The Bat

1959

Horror / Mystery / Thriller

7
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 17% · 6 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 47% · 2.5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 7001 7K

Director

Top cast

Darla Hood as Judy Hollander
Vincent Price as Dr. Malcolm Wells
Agnes Moorehead as Cornelia van Gorder
Riza Royce as Jane Patterson
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
734.92 MB
1280*690
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 2
1.33 GB
1920*1036
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 20 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by BA_Harrison 6 / 10

More fun with The Bat.

I think that I may be in the minority here, but I actually prefer this 1959 movie adaptation of Avery Hopwood's stage-play The Bat over the original silent film by director Roland West. Although it is just as flawed in terms of narrative and undoubtedly lacks its earlier '20s incarnation's stylish visuals, the performances are far less irritating and there is very little sign of the original's dreadful cornball comedy. This version also turns the titular character into something far more sinister than a mere jewel thief—a psychotic serial killer with a penchant for vulnerable women—making it a darker affair overall.Top-billed horror star Vincent Price is, as always, simply great and easily steals every scene he is in, but his role as devious Dr. Malcolm Wells is merely a supporting one, the focus of the film being on thriller author Cornelia van Gorder (Agnes Moorhead), who finds herself at the centre of a real life murder/mystery when it transpires that there is a fortune hidden somewhere inside the mansion in which she currently resides. Moorhead puts in a strong performance, her character being extremely feisty, unflappable, and resourceful, but most importantly of all, likable.Creepy, thrilling, and genuinely scary in parts (The Bat, with his hat, mask and clawed glove, looks like a murderer straight out of a giallo), this is one 'old dark house' that you'll have fun exploring.
Reviewed by

Reviewed by manicgecko 7 / 10

Surprisingly good adaptation

Watch out for the red herrings, I was wrong. And I am very rarely wrong in pre-1980's whodunits. Grabbing this to watch early Vincent Price I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of thriller that could be produced with the technology. For those of you looking for the technological aspects of movies the lighting and shadow work was excellent. That and the sound-tract adds a lot to the overall feel of the movie. An added plus was Darla from "Our Gang" adding a cute bit part of the movie. Comletely gore-less, this movie actually does as promised and delivers thrills without blood. Something most modern movies cannot pull off.

Problems with the movie - First it has a nasty habit of just dumping information on you instead of making the viewer gradually learn what happens. Second as most 1950's horror fare it does have a tendency to drag on. But both of these can be overcome by what some previous reviewers call a confusing plot. Sorry guys, if you know whodunit at the beginning of the movie it is not worth watching.

Read more IMDb reviews

3 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment