Oh the 40s. A time of mass production of movies all trying to bank off the last great success. Oh wait. That’s right now. Either way, this, like so many other biopics of the 40s involves very little biography and a great deal of melodrama.

This one focuses on the women in Poe’s life fittingly through the women closest to him. Not an accurate way, but in a lot of sap and sweetness. His adoptive mother is fittingly his first champion who encourages him to become a poet at college, but his adoptive father won’t give him enough money to be a presentable scholar. (Note: In reality, Poe gambled the money and then his adoptive father refused to give him more. But gambling is instead the result of his father’s miserly behavior). He starts his writing career early in an attempt to show his own genius and prove he can marry his first romantic love, Elmira. Poe didn’t start seriously writing until later, however, he also meets Thomas Jefferson as a student to discuss said writing. We are off the historical rails now.

Poe does say that he has a formula for his tales, a mix of expectations and breaking those expectations, a statement he makes with great confidence. He chooses writing over everything especially when he discovers that Elmira will marry another man. Gasp! He does join the army before going to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and cousin Virginia which is accurate. Virginia is older and played by Linda Darnell in the film because. . . you know, don’t want to creep out the audience with his child bride.

Poe is overly boastful about his first book being published, thinking he now has a steady stream of income. He is going to “snare ghosts” and put them in a bottle to sell for fame and riches. Oh you sweet summer child. Clearly, this Poe never spoke to another artist in his naive life. He does have success for a time, winning a story contest and being offered a job on a magazine. He even fights for copyright laws with Charles Dickens (seriously, everyone need to thank him and the other authors who fought so we could all have our works protected - maybe I should buy myself another Poe doll as my appreciation). All of this makes him look much more prominent and wealthy than I think he ever was.

Poe ruins this shining moment by allowing a night out with Virginia to upset him when he runs into Elmira, discovering she always loved him. There’s also a scene where someone says, “he married his cousin” with such shock. That was totally normal until the early 1900s. Poe stays away for 3 days drinking and ticking off his his boss. Virginia wants to look for him with pity, but her mother tells her that she needs to wait and be the one to scold him for his behavior. It’s sort of a strong woman scene which you know probably never happened just because Virginia was usually too sick to go anywhere.

Virginia is a bold and wise young woman in this film. She points out that “those who create have always been treated [poorly] by those who don’t understand”. Where is a teenager with no experience of the world getting this insight? A moment of jealousy is added as she lays ill where she is convinced Elmira will take Poe away. This is very human for a character they made so perfect up to that moment.

Spoiler alert: Virginia dies as Poe tries to sell “The Raven”. Then Poe dies in a stupor. The end. No really. That’s how it ends.

To conclude, the part of this which made me happiest was how important copyright law was. I get it. It’s not exciting or romantic. Yet, it is so important and most people don’t even know Poe was a part of it. Copyright projects artists as best it can and to think of a time without it fills me with anxiety. Maybe that’s the real reason why Poe drank.