Customer Reviews

The Bat

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Bat is a remake of the 1930 film "The Bat Whispers"--which itself was a remake of the silent film "The Bat". This version has the benefit of Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead leading the cast. Price is a writer who comes to spend the summer at a spooky mansion. A hooded, steel-clawed killer known only as The Bat is terrorizing the locals at the same time. Director Crane Wilbur builds great atmosphere and fans of the genre won't be dissappointed. The DVD is full-frame, with good but not spectacular audio.

Agnes Moorehead carries the whole show as a mystery writer who rents out a spooky mansion. With her wisdom and wit, she must figure out the secret behind "The Bat", that dastardly devil w/ no face, no name, and claws of razor-sharp steel! He's after some loot hidden in the house, but where? Darla Hood (yep, from the little rascals) is all grown up and ready to meet her doom at the hands of the shadowy killer! Others will also perish, as the bat's reign of terror continues! Vincent Price is along for the fun with loads of charm and smirks! THE BAT is a good addition to any thriller-diller collection...

I thought this movie was pretty good.Vincent Price was great as usual and Agnes Moorehead gave a good performance as well.The reason I gave this movie 1 star is that the dvd transfer is bad.It's so bad that you can hardly enjoy the movie because your attention is on the bad picture quality of this dvd.I do not recommend this dvd.I just ordered another copy of this movie from amazon.It's from a different distributer(Anchor Bay Entertainment).It's more expensive but I figured I'd give it a shot.

This disc is very poorly produced, besides the fact it was duped from a VHS copy, it even had the right side cropped. The picture quality is obviously low, and there is no additional features on the disc, just play movie and 4 sections (button) for the movie index. Give me a copy of the movie on VHS and I could do better on my computer! There are only 2 version of the same movie on DVD currently available on Amazon. Now you know this one sucks, you can give the other one (released by Anchor Bay Entertainment) a try. PS. Their (Aplpha Video) version of the Charade is piss poor as well.

This film is more of a mystery than a horror, despite the label on the box. Price's performance as the Doctor-presumed-murderer is... well, priceless. However, those looking for a good horror film ala "House of Wax" will undoubtedly be a little disappointed. Interestingly enough, I believe the original silent film adaption of "The Bat" was the inspiration for Bob Kane's "Batman" of DC Comics fame.

Good for anyone who loves old films about creepy mansions with hidden rooms.

This movie seems to come in an incredible variety of versions. This version seems to be the only one in widescreen. I generally prefer the widescreen versions because you get to see the movie as the director intended it.

As the movie opens we meet bank president John Fleming (Harvey Stephens, who also appeared in "Sergeant York," "North by Northwest," and nearly 100 more movies and television shows) and Dr. Malcolm Wells (Vincent Price, who has 180 appearances to his credit in a variety of media; two of his more recent appearances were in "Edward Scissorhands" and Michael Jackson's "Thriller"). We learn that Fleming has embezzled a million dollars from his bank and hidden it somewhere around the Oaks.

We next meet Cornelia Van Gorder (Agnes Moorhead, whose first role was in "Citizen Kane" and who had more than 100 movie and television roles to her credit), who has rented "The Oaks," a mansion where a man called the Bat murdered several people many years earlier. Ms. Van Gorder has assistant Lizzie Allen (Lenita Lane in her final role) with her.

This movie is filled with a number of other characters who seem to be in the movie primarily to keep us guessing who the actual murderer is. Other than the real murderer, the one character that stood out is Judy Hollander, played by former Our Gang member Darla Hood in her final film appearance and her next to last film performance.

This movie was filmed in a classic whodunit style. There are numerous mis-directions and overly dramatic moments. There are also moments of over-acting to match. The house is classic, with numerous rooms, large open spaces, secret panels and a hidden room. Though I had a reasonably good idea who the murderer was and though some of the acting was weak, this movie was worth a watch. Actually, I have watched this one twice now and enjoyed it more the second time I watched it.

Fans of radio mysteries, whodunits, "old dark house" mysteries, Vincent Price and Agnes Moorhead will find this movie worth at least one watch, maybe more. Just be sure you get the wide screen version!

Enjoy!

While watching The Bat (1959) last night, I couldn't help notice a strong sense of familiarity developing as the story unfolded. I soon realized that I was watching a remake of the 1930 film The Bat Whispers, which I viewed and reviewed awhile back. Both films are based on a popular play written by Avery Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart. Also, there is an earlier version, one, which I haven't seen yet, released in 1926, also titled The Bat.

This version, adapted and directed by accomplished writer/director/actor Wilbur Crane, stars the venerable Vincent Price as Dr. Malcolm Wells and Agnes Moorehead as Cornelia Van Gorder (every time I heard some pronounce the that character's last name, I always heard it as Van Goiter, which made me think of a hideous growth caused by swelling of the thyroid gland and iodine deficiencies, but I digress). Also appearing in the film is actress Darla Hood, who began her career at a very young age appearing in the Hal Roach Our Gang shorts, sometimes known as The Little Rascals, as a character named Darla, the apple of Alfalfa's eye.

The gist of the story is there's a large sum of money stolen from a local bank and hidden within a rather large, isolated house, and a killer, named The Bat, is on the loose, stopping at nothing, not even murder, to recovering the dough. Yes, it's all about the money...Moorehead's character Ms. Van Gorder, is a famous mystery writer who rents a house for the summer, a house with a reputation of spookiness, but soon lives up to the reputation as the bodies literally begin to pile up. Normally about this point in my reviews I break into a synopsis of the film, but doing that here would effectively destroy elements of the mystery, which I want to avoid. Instead I'll just speak to the elements of the story I liked, disliked, and general impressions overall, of the film and this particular release.

