The Raven (1963) watch online HD

Jack Nicholson always gave high praise to everyone he worked with on the set, except one - the Raven. He said the Raven pooped on everyone, but especially liked to poop on him. He later said: "I would look down when the Raven flew off my shoulder, and it would be covered in poop. I hated that bird."

Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson were fond of ad-libbing their lines, much to the annoyance of Boris Karloff, who was working from the script.

In casting his spells, Dr. Adolphus Bedlo (Peter Lorre) used several Latin phrases: Veni vidi vici: I came, I saw, I conquered. De mortuis nil nisi bonum: Do not speak ill of the dead. Cave canem: Beware of the dog. Si vis pacem parabellum: If you want peace, prepare for war. Ceterum censio Carthaginem esse delendam: Furthermore, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed.

Actress Hazel Court said: "All I remember of Jack Nicholson is that he used to say, 'Oh, I must go home and write tonight.' I don't know what he wrote, but he was always saying he was going to write."

Boris Karloff is also in The Raven (1935). Both films are inspired by Poe's poem, but they each have their own story.

According to Roger Corman, the hostility between Jack Nicholson and Peter Lorre, as father and son, came from the actors, rather than the script.

According to Roger Corman, Peter Lorre's improvisations confused Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, but Price adapted to it well, while Karloff struggled.

Producer and Director Roger Corman and Screenwriter Richard Matheson had enjoyed making the comic "The Black Cat" episode of Tales of Terror (1962), and wanted to try an entirely comic Poe feature.

Peter Lorre ad-libbed several famous lines in the film, including: "How the hell should I know?", after Vincent Price asks "shall I ever see the rare and radiant Lenore again?", "Where else?" after Price says "My father was interred below.", and "Hard place to keep clean."

Vincent Price later recalled about the final duel: "Boris hated being strung up in the air on those chairs. He was terribly crippled, and we were both floating in the air on these wires. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, and I hated having that snake wrapped around my neck for two hours. I hate snakes."

Among the humorous touches Richard Matheson worked into the screenplay, were the Latin incantations used to cast spells, which any student of the language would recognize as the adages: "I came, I saw, I conquered", "Beware of the dog", "If you want peace, prepare for war", et cetera.

The movie was shot in fifteen days.

Boris Karloff later said he was annoyed at having to wear the heavy cape.

Roger Corman said that although they kept closely to the structure and story script "we did more improvisation on that film than any of the others." The improvisation was in terms of dialogue and bits of business from the actors.

Boris Karloff's first feature film since Corridors of Blood (1958), shot in September and October 1962.

This was the closest that low-budget director Roger Corman ever came to having an "all-star cast," yet, despite the salaries of Vincent Price, Bristol Karloff and Peter Lorre, it was reputedly produced at a cost of about $350,000. It went on to become one of Corman's biggest box office hits, grossing $1.5 million.

The events in the film take place circa 1506 based on two clues offered early on. Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price) states that his father has been dead for twenty years years, and when they show the plate on the coffin the date of death is given as 1486.

Boris Karloff's and Jack Nicholson's first film together.

The sequence in which Karloff's castle is consumed by fire uses footage also seen in Roger Corman's 1960 Poe adaptation House of Usher (which also starred Vincent Price).

Jack Nicholson's and Roger Corman's second film together.

The voice of Grimes (Craven's servant) has been very obviously looped by Corman regular Leo Gordon; presumably William Baskin's voice wasn't threatening enough.

In Spain hadn't a theatrical release until 1983, 20 years later. The film was only released,with 1 copy- at first in Madrid (November/83, Alphaville 3) and later in Barcelona (December/83, Casablanca 2), only projected in subtitled version. The dubbed version was for VHS premiere (1984).

Finnish censorship certificate register # 68020 delivered on 28-1-1964.