If you pay careful attention to David Chudnow's music, "The Black Raven" qualifies as more comical than creepy. This atmospheric, black & white, whodunit about one stormy night near the Canadian border in a motel on the American side is a solid, entertaining triple murder tale about greed, corruption, and revenge. Prolific director Sam Newfield, who helmed "HitlerBeast of Berlin" as well as 168 other films, teams up with frequent collaborator Fred Myton. Based on Myton's original screenplay, "The Black Raven" is a formulaic but polished potboiler with clever dialogue and strong performances. Amazingly, this Producer's Releasing Corporation B-movie is a respectably done programmer that preserves the unities of time, place, and setting to a single evening.<br /><br />The casting of Glenn Strange and Charles Middleton is worth mentioning. Better known as Frankenstein's monster in "House of Frankenstein" (1944), "House of Dracula" (1945), and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948), Strange plays an over-sized simpleton who doesn't know his own strength and behaves like a coward when he trips over two corpses. Furthermore, this represents one of Strange's more loquacious characters. Meanwhile, Middletonbilled here as Charlieplays an incompetent but honest sheriff rather than a dastardly villain. Remember, the hatchet-faced Middleton starred as Ming the Merciless in "Flash Gordon" (1936), "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" (1938), and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940)." These roles provided departures from the usual ones that Strange and Middleton played.<br /><br />A variety of motley characters show up one night during a thunderous downpour at Amos Bradford's Black Raven Inn. Bradford (George Zucco, who played Professor Moriarty in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes") is a rather suspicious character himself who specializes in smuggling felons across the border into Canada. Racketeer on the run Mike Bardoni (Noel Madison of "G-Men") arrives after Whitey Cole. Cole (I. Stanford Jolley of "Ghost of Zorro") has broken out of prison and wanted to exact revenge on Bradford. "I was so anxious to get square with you that I busted out," says Cole as he holds Bradford at gunpoint, "I could've knocked you off when I just came in but I had to face the judge when he handed me my rap and I want you to do the same." When Bradford's oafish handyman, Andy (Glenn Strange of "Red River"), enters the inn, he distracts Cole long enough for Bradford to disarm him. Andy ties Cole up and stashes him in Bradford's room. Cole believes that Bradford double-crossed him. Bradford defends his behavior. "All of a sudden you got too smart to take orders," he points out to Cole, "When I saw what was coming, I protected myself." Another ambitious gangster, Tim Winfield (Robert Middlemass of "Cain and Mabel"), has forced Bardoni out of the rackets after Bardoni built them up, and the authorities want to arrest Bardoni. Bardoni wants to get across the border before the law catches up with him. The next guest at the Black Raven is a long-suffering, milquetoast bank employee, Horace Weatherby (a spectacled Bryon Foulger of "Sullivan's Travels") who has embezzled $50-thousand so that he can finally enjoy life to the hilt. There is a hilarious moment when Weatherby argues with a roadblock watchman (Jimmy Aubrey of "Swamp Woman") during the storm about when the bridge to Canada will be rebuilt. When he arrives at the motel, Weatherby clutches a satchel for dear life and arouses Bardoni's curiosity. As he is registering, Weatherby neglects the satchel for a split-second and Bardoni knocks it off the counter and presto it falls open and wads of bills can be seen. The next two guests are an unmarried couple, Allen Bentley (Robert Livingston of "The Lone Ranger Rides Again") and Tim Winfield's estranged, under-age daughter Lee (Wanda McKay of "Raiders of Ghost City"), who are trying to elope across the border into Canada so that they can get married. Lee's father has thwarted their efforts to obtain a marriage license. The last guest to show up is none other than infamous Tim Winfield, and he calls up the state police about the same time that the storm knocks out the telephone lines.<br /><br />Winfield recognizes Weatherby and appropriates the $50-thousand from the unwilling bank employee. Not long afterward, Andy discovers Winfield's body, but they cannot find the loot. When the sheriff (Charlie Middleton) shows up about 34 minutes into this 65 minute opus, the lawman arrests Allen Bentley because Lee's father had slapped Bentley in the presence of both Bradford and Andy. Bradford steadfastly refuses to believe that Bentley killed Tim Winfield. "I'm not going to have that boy take a rap," Bradford vows to Bardoni, "for a murder he didn't commit." Nevertheless, Bentley escapes from the sheriff's custody with the help of Lee and Bradford. In no time at all, the sheriff finds Bentley locked up in the basement with Weatherby and Andy where Bardoni had put them while he searched for the $50-thousand. As the triumphant sheriff returns with Bentley in custody, Andy discovers another corpsethis time Bardoni. Clearly, Bentley couldn't have killed Bardoni.<br /><br />George Zucco plays a sinister character, but he spends most of his time defending young Bentley. This is one of Zucco's more sympathetic villains and the actor anchors this melodrama with his commanding presence. Sam Newfield handles the complicated Myton plot with aplomb. Rarely does a moment go by without some important bit of business being inserted into the action. Despite its low-budget origins, "The Black Raven" ranks as a well-written yarn. Just about everybody is implicated in Winfield's murder. The revelation of Winfield's killer comes as something of a shock because of all the red herrings and the meticulous characterization. Newfield likes to let one character speak and show another character's reaction so that he can throw you off the scent of the guilty party. Poetic justice is served in the long run. Altogether, this underrated romp is pretty good considering its meager budget.