The Vampire Bat (1933)
The Vampire Bat (1933)
In 1933 Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, who had appeared in the successful film Doctor X together, and who had just finished wrapping on the making of Mystery Of The Wax Museum had been approached by "poverty row" studio Majestic Pictures to do a b-horror quickie for them. The film ended up being The Vampire Bat, and would be released just before their bigger budget Mystery Of The Wax Museum that they had done for Warner Brothers. The Vampire Bat would be one of seven films that Fay Wray would star in in 1933, another of those films would end up being one of her most recognizable roles, which was in King Kong. The Vampire Bat, for being a "poverty row" quickie, would end up looking a lot like a big budget, because Majestic Pictures cheaply leased leftover sets from Universal's Frankenstein and The Old Dark House. The film also featured Universal horror film star Dwight Frye in a role where he plays a dimwitted man who is a little crazy, that is a little reminiscent of his role as the mad Renfield in the 1931 Universal production of Dracula.
The Vampire Bat tells the story of a mad scientist Dr. Otto von Niemann who is a seemingly innocent doctor in a small Bavarian village, that is actually conducting an experiment of creating life in his laboratory. The village is seeing a string of deaths, where all of the blood is being drained from the bodies of the victims, of course the villagers jump to superstitious allegations of the murders being committed by a vampire. Dimwitted slightly crazy Hermon Gleib is blamed by the villagers, because he is so weird, and in traditional monster film fashion the villagers form a lynch mob to hunt him down and bring him to justice, though he ends up killing himself, and the villagers drive a stake through his heart. But another murder still happens. The murders are being investigated by a level headed investigator named Karl Breetschneider, whose girlfriend Ruth lives in the same castle as Dr. von Niemann, as does her aunt Gussie Schnappmann. Can they discover who the killer is draining the villagers of their blood?
The Vampire Bat was directed by Frank R. Strayer, with a screenplay by Edward T. Lowe Jr. The film was distributed by Majestic Pictures in 1933 and was a rather successful low budget horror film, that capitalized on the success of the bigger films that Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray were starring in at the time. The story wasn't very original, pulling from horror tropes that had been successful for Universal in 1931, with elements of Dracula and Frankenstein pulled in. At its heart The Vampire Bat is a low budget horror rip-off film. In some ways it works, but overall, it just feels like an imitation of a good horror film, even though it does have some great performances by some well known actors.
The Vampire Bat stars Lionel Atwill as Dr. Otto von Niemann, Fay Wray as Ruth Bertin, Melvyn Douglas as Karl Breetschneider, Maude Eburne as Gussie Schnappmann, George E. Stone as Kringen, Dwight Frye as Herman Gleib, and Lionel Belmore as Burgermeister Gustave Schoen. The film has a decent cast, though it is Dwight Frye who really steals the show with his amazing performance as Herman Gleib. He plays the character so well, and brings in elements of his character of Renfield from Dracula into the performance. I definitely think that this is an underrated role by Dwight Frye, and definitely the strongest performance in the film. Fay Wray is, as always, beautiful, but her character just doesn't bring a lot to the story. Lionel Atwill is adequate as the mad scientist, but it is hard to believe him as innocent which I feel takes away from the impact of the film.
I think what the film suffers from the most is that it struggles to be believable, the screenplay could definitely have benefited from a few more drafts to make it stronger and give it more effect. The film has a lot of potential, and some decent performances from the cast, though overall it just feels like an imitation horror film that just doesn't bring anything new or original to the story.
The Vampire Bat tells the story of a mad scientist Dr. Otto von Niemann who is a seemingly innocent doctor in a small Bavarian village, that is actually conducting an experiment of creating life in his laboratory. The village is seeing a string of deaths, where all of the blood is being drained from the bodies of the victims, of course the villagers jump to superstitious allegations of the murders being committed by a vampire. Dimwitted slightly crazy Hermon Gleib is blamed by the villagers, because he is so weird, and in traditional monster film fashion the villagers form a lynch mob to hunt him down and bring him to justice, though he ends up killing himself, and the villagers drive a stake through his heart. But another murder still happens. The murders are being investigated by a level headed investigator named Karl Breetschneider, whose girlfriend Ruth lives in the same castle as Dr. von Niemann, as does her aunt Gussie Schnappmann. Can they discover who the killer is draining the villagers of their blood?
The Vampire Bat was directed by Frank R. Strayer, with a screenplay by Edward T. Lowe Jr. The film was distributed by Majestic Pictures in 1933 and was a rather successful low budget horror film, that capitalized on the success of the bigger films that Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray were starring in at the time. The story wasn't very original, pulling from horror tropes that had been successful for Universal in 1931, with elements of Dracula and Frankenstein pulled in. At its heart The Vampire Bat is a low budget horror rip-off film. In some ways it works, but overall, it just feels like an imitation of a good horror film, even though it does have some great performances by some well known actors.
The Vampire Bat stars Lionel Atwill as Dr. Otto von Niemann, Fay Wray as Ruth Bertin, Melvyn Douglas as Karl Breetschneider, Maude Eburne as Gussie Schnappmann, George E. Stone as Kringen, Dwight Frye as Herman Gleib, and Lionel Belmore as Burgermeister Gustave Schoen. The film has a decent cast, though it is Dwight Frye who really steals the show with his amazing performance as Herman Gleib. He plays the character so well, and brings in elements of his character of Renfield from Dracula into the performance. I definitely think that this is an underrated role by Dwight Frye, and definitely the strongest performance in the film. Fay Wray is, as always, beautiful, but her character just doesn't bring a lot to the story. Lionel Atwill is adequate as the mad scientist, but it is hard to believe him as innocent which I feel takes away from the impact of the film.
I think what the film suffers from the most is that it struggles to be believable, the screenplay could definitely have benefited from a few more drafts to make it stronger and give it more effect. The film has a lot of potential, and some decent performances from the cast, though overall it just feels like an imitation horror film that just doesn't bring anything new or original to the story.
The Vampire Bat is a film worth watching, it is by no means a bad film, but when placed among other films of its era, there are much better films, that make this one feel like little more than an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the horror genre. I think if the film had something more original to set it apart, and some work done to the script, it really could have been a great film. But even with the star power of Fay Wray, Lionel Atwill, and Dwight Frye, there just isn't enough to it to make it a great film. If you come across a copy of The Vampire Bat, it will most likely be a part of a public domain horror film collection, and honestly it is worth your time to watch, but not something that I think would be worthy seeking out as a solo film on its own. I enjoyed the film, and it is one I have watched multiple times, but really mostly just because of how great Dwight Fye is in the film.
Note: I couldn't find a preview, but here is a television promo for a showing of the film.
Note: I couldn't find a preview, but here is a television promo for a showing of the film.
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