The Raven

THE RAVEN [1963 / 2015] [Blu-ray] The Supreme Adventure in Terror! The Macabre Masterpiece of Terror!Although “THE RAVEN” is one of Edgar Allan Poe s most famous poems, the lack of a narrative hook initially stumped screenwriting legend Richard Matheson [‘I Am Legend,’ ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ and ‘Duel’] until he realised that the idea of adapting the poem was so ridiculous that he might as well make it a comedy.And what a comedy! Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff play rival magicians whose paths cross when Dr Craven [Vincent Price] hears Dr. Bedlo tap-tap-tapping on his windowpane. For Bedlo [Peter Lorre] has been turned into a raven by Dr. Scarabus [Boris Karloff], and when transformed back into his old self he naturally vows revenge. But the scripted rivalry is as nothing compared to three great horror masters relentlessly upstaging each other even a young Jack Nicholson, as Bedlo’s son, barely gets a look-in.If there’s not much authentic Edgar Allan Poe in these sorcery shenanigans, the sets and cinematography more than compensate: director Roger Corman was by then a master of conjuring Gothic atmosphere on a very modest budget.Cast: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court, Olive Sturgess, Jack Nicholson, Connie Wallace, William Baskin, Aaron Saxon, John Dierkes, Dick Johnstone (uncredited) and Mark Sheeler (uncredited)Director: Roger CormanProducers: James H. Nicholson, Roger Corman and Samuel Z. ArkoffScreenplay: Richard Matheson and Edgar Allan Poe (poem)Composer: Les BaxterCinematography: Floyd CrosbyVideo Resolution: 1080p [Pathe Color]Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 [Panavision]Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio and Music: LPCM Mono AudioSubtitles: English SDHRunning Time: 86 minutesRegion: Region B/2Number of discs: 1Studio: American International Pictures / Arrow VideoAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: This was the fifth of Roger Corman's eight Edgar Allan Poe inspired films brought together some old horror masters, behind and in front of the cameras, for ‘THE RAVEN’ [1963], a loose comic take on the classic poem that pleased audiences, critics, and those involved in its making.Roger Corman directs this very lively, funny and hugely entertaining entry with this fifth in his Edgar Allan Poe series of films. This one has little to do with Edgar Allan Poe's original work save for the passages read over the opening of the film and a line or two spoken by Vincent Price. Comedy is the order of the day here. According to Roger Corman, everybody had a great time participating in this production. However, Boris Karloff was slightly annoyed during his time on the film working with Peter Lorre who ad-libbed much of his dialogue. Boris Karloff, was a classically trained actor, preferred to recite his lines exactly as they were written and this off-the-wall style of acting wreaked havoc with his method.Vincent Price is Dr. Erasmus Craven, a 15th century magician in retirement following the death of his wife, Lenore [Hazel Court]. He is startled one night by the appearance of a talking raven, who is actually another former magician, Dr. Adolphus Bedlo [Peter Lorre], turned into a bird for daring to challenge master sorcerer Dr. Scarabus [Boris Karloff]. Dr. Erasmus Craven returns Bedlo to human form, and the grateful man tells him he has seen a woman resembling Lenore living in Scarabus's castle. Traveling to the castle with Dr. Erasmus Craven's daughter and Bedlo's son, the group soon learns that Lenore and Scarabus are partners in treachery. In the end, Bedlo is once again a raven, and that's all we're going to give away, other than to note that the whole affair is a fun romp with its all very tongue firmly in cheek.Dr. Erasmus Craven returns Bedlo to his rightful form, and that’s when Bedlo notices the painting of Erasmus’s dead wife Lenore. Bedlo swears the woman is alive in the castle of Scarabus, and indeed she is. She had faked her own death after becoming bored with Erasmus, in order to enjoy Scarabus’s wealth and power. Bedlo turns out to be part of a plot to lure Erasmus to the castle so that Scarabus can learn the secret of the magician’s hand manipulations. Scarabus threatens to harm Erasmus’s daughter Estelle [Olive Sturgess] unless Erasmus reveals his power, and it is then that Erasmus realises that it’s time to take action. He challenges Scarabus to a duel to the death. The two magicians certainly duel, by conjuring snakes, bats, gargoyles, knives, cannons, fireballs, etc., but not quite to the death. Erasmus proves to be the more powerful of the two and, with the castle in flames, leaves triumphantly with Estelle, Bedlo and Bedlo’s inept but charming son Rexford [Jack Nicholson].If the plot seems slight, that's because it is. Richard Matheson's screenplay doesn't bulk up the source material- it ignores the poem entirely save for some quoted passages. What we get instead is is a series of comic set pieces followed by a saggy middle section. The film caps off with