Jack Nicholson Movie:

The Raven [Region 2] Reviews:
Enter The Magician -- Price, Lorre & Karloff Comedy!
2009-11-01 - Vincent Price The Fall of the House of Usher is Craven, a recluse magician and son of a powerful wizard who died long ago (and whose coffin is conveniently in his basement, but I digress). Peter Lorre flies in as a raven, changed into this doubtful bird by Scarabus (Karloff) who plots and plans to lure Craven and steal his power.

Lots of funny stuff and silliness between these horror icons makes for a cheesy, fun time for a Halloween viewing. I've read where Lorre & Price were ad-libbing like crazy during the filming, irritating Karloff who was going by script.

Richard Matheson The Incredible Shrinking Man wrote the wild screenplay, directed by the infamous Roger Corman, one of American International's decent horror comedies.

A young Jack Nicholson The Shining as the bumbling son of Lorre's character, dressed like Robin Hood. Jack was much better as a scary horror icon than the forced attempts at humor. According to some trivia, during the raven scenes, the bird seemed to poop on Jack more than any other cast member! The magic duel was OK with the less than spectacular animation. I like the snakes turning into hankerchiefs and gargoyles becoming a bunch of puppies. Cute & cheesy.

Recommend seeing this with the DVD special collection: The Comedy of Terrors/The Raven

Other Corman Films that would include one or more of these classic horror actors:

The Fall of the House of Usher /The Pit and the Pendulum
Terror
Tales of Terror


Raving About Roger Corman's The Raven (1963)
2008-11-13 - Raving About Roger Corman's The Raven (1963)


Every October my daughter and I pick up a few spooky movies to get into the Halloween groove. This year, I had the pleasure of introducing her to one of my all time favourite horror comedy classics, Director Roger Corman's "The Raven." The screenplay is adapted (VERY loosely) from the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem. This is one of Corman's many American International Picture adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's works, and one of his best.

As the king of "b" horror movies, Corman knew had to make the most out of a tight budget. His stylish films consistently used good source material, well written screenplays, lavish set designs, locations, props, costumes and great horror stars. "The Raven" boasts no less a cast than Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Jack Nicholson, and 60's scream queen Helen Court - a mind boggling cast given that this is a low budget film.

Pairing horror legends Price, Lorre, and Karloff was indeed a momentous occasion and the stars make the most of it. Any semblance to Poe's Gothic poem pretty much ends after Vincent Price reads the first few lines (brilliantly recited despite its brevity) at the intro of the movie. Afterwards, screenplay writer Richard Matheson takes the sombre mood of the original poem and turns it on its ear with his original comic screenplay.

At the outset of the film, we learn that Price's character (Dr.Craven - a wizard) has lost his wife Lenore (Helen Court) and has long mourned her loss. He's interrupted in the midst of his grief by "a tapping at his door." Price opens the door to find himself confronted by a raven (Peter Lorre). The raven, it turns out, can talk and is actually a rascally wizard named Dr Bedlo who has been enchanted by the evil wizard Dr Scarabus (Boris Karloff). He entreats the amazed doctor to help him become a man again.

Richard Matheson's screenplay provides the actors with some wonderful comedy dialogue with which to work. Price and Lorre had been previous teamed in Tales of Terror, and their styles blend beautifully together - they are a scream! They set about concocting a potion in set designer Daniel's Haller's creepily atmospheric dungeon. After much fumbling, Price finally manages to restore Lorre's human head, but his body remains that of a giant human sized raven. Seeing Lorre strut his stuff in the Big Bird raven costume is almost worth the DVD price by itself!

Once restored, Lorre swears revenge on Dr Scarabus. He asks for Price's help. But the doctor refuses until Lorre's character spots a portrait of Price's long lost wife and remarks that he's seen the woman at Scarabus' castle. The two set off for the castle along with Price's daughter (Olive Sturgess) and Bedlo's son (played by a young delightfully hammy Jack Nicholson).

When Lorre and Price reach the castle, the fireworks begin - figuratively and literally. It's clear these three horror icons are having the time of their lives, hilariously spoofing their monster screen personas. Dated special effects (though fine for their day) detract little from the final magical showdown between Karloff and Price.

