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‘When it flies… somebody dies!’
The Bat is a 1959 American homicide thriller movie wherein a crazed killer is on the unfastened in a mansion full of individuals.
The film was written and directed by playwright Crane Wilbur (screenplay for Mysterious Island; The Mad Magician; Home of Wax; storyline for The Superb Mr. X).
The film stars Vincent Value, Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched, Expensive Useless Delilah; Frankenstein: The True Story) and Gavin Gordon (Bride of Frankenstein; Thriller of the Wax Museum).
It’s the fourth movie adaptation of the story, which started as a 1908 novel The Round Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart, which she later tailored (with Avery Hopwood) into the 1920 play The Bat.
Within the US, The Bat was distributed by Allied Artists on a double-bill with the British Hammer movie The Mummy.
The Bat was launched on a Particular Version Blu-ray and DVD by The Movie Detective, the traditional movie restoration and streaming firm, on October 25, 2022.
Offered at 1.85:1, a pristine print has been restored from unique 35mm archival parts and features a host of bonus options. Notably, the discharge consists of 9 archival radio broadcasts that includes the long-lasting Vincent Value in all the things from the favored radio drama suspense to a comedic efficiency for CBS Radio Workshop in Talking of Cinderella. Bonus options additionally embrace:
A full-colour booklet with the essay, “The Case of The Forgotten Creator,” by professor and movie scholar Jason A. Ney
Full-length commentary observe by Jason A. Ney
All-new, unique manufacturing, The Case for Crane Wilbur, by Ballyhoo Movement Photos
Plot:
Cornelia Van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead) is a thriller writer who lives in a city terrorised by a mysterious assassin identified solely as “The Bat” who is alleged to be a person with no face.
The Bat enters Van Gorder’s rented home, The Oaks, and releases a bat, which bites Van Gorder’s maid Lizzy (Lenita Lane). With Lizzy in a panic, fearing she could now have contracted “the rabies”, an outbreak of which native papers have reported, Van Gorder calls her physician, Dr Malcolm Wells (Vincent Value), who’s researching bats…
Purchase Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Evaluations:
“Home of Wax‘s Crane Wilbur, directing his personal script, had once more chosen to revive a creaky previous melodrama which, on this event, remained each bit as creaky and melodramatic as the unique […] After seven reels of wearisome comings and goings, Wilbur disposes of extra to-ings and fro-ings by a last-minute change in building, switching from real-time to flashback mode…” Denis Meikle, Service provider of Menace: The Life and Movies of Vincent Value e book
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca
” …Crane Wilbur, the scenarist-director, retains the plot perking and the our bodies falling (seven), with some amusing touches alongside the way in which. Lastly, and happily, there’s Agnes Moorehead’s good, snappy efficiency.” Howard Thompson, The New York Occasions, December 17, 1958
“Price waiting for followers of Morehead, Value, or The Bat Whispers. However I felt the entire thing ought to have been freakier and jazzier, and never so stately {and professional}.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers e book
Purchase: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca
Selection dialogue:
Lizzie Allen: “All of the victims died the identical means – like their throats had been ripped open by metal claws.”
Cornelia van Gorder: “That, I suppose, is the cat dropping its dentures!”
Forged and characters:
Vincent Value … Physician Malcolm Wells
Agnes Moorehead … Cornelia van Gorder
Gavin Gordon … Lt. Andy Anderson
John Sutton … Warner – The Chauffeur
Lenita Lane … Lizzie Allen
Elaine Edwards … Dale Bailey
Darla Hood … Judy Hollander
John Bryant … Mark Fleming
Harvey Stephens … John Fleming
Mike Steele … Victor Bailey
Riza Royce … Jane Patterson
Robert B. Williams … Detective Davenport
William Janssen … Clerk
Virginia Linden … Buyer
Technical specs:
1 hour 20 minutes
Side ratio: 1.85: 1
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