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The Raven
(1915) United States of America
B&W : Six reels
Directed by Charles J. Brabin
Cast: Henry B. Walthall [Edgar Allan Poe], Warda Howard [Virginia Clemm; Helen Whitman; The Lost Lenore; and a spirit], Ernest Maupain [John Allan], Eleanor Thompson [Mrs. Allan, his wife], Marion Skinner [Mrs. Clemm], Harry Dunkinson [Tony, Poe’s chum], Grant Foreman [George Graham, publisher], Hugh E. Thompson [David Poe Jr.], Peggy Meredith [Mrs. Hopkins (Poe), his wife], Frank Hamilton [David Poe Sr.], Billy Robinson [Joseph Reed], Burt Weston [a negro], Charles K. Harris [Mr. Pelham], [?] ? [John Poe], [?] ? [Edgar Allan Poe, as a boy], [?] ? [Rosalie Poe, his sister]
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by V-L-S-E, Incorporated. / Produced by Charles J. Brabin. Scenario by Charles J. Brabin, from the play adaptation The Raven: The Love Story of Edgar Allan Poe by George Cochrane Hazelton of the novel The Raven: The Love Story of Edgar Allan Poe by George Cochrane Hazelton. / © 8 November 1915 by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company [LP6928]. Released 8 November 1915. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Biographical.
Synopsis: Synopsis available in AFI-F1 n. F1.3642.
Reviews: [Movie Pictorial, December 1915, page 4] The Walthall temperament — deeply artistic, meditative, sensitive — has found a most exceptional medium in “The Raven.” As Edgar Allan Poe, Henry B. Walthall strikes a responsive chord, sounds a note of splendidly tragic sympathy that finds its echo in every mature human breast. / Mr. Walthall fits into this master role as no other film artist could possibly do. Tragedy to him is plastic. He molds it to suit his marvelous capabilities of intense dramatic interpretation. / We can easily imagine the psychic influence that mastered Poe, not only in his “Raven,” but in “Mesmerism,” “Tales of Mystery, Imagination and Humor,” “The Murders of the Rue Morgue,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” transferred to Mr. Walthall. / Dramatic Action is but a medium through which art conveys impulses — a vehicle of emotions — a generator of processes of thought in those who view a production that harmonizes with the thought processes of the artist. The more deeply etched this dramatic ability in the artist, the more subtle and patent its radiation from the screen. / Henry B. Walthall possesses this master knack, this “naturalness of art” that has insured through the medium of “The Raven” a genuine masterpiece.
Survival status: Print exists [16mm reduction positive].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Alcohol: Alcoholism - African-Americans - Authors: Edgar Allan Poe - Birds: Ravens - Blackface - Death - Debt - Disinheritances - Families: Foster-fathers - Ghosts - Hallucinations - Poverty - USA: Virginia: University of Virginia
Listing updated: 21 May 2012.
References: Film credits, film viewing : AFI-F1 n. F1.3642; Limbacher-Feature p. 199; Slide-Early p. 24; Steinbrunner-Encyclopedia p. 312; Tarbox-Lost pp. 74, 250, 257 : MoviePictorial-191512 p. 4 : Website-AFI.
Home video: DVD.
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