The Vampire Bat

"The Vampire Bat" (1933) is a B-Movie from Majestic Pictures that looks like an A-Movie.The producer, Phil Goldstone, was an independently wealthy real estate tycoon with financial ties to the major studios.Because of this, he was able to borrow actors and sets.For "The Vampire Bat", he borrowed:-- Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, who had just teamed for two horror films at Warner Brothers: "Doctor X" (1932) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933), both filmed in early Technicolor."The Vampire Bat" was filmed after, but released before "Mystery of the Wax Museum",allowing Majestic to piggyback on Warner's publicity campaign.-- Melvyn Douglas had just appeared as Greta Garbo's husband in MGM's "As You Desire Me" (1932)-- Universal Studios provided the German village and the mad scientist's gothic mansion.-- More importantly, Universal loaned actor Dwight Frye to Majestic. He is even creepier here than in "Dracula" and "Frankenstein".Almost a co-production of Warner, MGM and Universal.Unfortunately "The Vampire Bat" was not directed by Todd Browning or James Whale, but by B-Movie director James Strayer, whose major claim to fame was directing the "Blondie" movies for Columbia in the 1940s.Still an impressive movie, despite being an obvious rip-off of Universal's "Dracula" from two year's earlier.The identity of the "Vampire Bat" is kept secret until about twenty minutes before the end of the film.I hope this isn't a spoiler, but filmgoers entering a movie theater in 1933 would have already guessed from the poster and lobby cards that Lionel Atwill is not the kindly physician he pretends to be.Plus he had a history with Fay Wray (in the movies).The BD-R Blu-Ray from Film Detective is very well done:-- Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. Not perfect, but the picture and sound are certainly cleaner than on my old Alpha Video DVD.-- The print they used had hand-tinted sequences which were restored to dramatic effect.-- English SDH subtitles.-- Audio commentary by film historian Sam Sherman (a bit meandering)-- Melvyn Douglas featurette (8 minutes)My only complaint is that it's expensive for a 63 minute film, but based on experience, the price will come down in time.B-MOVIE HORROR FILMS ON BLU-RAYUntil recently, if you wanted to watch these films, you had to settle for bare-bones DVDs from companies like Alpha Video.Recently several of these films have found their way onto Blu-Ray from companies like Film Detective, Kino, VCI, Olive Films, and even the prestigious Criterion Collection.Improved picture quality and a reasonable selection of bonus features, not usually associated with cheap Public Domain B-Movies.For a list of Amazon links to these Blu-Rays, see Comment One (dated May 3, 2017). Click on "sort by oldest"PHOTO 1: Lionel Atwill menacing Fay Wray in "Mystery of the Wax Museum"PHOTO 2: Lionel Atwill menacing Fay Wray in "The Vampire Bat"PHOTO 3: Dwight Frye menacing everybody.PHOTO 4: Fay Wray, Melvin Douglas and Lionel Atwill.PHOTO 5: Original poster.

This restoration looks amazing. Yes, there are light drizzles of scratches and speckles throughout, and the first act has a few larger, though fleeting, blemishes... but that just means the image hasn't been plastered over with digital touch-ups, and all the film elements used look remarkably crisp and clean on the whole. Detail is often breathtaking. Fabrics, wallpapers, moldings, and the foliage of the garden where poor mad Herman plays with a knife all pop beautifully. A few brief stretches are affected by a negligible amount of frame judder that I suspect many, perhaps most, won't even notice if they're sitting a reasonable distance from the screen (which I don't). I saw NO significant digital artifacts to report, and the BD-R played perfectly.The excellence of the presentation makes it possible, for the first time in decades, to fully appreciate the brilliance of the filmmaking itself. The set decoration, the blocking, the use of light, shadow, and bokeh, the dynamic compositions, the painstakingly choreographed camerawork, the editing, the nuance of Atwill's performance... this is a B movie that really comes together, and not only merits, but DEMANDS a respectful presentation. Film Detective delivers that, up to and including their gorgeous recreation of the hand-painted flames in the "torch-wielding mob" sequence.I'd forgotten about that gimmick by the time it came (so invested was I in the story and how incredible EVERYTHING looked), so that when it did come, I was quietly squealing to myself for five straight minutes. To my knowledge, this is the first time the effect has been seen since the film's original theatrical run. To see it for the first time ever, let alone in HD and so impeccably done, is a huge treat.Haven't yet listened to the Sam Sherman commentary, but always enjoy his commentaries; nor have I watched any but the first few moments of the featurette with Melvyn Douglas's son, but it looks moving and nicely produced.

