The film opens late at night, with a single figure making
his way through a street. He is startled by a noise and looks up to see a man
on the roof of a nearby building. The camera then moves up to a window of that
building, and as we hear a woman scream, the light in that room is
extinguished. Several bats on a tree outside then fly off. Not a bad opening,
eh? We learn that six people in the town have died, their bodies drained of
their blood, puncture wounds found on their necks. Unlike more recent vampire
films, most of the men gathered to discuss the crimes in The Vampire Bat
immediately come to the conclusion that they are dealing with a vampire. The
inspector is the only one who mocks this conclusion. One of the other men says
to him: “But the bats, man. The bats!” There is some good dialogue in
this scene, as when they talk of an earlier account of local vampirism. The
burgermeister says, “Why, this record from the town archive proves it.”
Karl responds, “Says it, not proves it.” And then as he leaves,
the inspector teases the others: “Good night, gentlemen. Don’t let the
vampires get you.”
Of course there is a science laboratory, and it is in the
basement, where all good science laboratories should be. But it is kind of a
surprise when we see it is a woman working down there, Ruth (Fay Wray), who
assists Dr. Otto (Lionel Atwill). By the way, this film was released the same
year that Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill appeared together in Mystery Of The Wax
Museum, and the same year that Fay Wray starred in King Kong. As
Karl takes Ruth in his arms and kisses her, the cork in a beaker pops like
champagne, a nice bit of humor. And in fact, there are some good humorous
touches in several scenes of this film. I love when Aunt Gussie enters and asks
Karl how he’s doing. As he begins to answer, saying he is quite well, Gussie
interrupts, “Well I’m not,” and goes on to complain about various
imagined ailments. It’s a delightful moment, and begins a recurring joke.
Dwight Frye, who played Renfield in Dracula, here
plays Herman, a strange and creepy fellow who likes bats, and so course is
suspected by the townspeople of being the vampire. He likes them because
they’re soft, reminding me of Lennie from Of Mice And Men. Herman at one
point even puts a bat in his pocket so he can stroke it. Interestingly, this
movie came out a few years before Of Mice And Men was published. Did
John Steinbeck see this film? This movie features some nice camera work. I like
the shot when Martha is attacked; the camera moves swiftly to the windows, as
they open, then over to the bed, as if following a not-quite-visible character.
The movie is presented in black and white, but has an interesting moment when
the torches of the search party are in color. A note before the film starts
tells us, “Hand-color sequence restoration by West Wing Studios, Inc.
Fotokem.” By the way, the picture in this restored edition looks excellent.
Special Features
This Blu-ray disc includes a commentary track by Sam
Sherman, a film producer himself, responsible for Independent-International
Pictures. He starts by talking about superstitions, and how they affect our
lives. He also talks about producer Phil Goldstein, and about meeting some of
the cast members. He mentions Bronson Canyon, and offers information about the
tinted torches of the original print, and about that tinting process. He also
gives some thoughts on the film’s music.
The special features also include Becoming The Son Of
Melvyn Douglas, featuring an interview with Gregory Hesselberg who says, “I
never connected emotionally with the man on the screen until very late in life.”
Through watching his father’s old movies, he gets closer to his father. His
father was not really present during his early childhood. He mentions that it
was Melvyn Douglas’ performance in Inherit The Wind that first made him
impressed with his father’s acting. This featurette features several still
photographs.
This special edition of The Vampire Bat is
scheduled to be released on April 25, 2017 through The Film Detective, in
collaboration with UCLA Film & Television Archive.
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