The Raven

1963

Action / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Horror

24
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 88% · 17 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 64% · 2.5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 14488 14.5K

magic castle sorcery parody sorcerer duel

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Plot summary

A magician who has been turned into a raven turns to a former sorcerer for help.

Director

Roger Corman Photo
Roger Corman

Top cast

Olive Sturgess Photo
Olive Sturgess as Estelle Craven
Peter Lorre Photo
Peter Lorre as Dr. Adolphus Bedlo
Jack Nicholson Photo
Jack Nicholson as Rexford Bedlo
Hazel Court Photo
Hazel Court as Lenore Craven
1080p.BLU
1.23 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 26 min
Seeds 18

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Fun horror /comedy with an exceptional quartet : Price , Karloff , Lorre and Nicholson

Amusing , delightful film produced by American Iternational , James H. Nicholson-Samuel Z. Arkoff , with a monumental team of terror all-star-cast as Price , Lorre and Karloff . This supreme adventure in terror and humor deals with a magician (Peter Lorre) who has been turned into a raven and turns to a former nobleman sorcerer (Vincent Price) for help in this film loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem , though takes only the title . Lorre asks Price to change his raven form into human and he helps him by a mixture of jellied spiders , bat's blood and dead man's hair . Then the two sorcerers , Price hypnotized by the memory of his dead second wife (Hazel Court) and his unfortunate associated go to a storm-surrounded castle inhabited by a rival wizard (Boris Karloff excels as an old sorcerer ) , the wickedest one of all . It gets funnier when our two friends along with their sons (Jack Nicholson as secondary in an enjoyable acting though you'd never guess he'd end up a superstar from his interpretation here , he had previously played ¨Little shop of horrors¨ in another comic performance ) pitting their magic wills against the nasty wizard . And the end takes place a funny duel between Price and Karloff including primitive but effective FX .This is more of a satire than a true terror movie , it is immaculately staged , stylishly realized , very literate , confidently made and plenty of eye-popping scenes . Terror has strangely been more skillfully spoofed than in this agreeable horror/comedy Corman directed . The picture packs usual Corman's striking scenarios including mists rise the ground , lugubrious castle , shrieks come from gloomy coffins , waves pound open the shore and vague shapes move behind the dismal mansions gone to the bad . Despite the original and incredible X certificate , most children will like this enormously fun film . Colorful cinematography by the series usual , Floyd Crosby . Frightening and atmospheric musical score by Les Baxter .The motion picture is well directed by Roger Corman and based on Richard Matheson's screenplay . It belongs the successful adaptation Edgar Allen Poe series . After his poverty-budget horror stories deemed many of them minor cult , Corman made the cycle of ¨Tales of Terror¨ which gave huge profits from minimal budgets . This Corman terror period during the 60s with classical horror adaptations also includes writer as H.P. Lovecraft with ¨The haunted palace¨ and result to be the following : ¨Tales of terror¨ , ¨The premature burial¨ , ¨Pit and pendulum¨ , ¨House of Usher¨ and on the sets and leftover from ¨The raven¨ was directed ¨The Terror¨ also with Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson . All of them with a great sense of characterization and period , eerily staged , specially in the scenes where heroes and heroines are lured by spirits , spectres or black cats . In these movies repeat the same technicians , assistants as Monte Hellman , musician composers as Ronald Stein and Les Baxter , Daniel Haller as production designer , cameraman as Floyd Crosby , among others . They were realized as vehicles for Vincent Price with the exception of ¨The premature burial¨ with Ray Milland and Hazel Court which was less successful . The last two pictures in the series , ¨The masque of death red¨ and ¨The tomb of Ligeia¨ were filmed in England to combat rising costs . Corman shot some exciting movies after these , but nothing remotely as interesting .
Reviewed by

Reviewed by preppy-3 8 / 10

A little TOO silly but still fun

A magician (Peter Lorre) is turned into a raven by an evil magician (Boris Karloff). He goes to get help from a kind magician (Vincent Price). Price and Lorre go off to battle Karloff.

Not much of a plot--but with Lorre, Price and Karloff do you need one? Not a great movie by any means--it got more than a little silly at times,the score was dreadful and the special effects are terrible (even by 1963 standards) but I enjoyed this. Some of the lines are fun and the sets look great but it's the acting that puts this over. Price overacts (as always) but in a fun way; Lorre deadpans most of his dialogue and it works; Karloff looks great--relaxed and just having a great time in his role. Also a very young Jack Nicholson is in this--he's terrible and he later admitted that he hated this film. Also Hazel Court (looking stunning) is great in a small role. The script is good but, purportedly, Lorre ad-libbed most of his lines (I did see Price fighting not to laugh a few times). The climatic duel is a definite highlight. Worth catching.

See a letter-boxed print. I saw it on a full frame print on TV with washed-out color. Half the time I couldn't tell what was going on because of the absence of the wide screen.

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