Based upon a previous review by John Field, I purchased and viewed this Blu-ray edition of "The Vampire Bat" and I must say it was worth the effort. The picture quality is excellent and the soundtrack is strong. Granted, comparison is based on seeing this title in past decades made from substandard and well-worn prints, but this restoration is a vast improvement. There are many more detailed reviews posted on IMDB describing this detective yarn cloaked in a supernatural atmosphere created with above average production values, snappy well-written dialog delivered by excellent performances by the entire cast, and great camera work that make this picture easily confused to be one of the classic Universal monster movies. Younger film enthusiasts may find it inferior in print quality, a bit simplistic and overly dramatic, but to many in my generation who remember being captivated by the classics from the 1930s who trafficked in 16mm film and devoted deep study to cherished issues of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and "Screen Thrills Illustrated" will thoroughly enjoy this trip down memory lane. And the best thing is no vinegar smell with Blu-ray!

On The Surface The Vampire Bat Sounds Like Just Another Old Dracula Movie Remake. Though in reality This movie is really an outstanding stylish Thriller while still retaining Horror elements. The movie just brims To The surface with some of The True stars of Hollywood's Golden age. forever associated with King Kong Hollywood's original scream Queen Fay Wray Takes The lead role and gives a memorable performance. From The original Frankenstein movie Dwight Frye Turns in a chilling performance basically playing The same mad scientists assistant role he had previously played in Frankenstein. Rounding out The main cast we have Lionel Atwill an actor perhaps not widely known To movie goers he had been more widely known in cliffhanger serials playing non other Than The mad scientist roles. And in The Vampire Bat his here basically playing The same role To perfection. Released in 1933 The same year as King Kong and without doing any real research I am not sure if Wray made This movie prior To or after Kong Though Fay Wray made a number of Excellent movies before and after King Kong and most certainly The Vampire Bat is one of Them. coming in with a running Time of 63 minutes relatively short by Todays standards The movie bristles along at a pace like a good bottle of vintage wine. I simply can't give praise enough This full restoration for This movie with This outstanding Blu-ray release The sharpness and clarity from a movie shot in 1933 is remarkable. even in The films climax with a bound and gagged Wray in The clutches of deranged scientist Atwill while The scene involves some dimly lit scenes as it was originally shot and intended The Blu -ray Quality just allows you now To see more detail Than you ever could on any past DVD releases of The film. Think I mentioned at The start I would place The Vampire Bat more of a classic crime caper Than a Horror movie Though Horror elements are in There nonetheless The performances of The leads particularly Fay Wray make This movie a shinning jewel from Hollywood's Golden age. The Vampire Bat comes To you with a full audio commentary for The movie from Film Historian Sam Sherman and its really all you will need for This Exceptional release of a vintage movie.