a spectacular and hilarious face-off between Dr. Erasmus Craven and Dr. Scarabus. Don't come looking for Richard Matheson's typical depth and subtext, because you will not find it here, just sit back and enjoy some jolly camp acting, with lots of magical spectacular three actors trying to outdo each other. The three lead horror heavyweights are in fine form, which is surprising given the age of Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. Still, for the most part, and the three legendary leads appear to be having a marvellous time. I enjoyed watching gothic horror film because it's so obvious that everyone enjoyed making the film with great gusto and hilarity, and you will enjoy it also.The Triumphant of Terror that happens with the film ‘THE RAVEN,’ is when melancholy magician Dr. Erasmus Craven, having recently relinquished his membership in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers after the apparent death of his wife Lenore, is paid a visit by a foul-mouthed talking raven, claiming to be small-time wizard Adolphus Bedlo. After some persuasion, Dr. Erasmus Craven returns Bedlo to human form, reversing a spell placed by the evil Dr. Scarabus, who is Dr. Erasmus Craven's chief rival. After learning that a woman bearing a strong likeness to Lenore was seen in the Doctor's company, Dr. Erasmus Craven accompanies Bedlo to Dr. Scarabus's castle, where the resulting battle of wills escalates into all-out magical warfare between the two embittered sorcerers.The film’s biggest boost is clearly the three leading actors who are all at their absolute peak. I especially enjoyed Peter Lorre who brazenly steals every scene he is in and ad-libbed many of his funny lines much to the consternation of his fellow co-stars. In fact if Peter Lorre wasn’t in this film it wouldn’t have been half as enjoyable. A young Jack Nicholson as his son is equally entertaining and the frosty relationship that the two characters have was apparently a carry-over from how they felt about each other from behind-the-scenes. Some of the effects are clearly animated, which looks tacky and as the group arrive at Scarabus’s castle one can see that the place is merely a painting matted on the screen. The story also does have its share of lulls, but all in all this gets forgiven by the climactic sorcerer’s duel, which is the film’s fantastic highlight.As a post script for the film ‘THE RAVEN,’ is that in 1960 when producer-director Roger Corman launched his highly successful series of films loosely based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, he turned to Richard Matheson for the first screenplay, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ [1960]. Richard Matheson went onto pen ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ [1961], ‘Tales of Terror’ [1962], and ‘The Raven’ [1963]. Appropriately, Richard Matheson later won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for his writing on ‘The Night Stalker’ [1972]. Jack Nicholson has a role as Peter Lorre's son, Rexford. In later years, Jack Nicholson had high praise for everyone he worked with on the film, except for the Raven itself, as Jack Nicholson had a nasty habit of relieving himself all over the set. Boris Karloff had appeared in another film with the same title in 1935, co-starring with Bela Lugosi. Other than the name, however, the two pictures have nothing to do with each other. The film took the critics and the public by complete surprise and out-grossed all of the previous films in the franchise. When the picture was shown to the censorship board they not only approved it, they actually praised it, which pleased Roger Corman no end. But the picture’s success cast some serious doubts about the future of Edgar Allan Poe at the box-office. Despite this conundrum, seriously folks, you could die laughing, that is how funny and hilarious this film is!Blu-ray Video Quality – Once again Arrow Video has done a very professional job with ‘THE RAVEN’ on this Blu-ray, that has been presented with a stunning 1080p progressive widescreen encoded image. The source used for this transfer that has been transferred from original film elements by M-G-M and is in superb shape, as colours look nicely saturated, flesh tones look accurate, details look crisp and black levels look consistently great throughout. Grain look healthy and natural throughout, there are no issues with DNR [Digital Noise Reduction] or compression. Overall another solid transfer from Arrow Video that is on par with their transfer for their other Vincent Price releases. Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.Blu-ray Audio Quality – With the release of this Arrow Video Blu-ray audio presentation of ‘THE RAVEN,’ this release comes with two audio options, one is the 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio mix in English and an equally excellent Isolated Music and Effects Track. The audio sounds really clean, clear and well balanced throughout. Range wise though things sound rather limited and the more ambient aspects of the soundtrack are well represented. The release of the second audio track with music and effects track is very much welcomed addition. Also included as usual with this release are the English SDH subtitles.