The Bat (1959 film)

For other uses, see Bat (disambiguation).

The Bat
File:Thebat 2poster.jpg theatrical film poster
Directed by	Crane Wilbur
Produced by	C. J. Tevlin
Written by	Crane Wilbur (screen story & screenplay)
Based on	The Circular Staircase (1908 novel) by Mary Roberts Rinehart and The Bat (1920 play) by Mary Roberts Rinehart Avery Hopwood
Starring	Vincent Price Agnes Moorehead
Music by	Louis Forbes
Cinematography	Joseph F. Biroc
Edited by	William Austin
Production company	Liberty Pictures
Distributed by	Allied Artists
Release dates	August 9, 1959 (1959-08-09) (US)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Bat is an American mystery film from 1959 starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead. It is the fourth film adaption of the story which began as the 1908 novel The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart, which she later adapted with Avery Hopwood into the 1920 play The Bat, which ran for 867 performances on Broadway, and was revived twice. The film was adapted by playwright Crane Wilbur, who also directed it.

The film is now in the public domain, and is available for online download.

Plot

File:Vincent Price-Gavin Gordon in The Bat.jpg

Vincent Price and Gavin Gordon in The Bat

Cornelia Van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead) is a mystery author who lives in a town terrorized by a mysterious murderer known only as "The Bat". The Bat is said to be a man with no face who murders women at night by ripping out their throats with steel claws. Early in the film, The Bat enters Van Gorder's house and releases a bat, which bites van Gorder's maid Lizzy (Lenita Lane). With Lizzy in a panic, fearing she may now have contracted "the rabies", an outbreak of which local papers have reported, Van Gorder calls her doctor, Dr Malcolm Wells (Vincent Price), who is conducting research on bats.

Meanwhile, the whole town is searching for a million-dollar stash of looted bank securities that were recently stolen. Dr. Wells discovers the location of the treasure when the thief confides in him. Wells then murders the thief in cold blood, presumably so that he can take the treasure for himself, which he believes to be hidden in van Gorder's house.

A series of break-ins and murders by The Bat brings the local chief of detectives, Andy Anderson (Gavin Gordon) to the Van Gorder house. The Bat then murders two people in the Van Gorder house, Mark Fleming (John Bryant) and Judy Hollander (Darla Hood). Anderson attempts to determine the identity of The Bat, suspecting both Wells and Van Gorder's new butler, Warner (John Sutton). Wells is removed from suspicion, however, when he is murdered by The Bat in his lab.

Van Gorder cleverly manages to capture The Bat inside the secret room in her house. The Bat shoots a detective named Davenport (Robert Williams), and is then shot by Warner. Warner unmasks The Bat and he is revealed to be Lieutenant Anderson.

File:Agnes Moorehead in The Bat.jpg

Agnes Moorehead in The Bat

Cast

• Vincent Price as Dr. Malcolm Wells
• Agnes Moorehead as Cornelia van Gorder
• Gavin Gordon as Lt. Andy Anderson/The Bat
• John Sutton as Warner
• Lenita Lane as Lizzie Allen
• Elaine Edwards as Dale Bailey
• Darla Hood as Judy Hollander
• John Bryant as Mark Fleming
• Harvey Stephens as John Fleming

Cast notes

• The Bat was the final film appearance for Darla Hood, who played "Darla" in The Little Rascals shorts.

Production

RKO Pictures bought the rights to remake the film from Mary Pickford, who produced the original 1926 film adaptation for United Artists, the studio she founded in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin and D. W. Griffith.

Reception

According to Turner Classic Movies, in an era of movies featuring "rampaging aliens and sinister ghouls", the film's period piece approach was not a crowd pleaser, although its reputation has improved over time.

Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film 2 1/2 out of 4 stars calling it "[a] faithful filming of Mary Roberts Rinehart-Avery Hopwood play".

Allmovie gave the film a mixed review, complimenting the film's screenplay, but criticized the script's mechanical nature and lack of scariness, as well as the varying quality of performances from the cast. But they also stated, "While it's all done in a by-the-numbers manner, there's more than enough here to entertain whodunit fans".

As of late October 2015, the film has a 48% audience rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator site.

See also

• List of American films of 1959
• List of films featuring home invasions
• List of films in the public domain

External links

• The Bat (1959 at IMDb
• The Bat (1959) at the TCM Movie Database
• The Bat (1959) at AllMovie
• The Bat (1959) at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Bat (1959) is available for free download at the Internet Archive