Released:
1915-11-08

Overview:
After a brief view of Edgar Allan Poe's family background, his grandfather, David Poe, Sr., an Irish immigrant to America, and his father, David Poe, Jr., the poet's life is depicted from the death of his mother and his subsequent adoption by John Allan, to his own tortured death in 1849. Expelled from the University of Virginia for incurring too many debts, Poe nonetheless courts and marries Virginia Clemm but is disowned by his foster father. While residing in Fordham, New York, Poe tries to earn a living as a writer but meets with little financial success. Overwhelmed by their impoverished state, Virginia dies and Poe sinks into a profound depression. Always a victim of alcohol and subject to hallucinations, Poe first imagines that his neighbor, Helen Whitman, is Virginia, then plunges himself into an elaborate delusion in which his wife's spirit, various other spectres and a raven finally drive him to his own death.

Director:
Charles Brabin

Runtime:
1h 20min

Genre:
Drama, Horror, Fantasy

• Cast:
• 
  Henry B. Walthall
  as
  Edgar Allan Poe
• 
  Warda Howard
  as
  Virginia Clemm / Helen Whitman / The Lost Lenore / A Spirit
• 
  Ernest Maupain
  as
  John Allan
• 
  Eleanor Thompson
  as
  Mrs. Allan
• 
  Marian Skinner
  as
  Mrs. Clemm (as Marion Skinner)