Il vampiro

I saw this for the first time recently. While this film hasnt aged well n it aint no classic but it shud be definitely viewed by fellas who love mystery films with elements of somnambulism, hypnotism, scientist, bats, vampires, etc.

The producers succeeded in making this film almost as good as any Universal Pictures horror film is because they leased the castoffs, the sets left over from Frankenstein and the The Old Dark House. They even succeeded in hiring actor Dwight Frye (Dwight Frye played Renfield in Dracula and as Fritz in Frankenstein and as a reporter in The Invisible Man). In this movie he gave the same act similar to Dracula, of that a lunatic.

Fellas from a small village start dying under mysterious circumstances n the local doc conclude that the deaths r all the same, blood loss, with two punctures in the neck caused by needle-sharp teeth. The villagers suspect of vampires, but the local cop remains skeptical. Fear of the vampire and suspicion of a local lunatic who is fond of bats quickly spread around the town and people start fearing him.

There have been a rash of killings in a German village. The victims have all been found drained of their blood. The villagers believe a local weirdo named Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye), who has an unnatural affinity for vampire bats, is responsible. However, as the story progresses, it looks like a scientist engaged in disturbing experiments might really be the culprit.

This is a good little vampire/mad scientist mash-up horror film from the early '30s. Helped by a cast of greats, including Frye, Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, and Melvyn Douglas. Made by Poverty Row studio Majestic, it looks pretty good since they were able to use leftover Universal sets. Majestic rushed the film into production in order to release it before Mystery of the Wax Museum, Warner Bros' big hit starring Atwill & Wray.

This was made by a minor ,Poverty Row studio but it stands up well alongside other more lavish Universal productions from around the same time and has a pretty decent cast that provides a touch of quality in the acting department. The title is a misnomer as the evil that bedevils the remote Central European town turns out to be human in origin although the inhabitants of the town firmly believe that the exsanguinated bodies turning up all over the place are the work of vampires .They hound a simple minded young man ,Herman ,( movingly played by Dwight Frye ) to his death claiming he is the culprit while the real villain is unmasked shortly after his death. Neat performances from Lionel Attwill as the town doctor ,Melvyn Douglas as the sceptical local policeman and the aforementioned Mr Frye compensate for a wan and colourless Fay Wray as the love interest and the tedious comic relief of Maude Elune as a bossy old maiden Aunt prone to fits of the vapours .

Its ingredients will be familair to lovers of the vintage horror picture and we get many of the scenes that were a staple of the genre--superstitious villagers wielding torches ,a crazed man of science and the debate between science and folklore but it is expertly welded together and never oustays its welcome

In the small village of Kleinshloss, the locals are scared with a serial killer that is draining the blood of his victims, and the Burgomaster Gustave Schoen (Lionel Belmore) is convinced that a vampire is responsible for the deaths. The skeptical police inspector Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) is reluctant to accept the existence of vampires, but the local doctor Otto Von Newman (Lionel Atwill) shows literature about cases of vampirism inclusive in Amazon. When the apple street vendor Martha Mueller (Rita Carlisle) is murdered, the prime suspect becomes the slow Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye), a man with a mind of child that loves bats. The group of vigilantes chases Herman, while Dr. Von Newman's housemaid Georgiana (Stella Adams) is attacked by the killer.

"The Vampire Bat" is an entertaining low-budget horror movie from the 30's that is visibly inspired in the success of Universal "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" in 1931. There are many analogies in the stories, like the living growing tissue or the innocence of Herman or the raged crowd. The characters are not well developed, and I did not understand the relationship of Ruth Bertin and her annoying hypochondriac aunt Gussie Schnappmann with Dr. Otto Von Newman, or how the doctor hypnotizes or controls his assistant Emile. It is great to see Fay Wray acting in the same year of "Mystery of the Wax Museum" and "King Kong". My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Morcego Vampiro" ("The Vampire Bat")

"The Vampire Bat" is one of those underrated horror films of the early 1930's that seems to impress more with each viewing. I won't go into the details of the plot, as that has been covered multiple times in other reviews, and it's not the story that makes the film shine.

There are three things that make "The Vampire Bat" stand out from the other poverty row films - the cast, the direction, and the comedy.

The Cast - Lionel Atwill, Melvyn Douglas, and Fay Wray get the heavy lifting in the film, and all are excellent. Atwill is perfect for this type of part, as he demonstrated many times. Douglas is sufficiently perplexed as the investigator, and Fay Wray is just gorgeous in distress. The other players add sufficiently, especially Dwight Frye channeling a dimmer version of Renfield from Dracula.

The Direction - Frank Strayer does an admirable job in shooting the film, with creepiness abundant and lots of camera movement. Some shots are just so outstanding (such as the opening scene), that they almost seem out of place in a cheap horror movie. Strayer provides loads of atmosphere and never loses the audience. An excellent job.

The Comedy - As with most horror films of this time, comedy relief was thrown in to lighten the mood of the audience, and in most films, the comedy was misplaced and terribly unfunny. However, in "The Vampire Bat" the comedy, mostly provided by Maude Eburne as Aunt Gussie, is spot on and still funny today. This helps to keep the film watchable.

The Downsides - There is really only a couple of downsides to the film. The first is the editing, which is clumsy and hurried. It sometimes spoils the excellent direction. Cuts are often not matched, and this can distract. Obviously, this was not a big budget film, so the sets and overall production values are not high, but this is mostly glossed over by the efficiency and care shown by the director, but there are a few scenes where the seams showed too much, like the cave scene, parts of which look like it was filmed in a closet.

Overall, "The Vampire Bat" is certainly worth a look for the great direction, a mad Lionel Atwill, and the always lovely Fay Wray.