versátil Edgar Allan Poe no Cinema Volume 3.

Really... odd.

If you're a fan of Lugosi or Karloff you'll be used to most of the movies they were in sucking when they weren't on screen. Well, this one certainly falls under that category, but it might just be the one Lugosi movie with the most Lugosi in it, which makes up for a lot of the really lackluster acting, writing and directing going on around the two greats.

Goofy but a lot of fun, with the Poe-obsessed Lugosi (who really is the lead despite second billing) pairing with Karloff. The silly sets (the ridiculous torture chamber the highlight) and over the top acting from both Lugosi and Karloff make for a fun time. Only about an hour long, which is good, because it could have overstayed its welcome otherwise. It's all over the top and really somewhat odd, but delightfully so. Like other Karloff/Lugosis, the film struggles when they're not on screen.

While I appreciated the idea of using Poe's work as inspiration more than slavish adaptation, I found the resulting drama to be more hokey than anything. Some of the psychological motivations were strange--esp. the daughter's crush on the "good" doctor. Everything feels overblown--not just acting, but the torture chamber house (an elevator, really?)

You can bet this featured a lot of cheesy horror! Lugosi a over-the-top mad doctor who's hobbies are Poe and torture, with his own little torture workshop in the back-room! To assist him torture people he's got a deformed Boris Karloff with some super corny make-up! But since it's Lugosi & Karloff it works as one of those type of horror films that gets you smiling and laughing all film long by just looking at them making weird facial expressions!

Karloff is effective, and Bela is sinister.

the people who made this film really hated ugly people, damn