What I liked about the film was the choice of Price and Moorehead to star in the movie. They are both wonderful, breathing a great deal of life into the proceedings, despite some rather wooden performances by some of the other actors. Crane took a number of liberties with the storyline, giving more emphasis to the characters of Ms. Van Gorder and Dr. Wells, presumably due to the big name stars playing the roles. I mean if you're going to feature stars of that caliber, you should make use of them, right? Another major change was drawing the story out over several nights, rather than having it all happen in one night. This element didn't work for me, as it only served to dilute the story and disrupt the flow. Some plot points seemed odd, like providing details for the bank robbery at the beginning, as we quickly learn who stole the money, and what that person's intentions for how they plan to get away with their crime. This was obviously done to set up the motive for one of the many suspects within the film. And that's another thing, the development of the suspects was so very clunky at times...instead of letting the clues develop and appear within the context of the story, allowing the viewer to feel as if they've stumble on something, here they are forced on us, abruptly, sticking out like sore thumbs. The presentation is as about as subtle as getting hit with a sledgehammer. And what would a mystery be without red herrings? Well, here, not much, as they became painfully obvious as the story progressed. They might as well have had the characters wearing sandwich boards proclaiming the fact. Another element played up for no other reason than to add a level of lurid fascination was that of the Bat being a vicious murderer, ripping the throats out of various victims. Overall, the whole production seemed to be presented to the audience in a patronizing way, like we wouldn't have the intelligence to discern the plot elements based on an inherit amount of intuition I feel most adults have, so everything was laid out in such a way as to require the least amount of thought from the audience. As far as the final scenes where the killer/thief is finally revealed, well, I had it figured out about halfway through, so it really wasn't a big surprise. In fact, the obviousness of the false suspects peppered throughout virtually guaranteed one with a basic amount of intelligence (even me) to be able to identify the culprit. One last note, after the less than explosive revelation of the identity of The Bat, you'll be left with a lot hanging plot threads, ones the director never had any intention of resolving, and were presented only to further the story in some ridiculous fashion.

Despite my negative comments, I did enjoy certain elements...the comic relief in the form of Ms. Van Gorder's maid, Lizzie (played by Lenita Lane) survives nicely, and despite a bit of toning down from the 1930's version, and Price and Moorehead are fun to watch. I did notice that in the 30's version, the house was much darker and atmospheric, actually becoming a character within the film. Not as much emphasis seemed to be applied to that aspect in this film, the house serving a more utilitarian purpose of providing a background with not a lot of charm, comparatively speaking.

The quality of the print on this Anchor Bay Entertainment release looks sharp, although I felt the audio was a bit soft. There are numerous releases of this film by different companies, all of varying degrees of quality, so it would be beneficial to potential buyers interested in this film to be wary of which release they decide to purchase. As far as special features are concerned, there is a theatrical trailer for the film, but that's it.

Cookieman108

I wish I would have read the posts for this movie before buying it!!! Once again fantastic mystery thriller with Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price destroyed by the terrible dvd transfer! Do not buy this movie until a good dvd transfer comes along. Rent it!

1959's "The Bat" is one of my favorite Vincent Price flicks. To be sure, it's campy as all get out. But, what the heck...it's fun as all get out too!

Agnes Moorehead, as always, is just perfect in her role here as a mystery writer who rents an old, creaky mansion, which comes complete with invading bats and a fortune in hidden loot!

"The Bat" has the "feel" (to me anyway) of a William Castle picture. Although this one is not a Castle creation. It was directed by Crane Wilber.

This film is ideal video material for late on a stormy night.

* 4-and-a-Half Stars *

Even way back in 1926, they were making re-makes of films. This story was told in two silent films in 1915 and 1926. Then when putting sound into film was invented, they made another "Bat" film for 1930. Thank goodness by 1939, film became more advanced to make GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) and The BLUE BIRD (1940).
In 1959, they gave "The Bat" a full black & white treatment. They cast the master of macabre, Vincent Price and the stunning Agnes Moorehead (whom you remember in Who's Minding The Store [1963] and the "Bewitched tv series [1964-72]). Darla Hood plays "Judy Hollander". You recall Darla Hood from the Our Gang/Little Rascals short films.
Agnes Moorehead (as "Cornelia Van Gorder") is a novelist who lives at The Oaks. The Oaks is a mansion. She has heard the haunted house stories of the place, but she thinks they are ridiculous. meanwhile it has just been discovered that the town bank has been looted of millions of dollars in securities. One customer's bonds were being held there as colateral for a loan. Those bonds are gone. They want to reach John Fleming (Harvey Stephens), but he is in the woods with Dr. Wells (Vincent Price) and they can not be reached. In the woods, Fleming tells Dr. wells that he embezzled the millions from his bank that he works at. They also discuss a possible hidden room in The Oaks mansion and faking Fleming's death so he can make his getaway. So who do they murder for the body? Suddenly, they open the door to see the woods are on fire. At The Oaks, a storm is brewing, the lights are out. There's a man trying to get in the mansion.
That is just for starters. The suspense is compelling!
This DVD contains only a chapter selection.