MYSTERIES: The Bat

Maven got started on mysteries at the tender age of twelve years old with The Bat (by Mary Roberts Rinehart) and The Secret at Shadow Ranch (by Carolyn Keene). So sit back and enjoy as she adds material!

"The Bat" (1959)

With Vincent Price

MYSTERIES: D. W. Griffith vs. Mary Roberts Rinehart

and

"B" . . . AS IN BAD, BORING, BRAINLESS OR . . . JUST BECAUSE . . . THEY'RE FREE! . . . MOVIES

for a free look at Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead and Darla Hood in the 1959 version of the Bat at http://www.archive.org/details/The_Bat_Vincent_Price!

--1926 - The Bat - Silent: http://www.archive.org/details/TheBat1926WithSoundtrack!

Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Bat's Mother

Avery Hopwood

The Bat's Father

The Bat, by Mary Roberts Rinehart, was one of the two books that hooked Maven onto mysteries . . . both literary and cinematic (the other being Carolyn Keene's Secret of Shadow Ranch [1931]).

The original Rinehart story was The Circular Staircase that was published in 1908.

Ms. Rinehart and Avery Hopwood took that story and turned it into the Broadway play, The Bat.

"The Bat" Dust Jacket

The Gutenberg.org Free Etext of the Story

Mary Roberts Rinehart

Later in Her Life

(Click here for the play: http://www.ibdb.com/show.php?id=1862.)

D.W. Griffith may have been a renowned and influential director but even he wasn't above bootlegging a story. (See the link at the top of this page.)

"The Bat" (1926)

With Jewel Carmen, Emily Fitzroy, Louise Fazenda and Eddie Gribbon

"The Bat" Makes an Appearence

1926

The novelization of The Bat came out the same year that the play was introduced on Broadway.

Roland West produced the first offical movie version in 1926 with his wife, Jewel Carmen as Dale Ogden. She played opposite Jack Pickford as Jack Bailey. . . .

This is the only movie Maven can remember seeing Mary Pickford's brother in!

The rest of the credits for this version are at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016629/fullcredits#cast and the movie's trivia at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016629/trivia.

"The Bat Whispers" with Chester Morris

1930

"The Bat" (1930)

He Talks!

Roland West brought out the talkie version in 1930, The Bat Whispers.

Chester Morris heads the cast at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020668/fullcredits#cast. He plays Detective Anderson and would go on to play Bloston Blackie in his own series of mystery movies.

Trivia for the movie can be found at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020668/trivia.

"The Bat Whispers" (1930)

Lobby Card

"The Bat" (1926)

With Unknown, Spencer Charters, Charles Dow Clark and Ben Bard

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This Roland West version didn't have his wife in it!

Una Merkel took the honors this go-round as Dale Ogden with William Blackwell as Jack Bailey.

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"The Bat"

With Agnes Morehead and Lenita Lane

"The Bat" (1959) Starring Vincent Price

(Click to What Price Has Cooking Here.)

Vincent Price made at least two movies that had literary beginnings: The Bat (1950) and The Invisible Man Returns.*

Maven has always enjoyed watching the movies made from Rinehart's book but, in the case of the 1959 version, she feels it's the weakest version.

That's going some since Maven adores Agnes Moorehead and Price . . . . The whole cast is great, including Darla Hood from the Our Gang series all grown up.

The DVD copy of The Bat that Maven has is on the other side of The House on Haunted Hill, made the same year.

Now Maven gets to toss a DVD to see which one to watch!

"The Bat" (1959)

With Agnes Morehead, Lenita Lane and Friend

"The Bat" (1959)

Darla Hood . . . Yes, THAT Darla Hood from the "Our Gang" Series!

(The copy of the book, The Bat, that Maven has is the Grosset & Dunlap edition with stills from that version.)

So we finally come to 1959 when Wilbur Crane directed Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehad in a modernized version.

Good news was that The Bat's look was more in keeping with the book.

The bad news?

We were left with few suspects, with Price being (deliciously) one of them.

One of the other characters was Darla Hood as Judy Hollander.

Her character wasn't in the book but she doesn't last long. . . .

That's one thing about these old movies. When somebody gets scragged by the villain . . . and we're talking about somebody who has a glove with talons on it to slash with . . . there's never ANY blood to see!

*For the longer version of this part . . . go to VINCENT PRICE and for the whole issue of February 2, 2008, go to ARCHIVES: The Old Movie Maven - VOLUME 1 and click on Issue 3.

+Maven has added to the original article.