The Raven (1915 film)

1915 film (biography of Edgar Allan Poe) directed by Charles Brabin

The Raven

Scene from the film

Directed by| Charles Brabin
Written by| Charles Brabin (scenario)
Based on| The Raven: The Love Story of Edgar Allan Poe
by George C. Hazelton
Starring| Henry B. Walthall
Ernest Maupain
Warda Howard
Marion Skinner
Harry Dunkinson

Production
company

Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

Distributed by| V-L-S-E, Incorporated

Release date

* November 8, 1915 (1915-11-08)

Running time

| 80 minutes
Country| United States
Language| Silent (English intertitles)

The Raven is a stylized silent 1915 American biographical film of Edgar Allan Poe starring Henry B. Walthall as Poe. The film was written and directed by Charles Brabin from a 1904 play and 1909 novel by George C. Hazelton.[1]

## Plot[edit]

Henry B. Walthall as Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven

The film begins by tracing Poe's ancestral heritage before Poe himself is born. After the loss of his parents, Poe is taken in by the John and Francis Allan in Richmond, Virginia. The film then jumps ahead about 15 years to Poe's time at the University of Virginia. Due to debts from playing cards and a growing interest in wine, Poe begins to have difficulties. He hallucinates that he has killed a man in a pistol duel.

Poe meets Virginia and they spend a day together, riding a horse and sitting "beside the glassy pool of romance." He tells her a fairy tale, a raven perching on Poe's shoulder as he finishes the story, before they go on a walk together. Upon seeing a black slave (listed in the credits only as "Negro") being whipped, he buys the slave with an IOU for $600.00. The slave's former owner then goes to John Allan to collect the debt. Allan calls Poe a "scoundrel" for causing so many bills.

After having a drink with his "chum" Tony, Poe goes to visit Virginia. Tony follows shortly after and the two compete for Virginia's affection. Later, Virginia says she will choose the man who guesses which hand holds a wreath behind her back. Poe allows Tony to go first and, though he guesses correctly, Virginia secretly switches the wreath to the other hand so that Poe can win. Shortly after, in front of Tony and Virginia, Allan questions Poe's spending habits. Allan causes quite a scene, despite his wife's attempts to calm him. Poe is asked to leave the Allan family but Virginia offers to come along. Poe's recently purchased slave comes along as well.

Poe, in Fordham, New York, is in "dire poverty" along with Virginia and her mother Maria. Virginia has a terrible coughing fit, a sign of her tuberculosis. Poe, desperate for money, unsuccessfully attempts to sell some of his work to George Rex Graham. Virginia, bothered by the cold winter weather, is kept warm by Poe's old coat from his time at West Point and from their pet black cat. She dies the next day, causing Poe great grief.

Sarah Helen Whitman is introduced at the end of the film, assisting an elderly couple. She meets Poe on her walk home through what seems to be a graveyard. Poe thinks she is Virginia Reincarnated and proceeds to follow her home. She rejects him when he makes advances, then Poe proceeds home where he starts hearing the tapping and recites “the raven”first seeing the shadow of a raven appear on his door. Hallucinating he begins climbing up a hill, and then resting on a rock that says wine, trying to move up past it he ends up perched on top of it before coming back to reality in his room. He goes to grab a drink and watches his wine glass turn to a skull, the horror causing him to drop it. A raven enters his room when he opens his window, answering all Poe’s questions with Nevermore. His hallucinations show him with a ghost and then at heavens gate in front of an angel, as the gates close leaving Poe outside. Once returned to reality he finishes the poem before departing from his body. His death ending the film.

## Cast[edit]

Warda Howard and Henry B. Walthall in The Raven

* Henry B. Walthall as Edgar Allan Poe
* Warda Howard as Virginia Clemm / Helen Whitman / The Lost Lenore / A Spirit
* Ernest Maupain as John Allan
* Eleanor Thompson as Mrs. Allan
* Marian Skinner as Mrs. Clemm (credited as Marion Skinner)
* Harry Dunkinson as Tony
* Grant Foreman as George Rex Graham
* Hugh Thompson as David Poe Jr. (credited as Hugh E. Thompson)
* Peggy Meredith as Mrs. Hopkins Poe
* Frank Hamilton as David Poe Sr.
* Billy Robinson as Joseph Reed
* Bert Weston as Negro
* Charles Harris as Mr. Pelham (credited as Charles K. Harris)

## Production[edit]

Henry B. Walthall was granted the lead role as Edgar Allan Poe after previously playing the same author in D. W. Griffith's The Avenging Conscience in 1914. Because of the repeat role, he was dubbed "the image of Poe."[2]

## See also[edit]

* Edgar Allan Poe in popular culture
* Edgar Allan Poe in television and film
* The Raven (1935 film)
* The Raven (1963 film)
* The Death of Poe (2006 DVD which includes The Raven as a special feature)

## References[edit]

1. ^ "The Raven". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
2. ^ Smith, Don G. (1999). The Poe Cinema: A Critical Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 20\. ISBN 0-7864-1703-X.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Raven (1915 film).

