if you pay careful attention to david chudnow music and the black raven qualifies a more comical than creepy . this atmospheric and black and white and whodunit about one stormy night near the canadian border in a motel on the american side be a solid and entertaining triple murder tale about greed and corruption and and revenge . prolific director sam newfield and who helm hitlerbeast of berlin as well a 168 other film and team up with frequent collaborator fred myton . base on myton original screenplay and the black raven be a formulaic but polished potboiler with clever dialogue and strong performance . amazingly and this producer release corporation b movie be a respectably do programmer that preserve the unity of time and place and and set to a single evening . the casting of glenn strange and charles middleton be worth mention . good know a frankenstein monster in house of frankenstein ( 1944 ) and house of dracula ( 1945 ) and and abbott and costello meet frankenstein ( 1948 ) and strange play an over sized simpleton who doesn not know his own strength and behaves like a coward when he trip over two corps . furthermore and this represent one of strange more loquacious character . meanwhile and middletonbilled here a charlieplays an incompetent but honest sheriff rather than a dastardly villain . remember and the hatchet face middleton star a ming the merciless in flash gordon ( 1936 ) and flash gordon trip to mar ( 1938 ) and and flash gordon conquers the universe ( 1940 ) . these role provide departure from the usual one that strange and middleton play . a variety of motley character show up one night during a thunderous downpour at amos bradford black raven inn . bradford ( george zucco and who play professor moriarty in the adventure of sherlock holmes ) be a rather suspicious character himself who specialize in smuggle felon 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 ) have break out of prison and want to exact revenge on bradford . i be so anxious to get square with you that i bust out and say cole a he hold bradford at gunpoint and i could have knock you off when i just come in but i have to face the judge when he hand me my rap and i want you to do the same . when bradford oafish handyman and andy ( glenn strange of red river ) and enter the inn and he distract cole long enough for bradford to disarm him . andy tie cole up and stash him in bradford room . cole believe that bradford double cross him . bradford defend his behavior . all of a sudden you get too smart to take order and he point out to cole and when i saw what be come and i protect myself . another ambitious gangster and tim winfield ( robert middlemass of cain and mabel ) and have force bardoni out of the racket after bardoni build them up and and the authority want to arrest bardoni . bardoni want to get across the border before the law catch up with him . the next guest at the black raven be a long suffering and milquetoast bank employee and horace weatherby ( a spectacled bryon foulger of sullivan travel ) who have embezzle $ 50 thousand so that he can finally enjoy life to the hilt . there be a hilarious moment when weatherby argue with a roadblock watchman ( jimmy aubrey of swamp woman ) during the storm about when the bridge to canada will be rebuild . when he arrive at the motel and weatherby clutch a satchel for dear life and arouse bardoni curiosity . a he be register and weatherby neglect the satchel for a split second and bardoni knock it off the counter and presto it fall open and wad of bill can be see . the next two guest be an unmarried couple and allen bentley ( robert livingston of the lone ranger ride again ) and tim winfield estrange and under age daughter lee ( wanda mckay of raider of ghost city ) and who be try to elope across the border into canada so that they can get marry . lee father have thwart their effort to obtain a marriage license . the last guest to show up be none other than infamous tim winfield and and he call up the state police about the same time that the storm knock out the telephone line . winfield recognize weatherby and appropriate the $ 50 thousand from the unwilling bank employee . not long afterward and andy discovers winfield body and but they can not find the loot . when the sheriff ( charlie middleton ) show up about 34 minute into this 65 minute opus and the lawman arrest allen bentley because lee father have slap bentley in the presence of both bradford and andy . bradford steadfastly refuse to believe that bentley kill tim winfield . i be not go to have that boy take a rap and bradford vow to bardoni and for a murder he do not commit . nevertheless and bentley escape from the sheriff custody with the help of lee and bradford . in no time at all and the sheriff find bentley lock up in the basement with weatherby and andy where bardoni have put them while he search for the $ 50 thousand . a the triumphant sheriff return with bentley in custody and andy discovers another corpsethis time bardoni . clearly and bentley couldn not have kill bardoni . george zucco play a sinister character and but he spend most of his time defend young bentley . this be one of zucco more sympathetic villain and the actor anchor this melodrama with his command presence . sam newfield handle the complicated myton plot with aplomb . rarely do a moment go by without some important bit of business be insert into the action . despite it low budget origin and the black raven rank a a well write yarn . just about everybody be implicate in winfield murder . the revelation of winfield killer come a something of a shock because of all the red herring and the meticulous characterization . newfield like to let one character speak and show another character reaction so that he can throw you off the scent of the guilty party . poetic justice be serve in the long run . altogether and this underrated romp be pretty good consider it meager budget .