The Bat (1959): watch the full film free, legally

From The Circular Staircase to The Oaks

The Bat is a 1959 American crime-mystery thriller starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead. Its story had already travelled through several forms before this version. Mary Roberts Rinehart began it with her 1908 novel The Circular Staircase, then adapted the material with Avery Hopwood as the 1920 play The Bat. The play first reached the screen in the 1926 American silent film The Bat, making the 1959 picture the fourth film adaptation of the story.

Crane Wilbur adapted the 1959 film and directed it. RKO Pictures had bought remake rights from Mary Pickford, who produced the 1926 adaptation for United Artists. Pickford founded that studio in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin and D. W. Griffith. After RKO stopped making movies, the rights passed to C.J. Tevlin, a former head of RKO, who intended to produce the new film independently. In April 1959, Trevlin made a deal with Allied Artists; American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatre supplied part of the budget. Filming began on April 27, 1959. Wilbur had also written the screenplay for the 1953 Vincent Price film House of Wax.

A murder scare in a rented house

Mystery author Cornelia Van Gorder rents The Oaks, a summer house in a small town, from John Fleming, the local bank president. On a hunting trip with his physician, Dr. Malcolm Wells, Fleming admits he stole more than $1 million in negotiable securities from the bank. He wants Wells to help fake his death, offering a share of the money while threatening to kill him if he refuses. Wells shoots Fleming and conceals the murder.

At the same time, the town fears a killer called the Bat. The figure is described as a faceless man who murders women at night with steel claws. Van Gorder's assistant Lizzie says every servant except chauffeur Warner has quit. While locking up, she sees a clawed hand at an unsecured window. The Bat enters the house, releases a bat that bites Lizzie, and leaves her fearing rabies. Van Gorder calls Wells to examine the wound. Wells has been conducting experiments on bats in his laboratory, where Lieutenant Andy Anderson, the chief of detectives, watches from outside before searching the laboratory in Wells's absence.

Van Gorder is joined by Dale Bailey and Judy Hollander. Dale's husband Victor, a bank clerk, has been framed for the missing securities; Judy works at the bank and can support his defense. Van Gorder believes blueprints may identify a hiding place within The Oaks. Dale agrees to search with her. Van Gorder hires new servants and promotes Warner to butler, while Mark Fleming, John Fleming's nephew and heir, arrives secretly to hunt for the blueprints himself.

Blueprints, suspicion and a hidden room

Mark is killed at The Oaks, and the blueprints disappear. Anderson questions Van Gorder, Dale, Judy and Warner, then orders the women to lock themselves in their rooms while he stays to watch for the Bat. That night, the intruder cuts the phone line and chisels at a third-floor wall. Dale and Judy investigate the sound. Anderson later says he saw a man in the woods and questions Warner, whom he recognizes as a Chicago robbery suspect who says he was acquitted. Wells also becomes a subject of Anderson's suspicion after arriving with an account of a nearby car accident.

Van Gorder discovers that the damaged wall conceals a secret room. She accidentally locks herself inside, and Detective Davenport, assigned to guard the house, frees her. Elsewhere, Wells confronts the Bat in his laboratory. He says he knows where the money is, and the encounter turns violent. The Bat leaves evidence intended to place suspicion on Wells. Back at The Oaks, a fire at the garage draws the danger closer to the house. Van Gorder recognizes the diversion and has Dale, Lizzie and Davenport hide and wait.

The film opened in December 1959 on a double feature with the British Hammer film The Mummy. It was Darla Hood's final film appearance; between 1935 and 1941, she played Darla in the comedy shorts starring the child ensemble known as the Gang. Turner Classic Movies said the film's period-piece approach was not a crowd pleaser in an era of “rampaging aliens and sinister ghouls,” though its reputation improved over time. The New York Times praised Moorehead's “good, snappy performance” and Wilbur's direction, while Variety called the film “sluggish.” Leonard Maltin gave it 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “The Bat (1959 film)”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.