Obsessed by THE RAVEN and other works of Edgar Allan Poe, a deranged doctor forces a disfigured killer into carrying out his nefarious schemes.
Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi team up again in another Universal shocker. Although Karloff gets top billing, this is Bela's film, giving him the chance to pull out all the stops menacing the fair maiden, while threatening death & dismemberment to her father, fiancé and friends with invitations to visit his basement torture chamber.
As a contrast, Karloff wisely underplays his role, letting the despair of the doomed eloquently play across his ravaged features. The Boys' best scene together comes when Karloff gets his first horrified look at his new face, savagely shooting the mirrors in the doctor's operating chamber, while Lugosi, watching through a grill in the ceiling, laughs maniacally.
Good support is offered from Samuel S. Hinds as a sturdy judge; Irene Ware as his lovely daughter (her interpretive dance based on The Raven is most intriguing); and Ian Wolfe & Spencer Charters as Lugosi's house guests.
Although obviously made rather cheaply, it is still good to see Karloff & Lugosi in a film in which style and imagination are allowed to help create the appropriate mood.
Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi team up again in another Universal shocker. Although Karloff gets top billing, this is Bela's film, giving him the chance to pull out all the stops menacing the fair maiden, while threatening death & dismemberment to her father, fiancé and friends with invitations to visit his basement torture chamber.
As a contrast, Karloff wisely underplays his role, letting the despair of the doomed eloquently play across his ravaged features. The Boys' best scene together comes when Karloff gets his first horrified look at his new face, savagely shooting the mirrors in the doctor's operating chamber, while Lugosi, watching through a grill in the ceiling, laughs maniacally.
Good support is offered from Samuel S. Hinds as a sturdy judge; Irene Ware as his lovely daughter (her interpretive dance based on The Raven is most intriguing); and Ian Wolfe & Spencer Charters as Lugosi's house guests.
Although obviously made rather cheaply, it is still good to see Karloff & Lugosi in a film in which style and imagination are allowed to help create the appropriate mood.