Pros: Tried to break away from the predictable plot.
Cons: The actors.
The Bottom Line: With early performances from some very popular names in the genre, I think this just might be considered "classic". And it's about vampires, so of course it's horror.
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie''s plot.
Pretty much every vampire movie you’ve ever seen can be summed up with a very simple description. People are dying. Authorities find marks on the victims’ necks. Someone suggests VAMPIRES. The authorities scoff. Turns out it IS vampires. The vampire is hunted and killed. The end.
So what’s a movie to do, especially when it’s 1933 and the most famous vampire movie of all time was released only two years ago? Well, obviously the overall plot can’t change--it’s probably set in stone somewhere--so the only other option is to make a vampire movie with no vampires. I mean, who’d have the audacity to pull such a stunt? THE VAMPIRE BAT, that’s who.
People in the village of Klineschloss are dying and the authorities are finding marks on the victims’ necks. This time it’s the public who cries VAMPIRES while the hero, top cop Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) scoffs. In his corner are Dr. Otto von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) and Karl’s fiance Ruth Bertin (Fay Wray). But as the bodies pile up and more vampire folklore is thrown about, Karl begins to suspect maybe, if not a true vampire, someone who thinks he’s a vampire. The prime--ONLY--suspect is the childlike Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye, who, interestingly enough, played Renfield in the Lugosi DRACULA). Herman is jobless and probably homeless, yet he’s always well-fed and clean. And of course he likes to play with bats, because, as he says, they’re soft like cats. Bats good, Herman insists.
While Karl doesn’t believe Herman is a vampire, he does think he might have committed the murders. He sends a party out to find Herman, which they do, but he’s chased into a cave and, instead of being brought back to town for what would undoubtedly be a losing trial, he leaps to his death.
Meanwhile, back in town, Dr. von Neimann’s maid is found dead in her bed. The doctor tells Karl he last saw her a little after 10:00, but when they find out Herman died at 9:00, wtf???
The revelation in the end isn’t so much a revelation as a validation of all your suspicions up to this point. In fact, it doesn’t take long into the movie for you to start suspecting the culprit and I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet you’d be right.
This wasn’t a horrible movie. It wasn’t a great one, but it had its moments. The actors were terrible, I kept feeling like I was watching a high school play, only all the students were in their 30s. On his most overacted day Shatner was still more believable than these people. Douglas and Atwill . . . Man, they knew how to overdo it right. While poor Fay Wray had little to do but pour coffee and look cute.
Once again, we’re treated to the trials and tribulations of the well-to-do. Our main characters are never without a suit and a shave, surrounded by fine furnishings in their immaculate houses, while the common folk are portrayed as dirty stoop-backed drunks. Ruth and her aunt Gussie (Maude Eburne) are staying with Dr. von Niemann, though it’s never explained why, but it does fulfill that other requirement for these kind of movies: the pretty niece (or daughter) staying with her rich benefactor (uncle, father) while in love with the clean-cut hero (doctor, cop, reporter). With such a simple to follow formula, it’s no wonder these movies were so easy to make. Lionel Atwill made EIGHT movies in 1933.
With a running time of about an hour and absolutely no special effects, THE VAMPIRE BAT had to rely solely on story and actors to draw a crowd. The story is okay. Predictable, sure, but it still managed to provide a few surprises. The performances, however . . . sheesh. This could have been a better movie and if Douglas and Atwill had just toned it down a bit, it would have been. But there’s only so much posturing and over-enunciating a person can take before that fourth star is taken away and you’re left with a mere 3-star movie. I admire this movie and would definitely watch it again. But I can’t sing its praises because two weeks from now all I’ll remember is how stern and serious the actors looked while projecting absolutely no emotion whatsoever. Good, but forgettable.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.