The Raven (1935)

Summary: Dr. Vollin is a retired doctor who just enjoys sitting with his Edgar Allen Poe collection of memorabilia. One night Judge Thatcher begs and pleads with him to save his daughter, Jean, who had been in a bad car accident. Vollin eventually gives in, fixes her and become obsessed with her. However he finally gets some bad ideas once a convicted and escaped murderer visits him for help. Blackmailing the murderer with a botched surgery job and the promise to fix it...Vollin eventually gets Jean, her fiancée and her father into his house for a final game of torture.           Overall: I’m a big fan of Lugosi and Karloff but this film is not very good. The plot makes little sense. Vollin spend 20 minutes refusing to help the girl, then decides to do so…seconds later the surgery is done, it’s a success and 30 days have passed. What? Huh? Then the film slows back down as the girl, knowing of Vollin’s obsession for her, invites him to a play she’s starring in based on Poe’s works. We slowly creep through the introduction of Karloff as the escapee and his own pain of being purposefully disfigured by Vollin then speed up again for a climax that makes little to no sense. The bird, in the title, appears basically once and has nothing to do with the plot. Skip this one.           Comparison: Bloody Pit of Horror meets The Black Cat

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