The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

"The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe" is a seldom-seen biopic about the famous author. While in some ways it's pretty good, overall it seems pretty stilted and dull.

The film is a reasonably accurate account of the author's life...probably more accurate than most biopics of the day. It also seems to focus mostly on his relationships with women as well as his snippy/snarky attitude which often hurt him in his literary career. My complaints about it are mostly due to the style as opposed to the content. In other words, it's so melodramatic (with droning melancholy music) and the language so stilted it seems rather stilly and trite....like a third-rate production, which is odd since it came from prestigious Twentieth Century-Fox. Okay...but better you just read the Wikipedia article on the man.

This is not a movie about black cats in long corridors, ravens, casks of Amontillado, burials, tell-tale hearts, falling houses, rue Morgue or pendulums, but a melodramatic (and "sanitized") approach to Poe's struggle as an author during all his life, and about the women he loved. As such it is an efficient double-bill feature that there is not much to complain about, except perhaps dull Sheppherd Strudwick in the leading role - but he was always dull. Curiously there are not more films about Poe's life to compare.

Average bio of the famed author, featuring Shepperd Strudwick (billed as John Shepperd) and Linda Darnell as one of his "loves." The other "love" is played by Virginia Gilmore, who ends up marrying somebody else. It's a little distracting to hear everyone calling Poe "Eddie," but you get used to it eventually.

A quick running time of 67 minutes keeps this film from getting too dull. Much of the second half deals with Poe's inability to get publishers to a) publish his work, and b) provide copyrights. Thus, he is unable to keep a job and provide for Darnell, who eventually becomes ill.

Strudwick is actually pretty good as Poe, even though I would never consider him a romantic lead. Ironically, a few years before filming, Strudwick recited "The Raven" at a dramatic tryout at the University of North Carolina, but lost the competition.

Darnell is lovely as the doomed wife. Production was held up because she had lost 14 pounds prior to filming and needed to gain some weight back so she could fit into her costumes.

Jane Darwell is fine as Darnell's mother. Thomas Jefferson and Charles Dickens make cameo appearances. However, no one refers to them as "Tommy" and "Chuckie."

One of the trade papers reported that Director Harry Lachman, who had a pet talking Minah bird, toyed with the idea of having it appear in various scenes in the film, croaking "Nevermore." This sounds a bit far-fetched. However, a raven does appear early in the film. It was played by a "professional" named Jim, who already had over 200 films to his credit. Jim earned a whopping $50 a day for his trainer.

I can't attest to the historical accuracy or inaccuracy of this film--though I tend to think it is woven from whole cloth--but The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe is surely one of the least interesting biopics of all time. John Shepperd is a rather stiff Poe, Linda Darnell does little to enliven the proceedings as his great love, and even Jane Darwell is given precious little to work with. It's always fun to see Harry Morgan on screen, here a year away from his terrific performance in The Ox-Bow Incident, and Frank Conroy is sufficiently loathsome as Poe's stepfather. Otherwise, this is a Bryan Foy misfire, though thankfully bereft of Mr. Foy's penchant for newspaper headline narration.

Rather boring biopic about Edgar Allan Poe. If you removed the characters' names I doubt anybody would be able to figure out who this was about. The movie plods along with little excitement. Poe is a fascinating person and could make for a great biographical picture. He certainly was a complex man with many personal demons and an undeniable genius. This movie isn't willing to get that deep. Like other reviewers have said, it feels like a few short films pieced together. Shepperd Strudwick is part of the problem. He was a fine character actor but not a good leading man. Linda Darnell is pretty as always. Jane Darwell is her mother. Wish I could recommend this one but I can't. It's a cure for insomnia if there ever was one.