Movie Review: "The Raven" directed by James McTiege

“The Raven”

Directed by James McTiegue

     This movie Is a dark, atmospheric  imagining of the mysterious last three days in the life of Edgar Allan Poe.   The known facts of Poe’s final days are included in the plot.  Poe was indeed found incoherent on a park bench in Baltimore, was brought to a hospital babbling and screaming about “Reynolds” and died of unknown causes.  The fact that he was found in someone else’s clothes was not in the movie. The fact that he was living in Richmond at the time of his death and only visiting Baltimore was ignored as well.  Poe is presented in “The Raven” as a romantically involved and functioning artist.  His money struggles are documented, but he seems to have escaped the melancholy which actually plagued him for the remainder of his days following his wife’s death from tuberculosis.  He is shown here as blocked creatively but still a espected writer.  The plot of “The Raven” connects Poe’s demise with a demonic serial killer who commits murders copied from Poe’s fiction.

     The movie pays homage to Poe’s most famous writings, including “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “ The Pit and the Pendulum,”  “The Tell Tale Heart,” “ The Masque of the Red Death” and, of course, “The Raven.” In this movie, a serial killer stages murders and includes the exact details of Poe’s stories.  Eventually the plot entangles Poe’s fictional fiancé who the murderer abducts and threatens to kill.  Clues to the fiancé’s location are left at the numerous macabre murder scenes.  Poe must give an account of the murders in the local newspaper in order to receive more clues to his fiance’s location.  Poe is back to writing, fueled by his love for his beautiful fiancé and fear for her life.

     The casting of John Cusack as Poe is an interesting choice.  He actually looks much like Poe’s photographic image, but his demeanor doesn’t really match the anguished, tortured persona that has come to surround the legend.  Cusack’s Poe never passes up an opportunity for a drink, but also never seems out of control or senseless.    The hypothesis that Poe was engaged in another deep romantic relationship at age 40 doesn’t really fit the historical picture of the reeling, drug and alcohol fueled neurotic which history tells us Poe had become.

     The murder scenes are very gruesome, especially the crime which mimics “The Pit and the Pendulum.”  The most terrifying scenes are those which portray Poe’s fiancé Emily Hamilton (played convincingly by Alice Eve) buried alive.  Unfortunately they lose some of their punch if the viewer has seen any of the trailers for the movie since the bulk of these scenes are included in those previews.

     The movie has some resemblance to the recent Sherlock Holmes series.  The basic plot line of a pair of investigators (in this case Poe and Baltimore Police Detective Fields) trying to follow a series of diabolical clues left by a brilliant but mad murderer.  The addition here of all of the literary references makes this movie more interesting.  The loose portrayal of historical fact, however, detracts from the overall story.

For a Poe fanatic such as myself, this was an enjoyable, although flawed movie.  Fans of horror movies and the recent Sherlock Holmes stories should enjoy it as well.  As a historical document it is inaccurate in many respects, but it is good entertainment.

2007 Edgar Nominee: The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

The Pale Blue Eye

By Louis Bayard

 

     The Pale Blue Eye was a nominee for the 2007 Edgar for best mystery novel as selected by The Mystery Writers of America.  Louis Bayard has constructed a magnificent tribute to the master himself, Edgar Allan Poe, the great American author who is regarded as the inventor of the detective story. 

    This novel is set in 1831 at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  A cadet is found suspended from a tree by a noose.  It appears to be a suicide, but some of the circumstances don’t add up.  Shortly after the body is brought to the hospital for autopsy it is desecrated.  Someone brutally removes the heart from the corpse.  The purpose of this act is as baffling to the authorities as the death itself and puts the suicide hypothesis in severe doubt.  The commandant calls in retired New York City detective Augustus Landor to investigate.  Confidentiality is stressed as Landor accepts the challenge of solving the crime.  An odd, older cadet comes to Landor’s attention and he enlists this cadet as a spy of sorts, a mole to acquire inside information from within the Academy.  The older cadet is none other than Edgar Allen Poe.  Poe is an eccentric, sleeping little, disobeying rules at every opportunity and channeling poetry from his dead mother.  He is convinced that these poems hold clues to the identity of the killer.  The sense of urgency to solve the crime is heightened when yet another cadet dies and his heart is stolen as well.  The investigation focuses on the family Dr. Marquis, the Academy physician.  The doctor’s son Artemus is an upper classman and a close friend of the first victim.  Mrs. Marquis is a peculiar woman prone to disabling headaches and inappropriate bizarre behavior.  The centerpiece of this dysfunctional family is Miss Lea Marquis, a not quite beautiful spinster.  At the age of 23 she no longer is viewed as a potential spouse for the younger cadets, but she does catch the eye of Cadet Poe.  Poe has a habit of including poetry with the reports he prepares on his clandestine research for Landor.  One of these works speaks of “the pale blue eye” which happens to match the eye color of Miss Lea.   The motive for these crimes remains as much a mystery as the identity of the killer, but the removal of the hearts makes Landor assume that there may be a Satanic cult at work.  Indeed, some of Poe’s information supports that hypothesis.  The book moves along through this interplay between Landor and Poe, the case against the Marquis building with each page.  Suspicion shifts from one Marquis family member to another and eventually falls even on Cadet Poe.  The ending is totally unanticipated and surprising, although in retrospect, completely believable.  There are clues to the mystery’s solution, although there are an equal number of distracters from the actual perpetrator as well.  The construction of this story is very clever indeed and I, for one, never saw the true ending coming.

