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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...

It’s low-rent Noir A Go-Go: Angela Lansbury is a double-crossing femme fatale in this independent cheapie with modest charms. You can’t trust anyone these days, especially real estate developers with plans to collect Your life insurance. Lansbury is the seductive ‘motivator’ with a preference for late-night rendezvous in the high mountains, where everything is a long drop, nudge nudge wink wink. She makes with the hotcha come-ons but rugged Keith Andes is the one who goes around topless for an entire reel. One of the most obscure ’50s films noir, this one gives us a peek at an evocative Hollywood location or two.

A Life at Stake

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date September 7, 2021 / 24.95

Starring: Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass Dumbrille, Claudia Barrett, Jane Darwell, Gavin Gordon, Charles Maxwell, William Henry.

Cinematography: Ted Allan

Set Designer: Robert Haver

Film Editor: Frank Sullivan

Original...

This January, NBCUniversal is offering fans the chance to dive into some of Universal Pictures’ most gruesome classic films ever made on one of the world’s biggest horror YouTube channels, ‘Fear: The Home of Horror.’

Starting January 15th 2021 horror fans will have the opportunity to scare away the January blues and take a step back in time to watch an incredible array of classic re-mastered cult films for Free including Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), The Wolf Man (1941), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

Each film will premiere individually and be available to watch for seven days on the Fear: The Home of Horror YouTube channel. Additionally, during each film’s premiere week, fans will have the opportunity to add these films to their digital collection at a discounted price, allowing them to watch whenever they want, for as many times as they want!

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...

Talk about a worthy title for restoration — somebody up there likes us. Digital tools and film preservation expertise have advanced far enough to revive this marvelous pre-Code comedy-shocker in a form that showcases its wild designs and stylized 2-color Technicolor sheen. Director Michael Curtiz’s adept direction highlights Glenda Farrell’s racy dialogue delivery as well as the spooky, expressionist horrors in Lionel Atwill’s haunted ‘waxitorium.’ To top it off we have fabulous Fay Wray, the talkies’ original scream queen, shrieking her way into the horror hall of fame in the tradition of The Phantom of the Opera. Plus — for once the Warner Archive adds some fine new added value extras.

Mystery of the Wax Museum

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1933 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 77 min. / Street Date May 12, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Allen Vincent, Gavin Gordon, Arthur Edmund Carewe.

Cinematography: Ray Rennahan...

Marlene Dietrich on TCM Pt.2: A Foreign Affair, The Blue Angel Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am The Monte Carlo Story (1957) Two compulsive gamblers fall in love on the French Riviera. Dir: Samuel A. Taylor. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Vittorio De Sica, Arthur O'Connell. C-101 mins, Letterbox Format. 7:45 Am Knight Without Armour (1937) A British spy tries to get a countess out of the new Soviet Union. Dir: Jacques Feyder. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat, Irene Van Brugh. Bw-107 mins. 9:45 Am The Lady Is Willing (1942) A Broadway star has to find a husband so she can adopt an abandoned child. Dir: Mitchell Leisen. Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Fred MacMurray, Aline MacMahon. Bw-91 mins. 11:30 Am Kismet (1944) In the classic Arabian Nights tale king of the beggars enters high society to help his daughter marry a handsome prince. Dir: William Dieterle. Cast: Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, James Craig.