The Raven
Cast & Crew
Charles J. Brabin
Henry B. Walthall
Warda Howard
Ernest Maupain
Eleanor Thompson
Marion Skinner
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After a brief view of Edgar Allan Poe's family background, his grandfather, David Poe, Sr., an Irish immigrant to America, and his father, David Poe, Jr., the poet's life is depicted from the death of his mother and his subsequent adoption by John Allan, to his own tortured death in 1849. Expelled from the University of Virginia for incurring too many debts, Poe nonetheless courts and marries Virginia Clemm but is disowned by his foster father. While residing in Fordham, New York, Poe tries to earn a living as a writer but meets with little financial success. Overwhelmed by their impoverished state, Virginia dies and Poe sinks into a profound depression. Always a victim of alcohol and subject to hallucinations, Poe first imagines that his neighbor, Helen Whitman, is Virginia, then plunges himself into an elaborate delusion in which his wife's spirit, various other spectres and a raven finally drive him to his own death.
Director
Charles J. Brabin
Cast
Henry B. Walthall
Warda Howard
Ernest Maupain
Eleanor Thompson
Marion Skinner
Harry Dunkinson
Grant Foreman
Hugh E. Thompson
Peggy Meredith
Frank Hamilton
Billy Robinson
Burt Weston
Charles K. Harris
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The ending of this film was inspired by and includes Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven," written in 1845. According to a pre-production news item, some scenes in the film were planned to be shot at the Poe cottage at Fordham, NY and in Baltimore. The film includes a dissolve from Poe's portrait to actor Henry B. Walthall's face. Actor Burt Weston played his role in blackface.
