The Raven (1935)

Another of those supposed Lugosi/Karloff Poe adaptations; in this case the title might have better been The Pit and The Pendulum, or even better, The Man Who Collected Poe, (both used in other, later, features.) There are partial readings of The Raven, but that’s pretty much it for its having informed the movie’s plot.

A dotty (no one could possibly believe the excuse that love drove him mad: He's mad from the moments he's introduced,) Poe-collecting, middle-aged doctor (Bela Lugosi) saves a young lady’s life only to fall for her and be immediately spurned.

To avenge himself on her, her fiancé and her father, he disfigures and then blackmails a fugitive from the law (Boris Karloff) to do his dirty work for him. Lugosi figures that if his initially reluctant subject is ugly looking, he’ll be able to do the ugly acts that are asked of him.

Lugosi uses Karloff mostly to be his muscle since he’s already got all that he needs: He’s been plenty busy designing and building Poe-influenced torture devices in his very spacious basement.

Karloff gets an embarrassingly poor makeup job (a partial mask and painted-on right eye); but other than that weird misstep, the mechanical house (with secret passages and elevated bedroom) and its torture dungeon is worthy of Fu Manchu or any self-respecting, old timey, serial villain with a decent budget. The sequences in which it’s showcased are nearly the only worthwhile elements in this movie for those searching for horrific thrills.

The disfigurement affects Karloff’s character speech pattern, but also maybe his mental faculties (though he does get to narrate during a ballet sequence as a different character); and Lugosi’s nutty from the start, but at least the two Horror veterans are trying to elevate the quality of the production.

The early parts seem like some sort of dark, crime drama; even at the point where the already-deformed Karloff shoots at mirrors with Lugosi laughing maniacally over him there is still not a single clue of where any of this is headed.

Once again, the heroes and the humor are insipid and unimpressive.

A classic like Mad Love this clearly isn’t, but it’s still pretty outrageous and definitely worth spending sixty minutes with its creepy characters.

With Lester Matthews, Irene Ware, Samuel S. Hinds, Spencer Charters and Inez Courtney.