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The Bat

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1959 / 1.85: 1 / 80 Min.

Starring Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price

Written by Crane Wilbur

Directed by Crane Wilbur

Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is a murder mystery starring Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price—but the real mystery is how Hollywood managed to pair these diabolically funny entertainers in only one film. They shared little to no screen time in 1951’s The Adventures of Captain Fabian and 1957’s The Story of Mankind, but in Wilbur’s mild-mannered horror show, Moorehead and Price are toe to toe—and generate enough chemistry for a dozen lovably corny crime thrillers just like The Bat.

Despite Price’s presence it’s Moorehead’s show; she plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a prolific mystery writer in the mode of Mary Roberts Rinehart—who, not coincidentally, wrote The Circular Staircase, the source material for the The Bat. As the no-nonsense Van Gorder, Moorehead’s steely...

The Bat

Blu ray

The Film Detective

1959 / 1.85:1/ 80 min.

Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead

Cinematography by Joseph Biroc

Directed by Crane Wilbur

Released during the dog days of summer in August of 1959, The Bat was an air-conditioned summer treat for the eight year-old unprepared for a blood and thunder horror movie – even if this mild thriller does star that consummate killer Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead as a novelist who dabbles in murder – the more gruesome, the better.

Price plays Malcolm Wells, a small-town doctor who’s just witnessed the confession of one John Fleming, a larcenous bank president who’s embezzled a fortune from his own vault. Knowing an opportunity when he sees it, Wells promptly shoots Fleming and sets off to find the loot, hidden in a creaky mansion called The Oaks. Waiting for him is Cornelia Van Gorder (Moorehead), a specialist in pulp fiction unaware that the...

The Mad Magician

3-D Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 72 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph, Lenita Lane, Patrick O’Neal, Jay Novello, Corey Allen, Conrad Brooks, Tom Powers, Lyle Talbot.

Cinematography: Bert Glennon

Editor: Grant Whytock

Original Music: Arthur Lange, Emil Newman

Written by: Crane Wilbur

Produced by: Bryan Foy

Directed by John Brahm

Twilight Time, bless ’em, hands us another treat to go with their 3-D discs of Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Harlock Space Pirate 3-D — and this time it’s a fun bit of 1950s horror — with a hot pair of short subject extras.

There have been plenty of theories as to why horror films became scarce after WW2; it’s as if the U.S. film industry took a ten-year break from the supernatural, and partly...

How the hell do I introduce a legend like Vincent Price? This is a guy who has starred in scores of horror roles and carried the banner for the genre in an era when the public saw it as little more than a breeding ground for psychopaths and miscreants. There isn’t much that I can say about this man that hasn’t been said a dozen times over, but I do have this: Vincent Price looked very much like my grandma. Or I suppose my grandma looked very much like Vincent Price. Don’t get me wrong, she was a beautiful lady, but she had Price’s ability to raise an eyebrow in a way to convey pretty much any emotion (usually mild annoyance). So for me, sitting down for a Vincent Price flick is like sitting down with a family member. Sure, he’s typically evil to a mustache-twirling degree,...

The Film Detective Archives refurbishes the forgotten 1959 film version of The Bat, an adaptation of a play by Depression era mystery writer Mary Roberts Rhinehart (co-written with Avery Hopwood in 1920), a woman referred to as the American Agatha Christie. A previous film version was made in 1926 by Roland West, followed by a 1930 sequel. Concerning a criminal who dresses in a bat costume and terrorizes people while committing crimes, Rhinehart’s character was the basis for American comic book artist Bob Kane’s creation of Batman. Thus, it’s an intriguing ‘origin’ property for several reasons. This particular version, which stands as the last official directorial credit of writer and B-film director Crane Wilbur, is also rather entertaining thanks to its two headlining stars, the inimitable Vincent Price and a rare leading role for the superb character actress, Agnes Moorehead.

Murder mystery writer Cornelia van Gorder (Moorehead) rents an isolated mansion...

If you've never seen The Bat before, then we can promise you're in for a treat. If you have seen the flick, we can also promise you've never seen it quite like this! Read on for details.

From the Press Release

Mystery, murder, and mayhem take flight in The Bat – restored and in HD for the first time ever – debuting on Turner Classic Movies October 24 and DVD November 12 from Film Chest Media Group. Featuring an all-star cast, this suspenseful cult favorite from 1959 will keep you on the edge of your seat!

In The Bat, mystery writer Cornelia van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead - TV’s "Bewitched"; Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte; Citizen Kane) resides in a town terrorized by a mysterious murderer known only as “The Bat,” said to be a man with no face who kills women at night by ripping out their throats with steel claws.

Breaking into Cornelia’s countryside home one night,...