Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

poe-48833 If ever Bela Lugosi seemed to enjoy a role more than his part in THE RAVEN, I missed it: he actually seems to RELISH torturing Karloff (or Karloff's CHARACTER, anyway). It's when the full extent of Lugosi's duplicity is revealed that the utter HORROR of what he's done hits us- and it's to Karloff's credit that he was willing to wear such an outstandingly Horrific makeup. I've seen photos of the original makeup design and it was, believe it or not, even more horrific than what appears in the movie. Karloff and Lugosi took turns tormenting one another in their joint efforts, but Lugosi in particular seemed to shine when he had the upper hand (as here and in THE BLACK CAT, which is my favorite of their no-holds-barred collaborations, although THE BODY SNATCHER is better still overall).

tomgillespie2002 After the phenomenal success of 1931's Dracula and Frankenstein, the names of Hunarian Bela Lugosi and Englishman Boris Karloff adorned nearly every poster Universal released in their horror range for the few years that followed. Despite Lugosi playing the central figure in many of these films, he always found his name overshadowed by that of Karloff, who was enjoying roles outside of the horror genre while Lugosi found himself typecast to his utter dismay. 1935's miniature The Raven (it runs at just an hour and 1 minute) is a prime example of this, despite Lugosi appearing in nearly every scene and delivering one of his best performances as a raving-mad doctor.When Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) is seriously injured in a car crash, her father Judge (Samuel S. Hinds) and fiancé Jerry Halden (Lester Matthews) call upon the services of highly-skilled surgeon Dr. Richard Vollin (Lugosi). Vollin successfully nurses Jean back to health and becomes enamoured by her, though his advances are discouraged by her father. Vollin is approached by fugitive criminal Bateman (Karloff), who wants the doctor to perform plastic surgery on him to hide his identity. Still enraged at Judge for denying him the woman he loves, Vollin disfigures Bateman and promises to fix his face, but only if he assists in a plan to exact vengeance using various torture devices inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe.Like Roger Corman's 1963 film of the same name, The Raven bears little resemblance to the work of Poe. Lugosi's deranged doctor is a fan of his work, pondering whether Poe's work was a reflection of the man himself, and keeps the bust of a raven as his talisman. Lew Landers' The Raven instead is a rather suggestively grisly horror, with characters being trapped in famous Poe devices such as the shrinking room and the pendulum, and was so extreme for its day that it flopped at the box-office and led to a ban on horror in the UK. By today's standards, it's wonderfully daft and incredibly fun, never feeling rushed despite it's slim running time. Outside of Dracula, this may also be Lugosi's best performances, although it came just before Universal's change of management and the start of Lugosi's tragic mainstream career decline.

Scott LeBrun This wonderful teaming of horror greats Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi is an incredible amount of fun. The stars play off each other beautifully, and are well supported by a strong group of actors. Director Lew Landers gives the story great pacing and a gleefully macabre flair. The scenario comes complete with torture devices, secret chambers, rooms that elevate, and some pretty good makeup for Karloff.Lugosi plays Richard Vollin, an esteemed surgeon with an Edgar Allan Poe obsession. When lovely young Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) gets into a bad car accident, he agrees to save her life, albeit very reluctantly. The bad doctor soon develops another fixation, this time on Jean. When her father, a judge (Samuel S. Hinds), warns Vollin to stay away from her, Vollin goes mad. He shanghais escaped criminal Edmond Bateman (Karloff) and disfigures him, promising to restore Batemans' face only if he will help Vollin with his evil schemes.This is very much essential viewing for lovers of Karloff and Lugosi. Karloff is good as always, playing a basically sympathetic character despite his past. Ware and Hinds are both fine, as are Lester Matthews, Spencer Charters, Inez Courtney, Ian Wolfe, and Maidel Turner. But this is pretty much Lugosis' show. He gets a chance to really tear into the scenery, and looks like he's having a whale of a time. Vollins' Poe obsession also allows him to do some recitals of lines from the Poe poem.There's some potentially strong stuff here for some viewers, but "The Raven" has lots of energy and clocks in at just over 61 minutes. The second half is the best part.Eight out of 10.

Rainey Dawn Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. The movie The Raven is not the poem on film but rather about a neurological surgeon, Dr. Vollin (Lugosi), who is a huge fan of Poe and is stark-raven-mad (pun intended). He falls in love with Jean Thatcher and looks at her as Poe's Lenore.Karloff plays the criminal Edmond Bateman that wants to hide his looks by having Dr. Vollin (Lugosi) to make him look nice and different. He is forced to do Vollin's dirty work for him.The movie falls into a kind of madness that is highly entertaining and worth watching for fans of horror, Poe, Lugosi and/or Karloff.9/10