The Bat (1959 film)

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The Bat
A promotional film poster for "The Bat."
Directed by	Crane Wilbur
Produced by	C.J. Tevlin
Written by	Avery Hopwood Mary Roberts Rinehart Crane Wilbur
Starring	Vincent Price Agnes Moorehead Gavin Gordon John Sutton Lenita Lane Elaine Edwards Darla Hood John Bryant Harvey Stephens
Music by	Louis Forbes
Cinematography	Joseph F. Biroc
Editing by	William Austin
Distributed by	Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Release date(s)	9 August 1959
Running time	80 min
Country
Language	English
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IMDb profile

The Bat (1959) is a mystery film directed by Crane Wilbur, and co-starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead. Its tagline was "When it flies, someone dies." The film was based on the 1920 Broadway play by Avery Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart, which was previously filmed as "The Bat" (1926) and as "The Bat Whispers" (1930), both directed by Roland West. The 1959 version also features Darla Hood of "The Little Rascals" in a minor role.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Agnes Moorehead plays Cornelia van Gorder, a mystery author who lives in a town terrorized by a mysterious murderer known only as "The Bat." The Bat is said to be a man with no face who murders women at night by ripping out their throats with steel claws. Early in the film, The Bat enters van Gorder's house and releases a bat, who bites van Gorder's maid Lizzy, played by Lenita Lane. With Lizzy in a panic, fearing she may now have contracted "the rabies," an outbreak of which local papers have reported, van Gorder calls her doctor, Dr. Malcolm Wells (Price), who is conducting research on bats.

Meanwhile, the whole town is searching for a million-dollar stash of looted bank securities that were recently stolen. Dr. Wells discovers the location of the treasure when the thief confides in him. Wells then murders the thief in cold blood, presumedly so that he can take the treasure for himself, which he believes to be hidden in van Gorder's house.

A series of break-ins and murders by The Bat brings the local chief of police to the van Gorder house. The chief attempts to determine the identity of The Bat, suspecting both Wells and van Gorder's new butler, Warner. Wells is removed from suspicion, however, when he is murdered by The Bat in his lab.

Miss van Gorder cleverly manages to capture The Bat inside her house, where he is shot by Warner. Warner unmasks The Bat, and he is revealed to be the police chief.