The Raven The Bela Lugosi Collection

U.S.A. / 1935 Directed by Louis Friedlander Starring Boris Karloff Bela Lugosi Irene Ware B&W / 61 Minutes / Not Rated Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC) Universal Home Video

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5     8   10 = Highest Rating   Guest Review by Troy Howarth

• A look at one of the films in The Bela Lugosi Collection • DVD Rating is for entire set

A demented surgeon (Bela Lugosi) disfigures a gangster (Boris Karloff) and tries to terrorize a pretty ballerina (Irene Ware) into loving him...     In stark contrast to their first co-starring vehicle, Edgar G. Ulmer's superb The Black Cat (1934), The Raven emerges as more of a one-man show for Bela Lugosi, with Boris Karloff relegated to the sidelines. Alas, it proves to be rather a dreary affair. Utterly devoid of the style and imagination of the previous film, it unfolds like a 1930s 'B' serial, albeit without much in the way of excitement or suspense.     Lugosi's hotly debated central performance is key to one's appreciation of The Raven — or lack thereof. A fine performer capable of delivering superb character performances, here he goes way overboard with mixed results. On the one hand, his portrayal of megalomaniacal Dr. Vollin is consistent with a supporting character's description of his character as being "stark, staring mad." On the other, however, it's so ripely overplayed that it lurches quickly into self-parody. There are moments that are downright laughable, which is surely not what the filmmakers (or Lugosi) had in mind — for instance, his demented glee at the end of the film, complete with wild arm gestures and over the top laughter, is simply impossible to take seriously. Perhaps the actor was sending the material up, or perhaps it was simply a case of bad barnstorming, but whatever the motivation, Lugosi's comic book-level villainy is simply too overdone to be truly effective.     That being said, the wild overacting is one of the few elements of interest in the picture. Lugosi's costar, Boris Karloff, is afforded a few nice moments here and there, but his poorly developed character and bad makeup job (surely a low point for Universal's resident makeup wizard, Jack P. Pierce) don't allow him much of an opportunity. Cast as a hitman who is roped into Vollin's demented plans for revenge, he's given very little to do but delivers a nicely understated performance that stands in sharp contrast with Lugosi's work in the picture. The supporting cast is no better, ranging from the somnolent to the stiff and vacuous. Matters are hardly helped by the script, which renders even the supporting characters uninteresting and, even worse, largely unsympathetic. Even the attempts at some comedic relief characters fall flat, with their 'amusing' banter proving more irritating than humorous. It's utterly impossible to really care about what happens to anybody, when your leading character is a delusional loon and the object of his villainy is a grating flirt.     Flatly directed by Louis Friedlander (who later changed his name to Lew Landers and cranked out a slew of B pictures, including a better Lugosi film, 1944's Return Of the Vampire), The Raven emerges as the weakest of Universal's 1930s horror pictures. The film plays in a crude and flat-footed manner that lacks the elegance of even some of the other lesser Universal horrors of the period, such as Murders In The Rue Morgue. Friedlander's static direction slogs from one halfhearted set-piece to the next, culminating in a frenzied finale that never really catches fire. The lighting by Charles Stumar is occasionally moody, but more often lacks finesse. Too polished to be dismissed as inept, it is nevertheless thoroughly unremarkable filmmaking barely held afloat by the charisma of its two leading men. Viewers who can appreciate Lugosi's out of control performance will likely find a lot more to enjoy here; as for me, I'll watch The Black Cat or The Invisible Ray (1936) any old day of the week.

Universal's release of The Raven is part of their stellar Bela Lugosi Collection. The name of the collection has raised the ire of some Karloff enthusiasts, but the simple fact is that Lugosi is in all the films contained in this collection — Karloff, on the other hand, is only in four of them. The fullframe transfer looks very solid, with deep blacks and clean whites. The image shows some signs of wear and tear, but overall it looks very good for a film of this vintage. The mono soundtrack has some minor hissing and background noise, but is otherwise clean and clear; the music score has very good presence, in particular. Extras are nonexistent. (See EC's review of The Black Cat for a general description of the five-film Bela Lugosi Collection DVD.) 12/03/05

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