[7]

After success with House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Tales of Terror, Roger Corman further exploited Edgar Allan Poe’s name with The Raven. But this time, the film bears little resemblance to Poe’s story. Instead, legendary sci-fi scribe Richard Matheson wrote a fairly engaging comedic tale about three dueling wizards. Vincent Price plays the first wizard, mourning over the death of his wife, when the second wizard enters his home in the form of a talking raven. Together, they concoct a potion that returns the raven to its human form, at which point he’s played by Peter Lorre. Lorre confesses that he saw Price’s deceased wife at a third, nefarious wizard’s home earlier that same evening, and so the two set off to confront the third wizard, played by Boris Karloff. Jack Nicholson and Olive Sturgess join them for the shenanigans, which include a magical duel.

The Raven is a goofy, fun time. Matheson’s script is sweet and family-friendly. He leaves each wizard’s allegiance in question long enough to make the second and third acts more interesting than I was expecting. Lorre is funny at times, especially in his interactions with Nicholson (the two are father and son here). Karloff is charismatic as always, the sets are huge and impressive, the wardrobe is colorful, and the score is bright and cartoony. I found it to be a breath of fresh air.