I never get sick of seeing this movie and happily give it a rave review! Grab the popcorn and enjoy.

Rob Rheubottom

Winnipeg, MB Canada




Misses the mark
2008-03-26 - A raven appears at the home of magician Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) claiming to be a man transformed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff). Craven turns him back into human form and is then told that his late wife is alive and well and living at Scarabus castle.

This movie is supposed to be campy-funny, but I found it dated and dull. The costumes are out of King Arthur while the dialogue is modern; the plot made no sense and wasn't even remotely funny. It was set, apparently, in the middle ages, yet Price recites the 19th century poem, "The Raven." Price played it straight while Karloff was obviously kidding. The whole first hour was a set-up for the "magical duel" between Price and Karloff which turned out to be just lame effects and sleepwalking actors. The only thing that kept me watching was a very young Jack Nicholson as Bedlo's callow son. I'm sure the actors thought they were making a tongue-in-cheek spoof, but it's a boring, pointless waste of talent.

Can A Comedy Be Dark And Wholesome At The Same Time?
2007-07-27 - A lot of times people refer to a movie as "dark". As I comment, I will say that this has some "black humor" in it, i.e. humor that is a little on the sickening side, but I would not use the term dark. Allow me to explain why.

Did anyone notice that this picture is rated "G"? Of course, as with any other film I would watch it with my children (as if I had any), but the only question I have about children seeing this movie really is Hazel Court's low cut dress, and possibly the desertion angle, though children do have to deal with that situation some.

There are movies that give me the impression that the actors are having the time of their lives when they make them. "Dick Tracy" and "Sneakers" are examples of this. So is "The Raven". Vincent Price and Boris Carloff (both inaugural members of the Horror Hall of Fame, the only actors with that honor) are great as rival magicians Craven and Scarabus (respectively), and Peter Lorre steals the show as Dr. Bedlo, whether it he is visible before the camera, or whether it's just his voice when his character is turned into a raven. Jack Nicholson did not show much promise of the career to come, nor was he given much opportunity in this to show it, but he managed his role well. (By the way, there are only nine actors in this whole movie!)

Not remembering my Disney movie chronology, I wonder if either this movie or "The Sword In The Stone" (whichever was made first) influenced the other. The battle between Craven and Scarabus reminds me of Merlin facing off with Mad Madam Mim in Disney's cartoon. Another movie comparison is with Casino Royale, where at points Price's performance reminds me of David Niven's in the other movie, but I found this comedy, while not having much more of a plot, a lot funnier and more coherent, and definitely more wholesome.

Let me give two morality points that are found in this comedy. At one point, Craven realizes he made a mistake of not earlier confronting Scarabus but being apathetic. Evil succeeds when good men do nothing. This is a message we need to remember, to stand up to evil.

The other thing I noticed (SPOILER ALERT -- DO NOT READ THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT THE STORY SPOILED) is that in the "battle to the death", Craven didn't try very hard to kill off Scarabus. There was one possibly fatal attack given to Scarabus, but most of the attacks from Craven were defensive or if more offensive, definitely not deadly.

The beginning and the ending were my favorite parts, both playing on the famous line of Egdar Allen Poe's classic poem.

One last note: there was a movie about thirty years earlier called "The Raven". Like this one, they both allude to the writings of Poe, and both team up Carloff with other famous horror actors (Price and Lorre here, and Bela Lugosi in the other), but there the similarities end.

Perfect Rainy Saturday Afternoon Movie
2007-06-08 - This is the kind of movie I loved to find on TV on a rainy afternoon when I was a kid. It's not really a horror movie but a tongue in cheek spoof of the genre. I was amazed to find a young not yet famous Jack Nicholson in the film with three horror acting kings - Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. The flick is directed by famous B scary movie master Roger Corman and everyone involved seems to be having a blast. The movie is very very loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's mysterious and haunting poem but since everything is played for laughs Mr. Poe would probably have a hard time recognizing his contribution.