Rent The Black Raven (1943)

Zucco owns this routine quickie! - The Black Raven review by NP

This is best described as a routine quickie notable mainly (to me) for the inclusion of top-billed George Zucco as 'TYhe Black Raven' himself, Amos Bradford, and future Frankenstein Monster Glenn Strange as, er, Andy.

With distant similarities to moments from 1932's classic 'The Old Dark House', this involves the comparatively mundane subject of murder and stolen money. The characters are all pretty thinly sketched, and the acting - apart from Zucco who is his usual implacable self - is suitably unenthusiastic. Prolific Wanda McKay as Lee Winfield, the token female, seems particularly uninterested. Strange is capable but his role is pretty thankless. Flash Gordon's arch foe Ming actor Charles Middleton plays the Sherriff.

There's a good, isolated atmosphere under the sheets of rain, however, albeit on a small budget. Sadly the story isn't really engaging enough to make much of this and at 64 minutes length, has no real interest in anything other than the functional. My score is 5 out of 10.