Lovecraft was a big fan of the silent movies in 1915, being able to go whenever he felt well enough (in constrast to the theatre, where one had to book and pay in advance). One of the major movies on show that year was The Raven (Essanay/V-L-S-E, six reels), a stylised biopic of Poe. Predictably for the times, it was light on the horror and heavy on the combination of romance and alcoholism. But Lovecraft can hardly have missed it, when it appeared in cinemas in early November 1915.
Very scratched and blurry, but just about watchable on YouTube…
The Raven 1 of 4
The Raven 2 of 4
The Raven 3 of 4
The Raven 4 of 4
Poe’s own dissection of his method for writing “The Raven,” originally published in Graham’s Magazine in April of 1846, is online @ http://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/philcomp.htm and is a very interesting read.
I believe I have a DVD copy of this. It’s not very good, and is much more temperance propaganda than any kind of biography.
At that time, Lovecraft was an avid temperance advocate – albeit not of the religious variety. So that would be another reason for him to see the film.