Present existent version, as presented on Turner Classic Movies, bears title and end credits redesigned for the 1955 wide screen re-release.
Shooting began May 6, 1935, finished June 7, released July 15, 1935. Boris Karloff completed his scenes for "The Raven" one month earlier, on April 5.
Karloff's performance was voted runner-up to the best performance for the month of August, 1935 by the Screen Actors' Guild. Henry Fonda in "The Farmer Takes a Wife" and Will Rogers in "Steamboat 'Round the Bend" tied for the top award.
Part of the SON OF SHOCK package of 20 titles released to television in 1958, which followed the original Shock Theater release of 52 features one year earlier. This was also one of the 11 Columbia titles, the other 61 all being Universals.
A series of publicity photos of a menacing Boris Karloff holding Katherine DeMille in bondage (sometimes with a rope around her neck, or around her body, or with shackles on her wrists), and others representing utter submission (the actress is fainted in his arms or passed out at his feet, on the floor) have absolutely nothing to do with this film! There are no such scenes in the entire movie. To this day, no reel has been found. Why they were shot, and used as publicity to represent this film, is anybody's guess. It has been proposed that Karloff had a clause in his studio contract (verbal or written) that required such subjugation scenes to accept a role, and that they compromised and offered him such publicity shots since they couldn't work them into the movie itself. This would appear very plausible as, upon close examination of Karloff's career, indeed such scenes can be found in his every film post (and including) Frankenstein.