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:High Definition Blu-ray [1080p] presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by M-G-M.Original uncompressed 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio.Optional Isolated Music and Effects track.Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.Special Feature: The Two Faces of Peter Lorre [1984] [61:00] Harun Farocki’s career-spanning black-and-white documentary portrait of Peter Lorre’s early days in the theatre alongside Bertolt Brecht [Poet] to his untimely death. Driven by an audio soundtrack that consists solely of an unhappy-sounding female narrator and blending factual information with intellectualising, with just a smidgen of artistic snobbery, it does follow a timeline through Peter Lorre's career, but focuses on specific films, perhaps unsurprisingly, the classic film ‘M’ is afforded a generous amount of screen time, and is big on thematic deconstruction. Peter Lorre achieved international fame for his performance in the myth-making role in M. This character has held a peculiar fascination for generations of cinéphiles. However, at the time, whilst such success meant recognition, it also weighed on the Hungarian actor as a constrictive burden. Using photographs and film extracts, ‘The Double Face’ [‘Das doppelte Gesicht’] reconstructs the ups and downs of Lorre's career, taking into consideration the economic imperatives and workings of the film industry at the time. Subtitled in English for the first time. Despite it being a worthy documentary of Peter Lorre, I did find it slightly hard going and very confusing as well, and didn’t help with the strong boring monotonous German audio presentation, that I found distracted me at times, but now and again you do get some English presentation of films Peter Lorre has been in. Director: Harun Farocki. Screenplay: Harun Farocki. Cinematography: Ingo Kratisch and Wolf-Dieter Fallert.Special Feature: Richard Matheson: Storyteller [2003] [1080p] [1.78:1] [6:30] M-G-M Home Entertainment presents this very interesting interview with the legendary novelist and screenwriter. Here we have a brief but welcome chat with screenwriter and author Richard Matheson, who describes himself as “an offbeat writer” and explains why he decided to transform the Edgar Allan Poe “The Raven” poem into a comedy film, which he actually wrote 20 to 30 pages while on vacation with his wife on an old fashioned typewriter. Richard describes Vincent Price as the nicest man he ever met in Hollywood, and he also described Boris Karloff as a very fine gentleman. Richard also reveals that at this stage in his life for Boris Karloff, even walking was very painful and said he was very concerned when on the set, which is then illustrated by a clip from the film of him slowly descending the stairs that makes you wince with understanding of the situation. Richard Matheson also states that few so-called scary actors realise just how funny they can be, well he might be just right. Sadly this special feature on Richard Matheson was far too short and I would have really liked to hear more from this very interesting person. Director: Greg Carson. Producer: Greg Carson. Cinematography: J.B. Letchinger.Special Feature: Corman’s Comedy of Poe [2003] [480i] [1.33:1] [8:10] M-G-M Home Entertainment presents an interview with Roger Corman discussing the making of the film ‘THE RAVEN,’ and was recorded in 2003. To get us in the mood we get the start of the film with all the swirling colours and of course we hear Vincent Price reading the Edgar Allan Poe “The Raven” poem. With this interview Roger Corman describes the film ‘THE RAVEN’ as one of his favourite film and really enjoyed directing it. Roger Corman recalls that it was Peter Lorre who seemed to be having the most fun with his typical improvisation, to the point where it started to flummox the more classically trained Boris Karloff, who prefers to go with what is written in the script. Roger also informs us that most of Poe’s poems are very similar in style and sadly the films with AIP started to look also very similar, so with the help of Richard Matheson they decided to make ‘THE RAVEN’ in a totally different direction and make it a 100% comedy film. Over time the sets from previous Roger Corman films were reused and over time they added new scenery and by the time ‘THE RAVEN’ was filmed the sets had become enormous. Roger really enjoyed working with Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, who decided to do lots of improvisation, which Boris Karloff did not, as he preferred to stick to the scrip, because Boris was a trained actor in England. Roger also talked about the young Jack Nicholson and how he wanted the audience to think that Peter Lorre [father] had a love/hate relationship throughout the film. Roger also explained about some of the trick effects when it came to the “Battle of the