The Raven (1963 film)

The Raven is a 1963 American independent B movie/horror-comedy film produced and directed by Roger Corman. The film stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff as a trio of rival sorcerers. The supporting cast features a young Jack Nicholson as Lorre's character's son.

It was the fifth in the so-called Corman-Poe cycle of eight films largely featuring adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories produced by Roger Corman and released by AIP. The film was written by Richard Matheson, based on references to Poe's poem "The Raven".

Three decades earlier, Karloff had appeared in another film with the same title, Lew Landers's 1935 horror film The Raven with Bela Lugosi.

Plot

Set during the 15th century, the sorcerer Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) has been mourning the death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court) for over two years, much to the chagrin of his daughter Estelle (Olive Sturgess). One night he is visited by a raven, who happens to be a transformed wizard, Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre). Together they brew a potion that restores Bedlo to his old self. Bedlo explains he had been transformed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) in an unfair duel, and both decide to see Scarabus, Bedlo to exact revenge and Craven to look for his wife's ghost, which Bedlo reportedly saw at Scarabus' castle. After fighting off the attack of Craven's coachman, who apparently acted under the influence of Scarabus, they set out to the castle, joined by Craven's daughter Estelle and Bedlo's son Rexford (Jack Nicholson).

The Raven

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.

Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay, "The Philosophy of Composition". The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens. Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout.

The Raven (song)

"The Raven" is a 1976 song by the Alan Parsons Project from their album Tales of Mystery and Imagination. The song is based on the Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name; the song was written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, and was originally recorded in April 1975, at Mama Jo's Studio, North Hollywood, Los Angeles and Abbey Road Studios, London.

It was one of the first rock songs to use a vocoder, developed by EMI, to distort vocals. It is also one of the few songs by the band featuring the vocals of Alan Parsons, who sings the first verse through the EMI vocoder. Actor Leonard Whiting performs the lead vocals for the remainder of the song, with Eric Woolfson and a choir as backing vocals.

The 1987 reissued version of the song contains a guitar solo near the end, before the "Quoth the Raven"/"Nevermore, nevermore, nevermore, never!" refrains and a few licking sounds between the lyrics.

In 2004, the choral band Gregorian made a cover of the song for their "The Dark Side" album.

The Raven (The Stranglers album)

The Raven is the fourth studio album by English new wave band The Stranglers. It was released on 21 September 1979, through record label United Artists.

Background

The first two songs, much of the artwork (the band is shown standing on the prow of a viking longship) and the album title refer to Norse mythology. The album deals with a variety of issues including Japanese ritual suicide ("Ice"), heroin use ("(Don't Bring) Harry"), the Iranian Revolution ("Shah Shah a Go Go") and Genetic engineering ("Genetix").

"Meninblack" became the starting point for their next album, The Gospel According to the Meninblack.

Release

The Raven was released on 21 September 1979. It reached No. 4 in the UK albums chart, remaining in the chart for eight weeks. However, it is believed[by whom?] it should have made No.1 but for an error in the chart. The Police hit No.1 despite their album not yet being released, leading to controversy that the Police album was mis-credited with sales of The Raven.