Svengoolie Intro: “Calling all stations! Clear the air lanes! Clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!”
The 1935 movie “The Raven” starred Bela Lugosi as the evil surgeon, Dr. Richard Vollin and Boris Karloff as the equally evil Edmond Bateman who team up in this film loosely based on the story by the writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe.
Other main actors were: Lester Matthews (as Dr. Jerry Halden); Irene Ware (as Jean Thatcher); Samuel S. Hinds (as Judge Thatcher).
The gist of the story is that Dr. Vollin gets roped into saving the life and career of Jean Thatcher (injured in car crash), with whom he gets infatuated, which her father, Judge Thatcher is less than pleased about because she’s betrothed to Dr. Jerry Halden. Dr. Vollin gets pretty mad about this. Bateman is not the guy you might remember from James Thurber’s short story, “Bateman Comes Home” in which a highly dysfunctional guy named Nate Birge in the Deep South drawls on and on about his son Bateman (whom you never see) who he thinks is coming home at some unspecified time in the future to bring him a thousand dollars. It’s uproariously funny, but Bateman in this movie is a bad guy who gets mixed up with Dr. Vollin because he’s on the run from the police.
Bateman needs the surgical skills of Dr. Vollin who can alter his face so the police won’t recognize him, which is odd, because most of the time Bateman hides out in Dr. Vollin’s huge mansion, which the police never visit.
This brings up the subject of cranial nerves, which I can barely recall from my medical school days. The motor part of the 7th cranial nerve can make your face look pretty odd if it’s injured. This is an important hint and I suspected the answer last night before I looked it up this morning.
Now, for a short break to discuss one of my favorite parts of the Svengoolie show, which is his Too Drawn Out riddles, which occurred early in the show. The rules are that he draws a few pictures which are clues to an important part of the TV show or the movie. He gives hints along the way and when he’s done, you’re supposed to guess the answer to the riddle.
The amazing part of this is that yesterday, I made a Too Drawn Out riddle myself, before I ever saw his last night. It’s below:
This is a lawn edger used to cut grass between the back of a curb and the lawn
Svengoolie’s Too Drawn Out riddle is below and has the same answer as mine, but the pictures are different. He has a reputation for making his riddles a bit complicated and difficult to solve. Mine is too simple.
Pic 1: Top part is the head; Pic 2: Gorilla; Pic 3: IMP (Sven Squad character); Pic 4: Hoe; Answer: Edgar Allan Poe
Anyway, Dr. Vollin and Bateman are different versions of the same creature, although I suppose you could call Vollin a variant known as a psychopath. Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is in the category of Cluster A personality disorders. One is the psychopathic variant of ASPD, a scary subtype of villain without conscience who can turn into a serial killer. They lack what we call a conscience. Bateman differs only slightly from Vollin, but the difference is important.
Anyway, Dr. Vollin throws a party for a group of people which includes Jean Thatcher and her husband to be Dr. Halden. One very interesting parlor game was what looked like a mechanical horse racing game involving gambling, which looked like it might have been a real party diversion back in the 1930s. After the game is over, the scene shifts to the basement where Vollin has a variety of torture devices, including a version of the Crib Wars game, which can last for days, often leading to participants expiring from starvation.
Much of the action which occurs in the basement involves an examination of the difference between psychopathy and other less scary versions of ASPD.
As usual, there are no serious spoilers in this fake review. I think this is an OK movie and give it a Shrilling Chicken Rating of 4/5.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 
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