The Bat
About The Bat
Mystery writer Cornelia van Gorder and her maid Lizzie rent The Oaks, where a killer called the Bat has already struck. The owner, bank president John Fleming, has hidden the take from a million dollars in securities in the house and is killed before he can fetch it. Dr. Malcolm Wells, in on the theft, is killed by the Bat after he taunts him. The Bat sets the garage on fire to pull the house outside. The chauffeur Warner, who is Lieutenant Andy Anderson, shoots him.
Cast & crew
More about The Bat
Crane Wilbur wrote and directed it, from Mary Roberts Rinehart's 1908 novel The Circular Staircase and the 1920 play The Bat, which she wrote with Avery Hopwood. Joseph F. Biroc photographed. Louis Forbes composed. William Austin edited. Allied Artists released it. It opened on December 17, 1959, and played that month with Hammer's The Mummy. It is the fourth filming of the story. Agnes Moorehead plays Cornelia. Vincent Price plays Wells. Lenita Lane plays Lizzie. A copy is on the Internet Archive as The_Bat.mpeg.
Themes
Look
Joseph F. Biroc shot the house and the garage fire.
Music
Louis Forbes composed the score.
Preservation
In the public domain.
Notes
- The earlier films of the play include the 1926 silent The Bat.
- Price is Wells, not the Bat.
- Moorehead is the writer who rented the house.
- The picture is in the public domain.
- John Sutton, Gavin Gordon, and Elaine Edwards are billed.
Scenes
- Wells taunts the Bat and is killed.
- Warner shoots the Bat after the garage is set alight.
Influenced by
- Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Circular Staircase (1908)
- The Bat, the 1920 play by Rinehart and Avery Hopwood
Also available
- Internet Archive (The_Bat.mpeg)
