4/21/2007

Back when I was in high school, I did radio shows on the school’s fm station- I was always amazed that, here was an actual radio station that I could pick up at my house- and I could do real radio programs on it! One of the things I did was a comic super-hero program called “the Raven.” This has nothing to do with anything, other than to lead me into the plug for the Sven movie tonight- surprisingly titled- “the Raven!” It features the big guns of Universal horror once again- Bela Lugosi (who will appearing in his classic role next month- hint-hint!) and Boris Karloff! Unlike last week’s film, which was related only barely to the works of Edgar Allan Poe- this one is steeped in Poe! Bela is a renowned doctor who is a fanatic about Poe and his works- to the point where he actually has a dungeon with implements of torture mentioned in Poe’s stories and poems! He saves the life of a young woman- and starts to show more interest in her than her father would like…meanwhile, Boris shows up as an escaped killer who wants him to do surgery on his face- so he can finally put his life of crime behind him and fade into oblivion. The wily Bela, however, has an angle that will put Boris at his mercy- and performs a hideous operation on the convict! Bela then sues his leverage to get Boris to join him in a scheme to take out Poe-etic punishment on those who have thwarted his plans for happiness. Horrific torture from “the Pit and the Pendulum” is only one of the fates Bela has in store for his unwitting guests in “the Raven!” I especially like Boris’ portrayal of the escaped killer- certainly a vile individual, but, at the same time- tired of the criminal life, yet unwilling to go back and pay his debt to society. And- Bela truly descends into madness as the story progresses; for those who only know these actors from their greatest roles (or, in Bela’s case, from his more pitiable performances in the Ed Wood epics)- you can really appreciate their dramatic prowess in this film- even more so than in last week’s film, “the Black Cat.” Certainly, there is some over-the-top acting, as we’ve seen in many of these thirties fright films- but the chilling atmosphere still works! Of course, there’s Sven stuff added to the mix- including Tombstone’s version of the classic Poe “Raven” poem. So, tune in for the fun- whether it’s at 9 pm on WCIU, or at 1 am on our sister station, Me-TV! You know I don’t want to start without you…