The Vampire Bat
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Vampire Bat |
| Original title | The Vampire Bat |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1933 |
| length | 69 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Frank Strayer |
| script | Edward T. Lowe |
| production | Phil Goldstone |
| camera | Ira Morgan |
| cut | Otis M. Garrett |
| occupation | |
| |
The Vampire Bat is an American thriller from the year 1933 . It was produced by Phil Goldstone for Majestic Pictures and directed by Frank Strayer . The main roles were played by Lionel Atwill , Melvyn Douglas and Fay Wray .
The low-budget film was made in the wake of the success of Tod Browning's 1931 film adaptation of Dracula .
action
The film takes place in the fictional European town of Kleinschloss. There, the policeman Karl Brettschneider, played by Douglas, has to solve a case in which anemic corpses with two dot-sized marks on their necks are found. The population suspects a vampire behind the murders. The doctor and scientist Dr. Otto von Niemann, played by Atwill, confirms this thesis, but Brettschneider remains skeptical. The people of the village suspect the mentally handicapped bat lover Herman Gleib of being the vampire, hound him to death and drive a stake through his heart. But the real killers are Dr. From Niemann and his assistant Emil Borst, played by Robert Frazer , who draw blood from their victims in their laboratory with an apparatus in order to keep an artificially created form of life alive. When Von Niemann fears that Brettschneider might track him down, he prescribes poison as a sleeping pill and then sends Emil to his bedroom to transport Brettschneider to the laboratory. At the same time Von Niemann brings Brettschneider's girlfriend Ruth Bertin, played by Wray, into his power. But Brettschneider can overwhelm Emil and carries him into the laboratory. There he frees his girlfriend and wrestles with Von Niemann, who claims that Emil is solely responsible for the murders. Emil then shoots Dr. From Niemann and then yourself.
criticism
Hans J. Wollstein wrote in the All Movie Guide that The Vampire Bat is often referred to as the best of all independent horror films of the thirties . Although he can no longer shiver a modern audience, he is still entertaining. He praised the very good cast.
In the book Vampire Films by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell, the film is described as an exciting thriller with a flowery but lovable script.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell: Vampire Films . Pocket Essentials, 2008
- ↑ a b allemovie.com Hans J. Wollstein: The Vampire Bat
Web links
- The Vampire Bat on the Internet Archive
- The Vampire Bat in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Vampire Bat in the online movie database