Wizards” scenes in the film and how it was achieved, but because at the time of the film, they had to use an optical printer to create the effects and wish he had the modern technology of today’s filming, with the CGI effects, but despite the low budget of the film, he is still pleased with the results and says that it is one of his favourite films and I totally agree with Roger 100%. Director: Greg Carson. Producer: Greg Carson. Cinematography: J.B. Letchinger.Special Feature: ‘THE TRICK’ [1997] [1080i] 1.78:1] [12:19] Black Cat Films presents a short film about rival magicians, and is written and directed by Rob Green. Here we see three judges who are in a hall for ‘The Master Magicians’ who are here to audition different magicians and to vote on who they feel are true magicians. The first silent magician is shown the exit. The second silent magician is totally mysterious in his performance, but disappears behind his magic green door, so the three judges go to investigate, who also disappear mysteriously. But what happens to everyone, you will have to view this really spooky video and when you see the final scene of the video is very disturbing, but please be warned, especially if you are a person of a nervous disposition. By the way, if you act like the three selfish judges, you too could well get your comeuppance if you are in a similar situation. Cast: Clive Perrott, Steven O'Donnell, Tanya Myers, Mark Webb [The Fake Chinaman], Don Warrington [The Magic Man], Neil D’Souza, Emma Graham, Tanya Lowry, Claire Lubert, Alison Morrow, Ralph Perrott, Oliver Reade and Christian Wheeler. Director: Rob Green. Producers: Kate Dain, Leslie A. Jones and Sarah Carr. Screenplay: Rob Green. Composer: Michael Hewer. Cinematography: Peter Field.Special Feature: Stills and Poster Gallery [1080p] [5:41] 57 stunning black-and-white and colour production stills, with a handful of cinema posters, some of the main actors, behind-the-scene images of the sets and publicity images, all in sparkling brilliant HD resolution. Use the chapter navigation on the remote to manually move through all the images you view.Special Feature: Promotional Record [1963] [1080p] [5:41] This is an audio promotional presentation in conjunction with the film ‘THE RAVEN’ that pushes the film as a work of "monstrous terror" and includes an introduction by Boris Karloff who welcomes us with his very spooky voice and we also get to hear Peter Lorre reading segments from the Edgar Allan Poe's original “The Raven” poem. You'd never know there was a moment of humour in the film from this and Boris Karloff even suggests that it's so terrifying that "it may be the last picture you ever see," but it's a valuable inclusion and a splendid listen. This special Hi-Fidelity audio presentation was originally released on a Japanese Long Playing Album and you get an image of the record label, which states “LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE’S THE RAVEN.”Theatrical Trailer [1963] [1080i] [2.35:1] [2:25] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for ‘THE RAVEN.’ We are informed with a spooky presentation, when you hear the announcer say, "A tempest of thrilling terror!" And we get to see Boris Karloff and Vincent Price doing their hand manipulation wizardry, with great aplomb. Sadly this is of very poor quality, but despite this, it is a brilliant presentation.PLUS: Beautiful Designed Reversible Blu-ray sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov. Vladimir Zimakov is a Los Angeles based artist, designer and illustrator who works in a variety of techniques including linocut, silkscreen and letterpress among other traditional and digital media. He also frequently conducts workshops and teaches college level courses in the areas of Graphic Design, Illustration and Foundation.BONUS: Beautiful Designed Collector’s 28 page booklet featuring new writing “COMEDY AND KARLOFF” by Vic Pratt and “THE TRICK” Rob Green. It also includes “CAST;” “CREW;” “ABOUT THE TRANSFER;” PRODUCTION CREDITS” and “SPECIAL THANKS.” It also has brilliant illustrations artwork and with original rare black-and-white stills.Finally, cramming classic horror actors like Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre all into one gothic horror film would be hard to mess up, since they are all pros in their acting craft at this sort of thing. Anyone who enjoys gothic horror, fantasy, comedy, or light-hearted adventures will love this film, especially knowing that Roger Corman and company relished the opportunity to poke fun at the staid Edgar Allan Poe series, and the distinguished leads contribute to the spirit of fun by lampooning their own cinematic reputations. Plus fans of Jack Nicholson (who cut his acting teeth on this and other AIP productions) should enjoy his melodramatic performance here as Bedlo's straight-as-an-arrow son; Jack Nicholson would later co-star with Boris Karloff in the Roger Corman film ‘The Terror,’ which was shot in two days using the same sets! Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film FanLe Cinema ParadisoWARE, United Kingdom