This is a product comparison between Film Detective and Alpha Video dvd for the movie "The Vampire Bat".FILM DETECTIVE.The pros:-Slightly sharper picture, good gray scale with light and dark contrast being reasonably consistent. This allows for better detail to be seen, particularly in the darker / night time scenes. A slight hiss in the background but overall the sound is good (I wasn't struggling to hear).The cons:-Well, firstly, I'll admit that I got "restored" mixed up with "remastered" (Dam it! I usually spot that). So, you'll understand that I was more than a little disappointed when I first viewed this FD version. There are a lot of white flecks and scratches on show particularly at the beginning of the film. There are also a number of blackouts but they only last a blink of an eye (they also appear in the Alpha dvd too in exactly the same scenes).The first dialog scene at the Burgermeister's office is played out-of-sinc for appoximately 2 minutes this reoccurs again for almost 6 minutes toward the last 10-11 minutes of the film. Fortunately, most of those scene are silent anyway so it doesn't ruin the viewing too much.The movie runs for a total of 59:39 and not the 65 minutes quoted on the case. Which means almost 5 minutes of the movie is missing. The first, at about six and half minutes in to the movie is a brief 7 second shot of the castle exterior. The second and largest cut (4:35) comes in at around thirty-two minutes and excludes three and bit scenes. The first of these is where an old lady tends oddball Herman's cut finger but upon finding out who Herman is panics and passes out. Herman hovers over the old women with unknown intent but is scared off by a great dane. When the old lady comes too she thinks Herman has changed into a dog and hysterically tries to get away from the excitable hound. It's a funny scene. The second and important scene is where the housekeeper reports finding her deceased friends (a victim in an earlier scene) crucifix in another servants room. The head of the house takes the cross from her and says he'll deal with the matter (This links to a later (included) scene where the housekeeper is found drained of blood in her own bed with the aforementioned crucifix near by). The third scene is another funny moment where the old lady takes some liver-salts. The fourth scene is 30 seconds of a mob chasing Herman in to a cave.So, not only is there almost 5 minutes missing but the picture is also enlarged or blown up. Meaning, if there are four people in a shot you only see three and a half people or part of an object at the edges of the screen.ALPHA VIDEO.The pros:-The movie is more complete in that is has none of the cuts of the FD dvd has. It has a running time of 63 minutes and you also see more of the picture to the sides, top and bottom. Sound quality is pretty much the same as FD.The cons:-The picture quality has the same white flecks, scratches and blackouts as the FD version but is softer and marginally fuzzy, making the finer details less defined. The contrast too is less even, making some scenes brighter (i.e. glowing white faces) and some quite dark, particularly the night time scenes. For the most part it's quite comparable to the FD dvd.One other thing I noticed was some reddish horizontal band moving up the screen. I rectified this by adjusting my colour setting to black & white.I understand that Film Detective has issued a Blu-ray version of this film. I cannot comment on picture quality as I've not seen it and I don't have a Blu-ray player. I'd be interested to know if this version is as complete as the Alpha dvd.

I ordered this DVD of the Film Detective label version of The Vampire Bat, which, from the reviews sounds superb. This morning here in the UK I received the new, sealed Film Detective case of The Vampire Bat, however, after peeling the cellophane off, and opening the (attractive) box, I was horrified to see the Film Detective DVD of Life With Father!Now, as the DVD was supplied by the 100% reliable seller All Your Music, and it was securely sealed with it's original factory cellophane, it's obvious that the wrong disc was put in the case by the Film Detective packers (I realise they are a small label), who accidentally stuck in another Film Detective disc, Life With Father, instead of The Vampire Bat.So, buyer beware (especially if you are purchasing this DVD as a present) - check the case as soon as it arrives to make sure that the correct disc is inside. Luckily All Your Music make returns very easy - so I will have to re-order The Vampire Bat, and I hope I have more luck next time.

Picture and sound quality not great but that’s probably to be expected from a 1930s b movie. Unusually for any dvd there’s no play menu ; film starts immediately without even having to press play. The horror films from this period have maintained an incredible aura, they’re wonderfully creepy.

Not as advertised. This a DVD-R disc, there should've been a disclaimer to the buyer. The DVD also don't presents a restored version from this classic horror from the 30's... in fact it's more a remaster, no much better than the dozen of cheap public domain releases of the movie. No menu, no extras.