George Cochran Hazelton

The Raven

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.

Mistress Nell

Nell Gwyn and King Charles II fall in love after meeting at a fox hunt. Nell soon learns the jealous Duchess of Portsmouth is a spy and conspiring with the Duke of Buckingham to place Charles at the mercy of the King of France. Nell boldly disguises herself as a fashionable young blade and wins the confidence of the Duchess. Now entrusted with the delivery of important documents, she makes sure they go to the King of England rather than the King of France.