Delivered quicker then promised in prefect condition

A fun film with Vincent Price, Boris Karlof and a young Jack Nicholson. Average special effects and quite silly but still fun

A truly excellent copy by Arrow, with great detail. In the opening sequence with the stormy waves crashing on the rocks the image is crystal clear and when it switches to Vincent Price performing his character's hand magic the detail is really first class. This is Arrow video at their best. I have no hesitation in recommending this Blu-ray disc to anyone.

ARROW give us another ROGER CORMAN classic and once again its a winner.The movie stars V PRICE PETER LORRE and BORIS KARLOFF and all give great comedy performance a lot i think is because CORMAN gets the best out of them.Now about the disc we get a very nice widescreen picture and with good sound on the extra side you get loads of very nice extras on the disc and a nice booklet.On the cover we get a very nice repo of the poster and it looks very nice with its yellow cover.So once again another winner from ARROW so if you enjoy this movie just buy this disc you wont see it better than this once again well done ARROW

It's good to see this in 1080p. German produced documentary review on Peter Lorre's film career is adequate if you don't mind reading English subtitles for an hour. Raven doc shorts carried over from previous DVD release. No commentary track. "The Trick" is ok as a short subject.

This film takes me back 50years it was the first film I saw with special effects not great by today’s standard but in colour with a very very young Jack Nicholson.

son loved this film. very good story and very good print

This is a fun movie not to be taken seriously. Vincent price and Peter lorrie go at in fun with Boris Karloff playing it straight. Makes for fun

I love this movie! It’s classic Vincent Price, but this film is my favourite of his. Highly recommend this movie to those Price fans out there.

Roger Corman's "The Raven", loosely based on the Poe, is a very fun, whimsical fantasy tale. Strong cast with Price, Karloff, and Lorre, and a young Jack Nicholson. The print of the film and restoration is excellent, the bonus interviews and audio commentaries are helpful. Worth while for completeists...worth your time.

Non avevo mai visto questo film, e mio nonno mi ha trasferito la passione per i film anni '30 e '40. Davvero stupendo, ben restaurato e sorprendente anche per i nostri tempi.

Good horror from the sixties.Well done.Jack Nicholson is also good.One of his first movies.