     The Pale Blue Eye is a monument to Edgar Allen Poe.  Not only is he a key character in the plot, but the story itself pays homage to the greatest Poe traditions.  It is told in the first person by Detective Landor.  This is the same perspective which Poe uses in most of his stories.  The story is very dark with a lot of the action occurring at night, much like Poe’s.  Louis Bayard uses the same sorts of imagery as Poe to set tone.   The drum beats of the morning cadet assembly casts a sense of foreboding and is reminiscent of the heartbeat in “The Tell Tale Heart”.  There is a scene towards the end of the book where the author creates a fatal cascade of ice which evokes the final fiery scene from “The Fall of the House of Usher”.  Poe uses dangerous and frightening water in stories such as “Silence – A Fable” or in the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and Bayard uses the turbulent Hudson River in the climactic gripping conclusion to this novel.   Indeed the subject matter here, ruthless and barbaric murders without clear motive, is reminiscent of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”.  Imbibing of excess alcohol is a problem for Mr. Landor, as it was for this fictional and the real-life Edgar Allan Poe.    

     This is a historical novel of the first order.   The writing is comparable to the best prose of Poe himself.  The descriptions and details are meticulous and create vivid visual images for the reader.  The first person perspective makes the reader become almost part of the story.  Landor addresses the reader directly in several passages.  You are led from one area of suspicion to another and yet the resolution of the plot at the end is as shocking and surprising as it is tragic.   

     The author has carefully researched the history of West Point.  The characters, including Colonel Thayer and Commandant Hitchcock, are historically correct.  Edgar Allan Poe was, indeed, a cadet at West Point in 1831.  He enlisted there shortly after his foster mother passed away and was dismissed after only one year.  The murders are pure fiction.

The Edgar Awards and a Book Review: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

     The Mystery Writers of America, founded in 1945, annually presents the Edgar Awards for mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film and theater published or produced in the previous year.  The nominees are always announced on January 19, the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe.  Poe is generally recognized as the “father” of the mystery novel.    Today is the 203^rd anniversary of the birth of Poe and the announcements of all of the Edgar nominees are included here: (2012 Edgar Nominations).   The Edgar nominees for the Best Mystery novel of 2011 are:

-          The Ranger by Ace Atkins

-          The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

-          1222 by Anne Holt

-          Gone by Mo Hayder

-          Field Gray by Philip Kerr

     To celebrate the announcement of this year’s nominees, here is a review of the 2011 winner: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton.  This review was previously published in “The LamLight”, the physician newsletter of the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine.

 The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

This novel is a truly unique and intriguing read.  The story is narrated in the first person by the main character, a young adult named Michael.  Michael suffers a major psychological trauma as an eight year old which leaves him literally speechless.  This trauma is alluded to early on and is revealed in detail at the conclusion of the story, a riveting chapter which ties up all of the plot’s loose ends.

We meet Mike as a struggling junior in a large high school in a town about forty miles from Detroit.  He has not spoken a word since age 8 and is seen as the class freak.  He is a very accomplished art student and can sketch in great detail.  He is living with an uncle who owns a liquor store.  Quite by chance, he learns that he is very good at picking locks.  He finds some old locks in an antique store and becomes fascinated by their mechanism, eventually teaching himself how to open any lock, including combination locks.  His skill is discovered by some of the more popular students in his school who recruit him to participate in a prank – breaking into the home of a rival school’s star football player and leaving a derogatory sign in the student’s bedroom.  Vandalism occurs, the police arrive, the perpetrators scatter and the only one apprehended is Michael.  He refuses to reveal the other students involved and a probation/restitution deal is worked out.  Michael has to work the entire summer for the well-to-do homeowner who was victimized by the vandalism.  He is a sadistic sort and has Michael dig a pool in his backyard using only a small shovel.  Michael becomes enamored with the man’s daughter who is also very artistic and a love affair ensues. 

The homeowner is in some economic difficulties, owes money to the mob and sees Michael as a possible solution to his problems.  He involves Michael with these criminals and the rest of Michael’s story is a series of break-ins where his safe-cracking abilities are well utilized.  The story of Michael’s criminal life is interwoven with the story of how he was introduced to this life in a very intricate but effective way.

The tragedy which caused Michael’s communication issues is revealed in a very innovative way at the end of the book.  Between assignments for the mob, Michael tracks down his former girlfriend who is now attending the University of Michigan.  They return to Michael’s childhood home which is now abandoned and together they draw a huge mural which depicts the events leading to Michael’s issues.

The Lock Artist is very entertaining.  It is told in the first person by the mute main character as a memoir which he is writing from jail.  The plot moves forward at a constant but not a rushed pace and switches back and forth between Michael’s life of crime as a young adult and his adolescence..  The writing is very engaging; the author even makes all of the details about the construction and design of different types of locks interesting.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.