Bat

Pros: Price and Moorehead.
Cons: The dialogue.

What would you do for a million dollars? That’s the question asked by the 1959 movie THE BAT. Bank president and founder John Fleming has embezzled a million dollars from his bank. While away on a hunting trip he reveals his secret to his friend ...

Pros: excellent cast, solid storyline, satisfying ending
Cons: I was having so much fun watching it, I didn't want it to end.

I have been viewing Vincent Price films I've not previously seen. I didn't know what to expect from a movie titled The Bat. At first I thought it was science fiction, perhaps a vampire flick. Turns out "The Bat" is a mystery … and a good one! ...

Pros: Price and Moorehead make the movie. The story is updated for modern tastes
Cons: It's a pretty low budget effort, with a somewhat pokey pace by modern standards

One of those good old-fashioned thrillers, this is the third major film adaptation of the ancient Mary Roberts Rhinehart stage mystery. The first two, THE BAT (1926) and THE BAT WHISPERS (1930), were important stylistic precursors of, and inspirations...

Pros: Wonderful cast, unpredictable mystery
Cons: Some glaring plot holes and poor dialogue

This review was first posted to Amazon on September 9, 2008: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2KDV8DE44RNW0/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
An uncensored, noncommercial version is available on my blog: http://harkabrazencur.blogspot.com/2008/09/film-review-bat.html

This is the fourth of five screen adaptations of the Broadway play. A crude, low-budget production is elevated by a fine cast and a cunning story that involves a gimmicky serial killer, a stolen fortune of $1M, several probable suspects, a scourge of rabid bats and an old mansion where a mystery novelist (Moorehead) is residing, which contains an arcane secret. Notwithstanding numerous inexplicable plot holes, "The Bat" is an intriguing murder mystery that kept me guessing until it ended. Moorehead is typically engaging, and the repartee between her and Lane is amusing. Price is as great as ever in this; his tremendous presence makes him seem larger than the screen itself, and as always, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. But the constraints of his role render him underutilized in another of so many excellent performances.