* The Raven at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" (1845)

Film|

* The Raven (1915)
* The Raven (1935)
* The Raven (1963)
* The Raven (2006)
* Evil Calls: The Raven (2011)
* The Raven (2012)

Literature|

* Barnaby Rudge
* The Blessed Damozel
* Cadaeic Cadenza

Music|

* The Raven (Lou Reed album)
* "The Raven" (The Alan Parsons Project song)
* "That's How the Story Ends" (Five Iron Frenzy song)

Other|

* Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight (play)
* "Treehouse of Horror"
* The Raven (painting series)
* The Pigeon
* Vincent
* "The Raven" in popular culture

Related|

* Grip (raven)

* v
* t
* e

Edgar Allan Poe

Bibliography

Poems|

* "Tamerlane" (1827)
* "Al Aaraaf" (1829)
* "Sonnet to Science" (1829)
* "To Helen" (1831)
* "The City in the Sea" (1831)
* "The Haunted Palace" (1839)
* "The Conqueror Worm" (1843)
* "Lenore" (1843)
* "Eulalie" (1843)
* "The Raven" (1845)
* "Ulalume" (1847)
* "A Dream Within a Dream" (1849)
* "Eldorado" (1849)
* "The Bells" (1849)
* "Annabel Lee" (1849)

Tales|

* "Metzengerstein" (1832)
* "The Duc de L'Omelette" (1832)
* "Bon-Bon" (1832)
* "MS. Found in a Bottle" (1833)
* "Berenice" (1835)
* "Morella" (1835)
* "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" (1835)
* "Ligeia" (1838)
* "A Predicament" (1838)
* "The Devil in the Belfry" (1839)
* "The Man That Was Used Up" (1839)
* "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839)
* "William Wilson" (1839)
* "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion" (1839)
* "The Business Man" (1840)
* "The Man of the Crowd" (1840)
* "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841)
* "A Descent into the Maelström" (1841)
* "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" (1841)
* "Eleonora" (1841)
* "The Oval Portrait" (1842)
* "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842)
* "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" (1842)
* "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1842)
* "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843)
* "The Gold-Bug" (1843)
* "The Black Cat" (1843)
* "The Spectacles" (1844)
* "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" (1844)
* "The Premature Burial" (1844)
* "The Oblong Box" (1844)
* "The Angel of the Odd" (1844)
* "Thou Art the Man" (1844)
* "The Purloined Letter" (1844)
* "Some Words with a Mummy" (1845)
* "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade" (1845)
* "The Imp of the Perverse" (1845)
* "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" (1845)
* "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (1845)
* "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846)
* "Loss of Breath" (1846)
* "Hop-Frog" (1849)

Essays|

* "Maelzel's Chess Player" (1836)
* "The Philosophy of Furniture" (1840)
* "Morning on the Wissahiccon" (1844)
* "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846)
* "The Poetic Principle" (1846)
* Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848)

Novels|

* The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1837)
* The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840)

Collections|

* Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)
* Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840)

Play|

* Politian (1835)

Other|

* The Conchologist's First Book (1839)
* The Balloon-Hoax (1844)
* The Light-House (1849)

Related|

* Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe (wife)
* Eliza Poe (mother)
* David Poe Jr. (father)
* William Henry Poe (brother)
* Rosalie Mackenzie Poe (sister)
* Poe Museum
* Poe Cottage
* Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum
* National Historic Site
* The Stylus magazine
* Death
* Edgar Awards
* In popular culture
* film and television
* music
* Poe Toaster
* Tales of Mystery & Imagination

Portrayals|

* Edgar Allen Poe (1909 film)
* The Raven (1915 film)
* The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe (1942 film)
* The Man with a Cloak (1951 film)
* Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight (2004 play)
* The Raven (2012 film)
* The Pale Blue Eye (2022 film)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Charles Brabin

* What Happened to Mary (1912)
* The Man Who Disappeared (1914)
* The House of the Lost Court (1915)
* Vanity Fair (1915)
* The Raven (1915)
* That Sort (1916)
* The Price of Fame (1916)
* Babette (1917)
* The Sixteenth Wife (1917)
* Mary Jane's Pa (1917)
* The Adopted Son (1917)
* Red, White and Blue Blood (1917)
* Persuasive Peggy (1917)
* Breakers Ahead (1918)
* Social Quicksands (1918)
* A Pair of Cupids (1918)
* His Bonded Wife (1918)
* Buchanan's Wife (1918)
* The Poor Rich Man (1918)
* Thou Shalt Not (1919)
* Kathleen Mavourneen (1919)
* La Belle Russe (1919)
* While New York Sleeps (1920)
* Blind Wives (1920)
* Footfalls (1921)
* The Broadway Peacock (1922)
* The Lights of New York (1922)
* Driven (1923)
* Six Days (1923)
* So Big (1924)
* Ben Hur (1925)
* Stella Maris (1925)
* Mismates (1926)
* Twinkletoes (1926)
* Framed (1927)
* Hard-Boiled Haggerty (1927)
* The Valley of the Giants (1927)
* Burning Daylight (1928)
* The Whip (1928)
* The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
* The Ship from Shanghai (1930)
* Call of the Flesh (1930)
* The Great Meadow (1931)
* Sporting Blood (1931)
* The Beast of the City (1932)
* New Morals for Old (1932)
* The Washington Masquerade (1932)
* The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
* Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
* The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)
* Stage Mother (1933)
* Day of Reckoning (1933)
* A Wicked Woman (1934)

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