MovieChat Forums > The Bat (1959) Discussion > The direction could have been better...

The direction could have been better...

posted 14 years ago by antpaste
12 replies | jump to latest

...but overall this was a very fine old-dark-house mysetery, which kept me guessing right up to the very end -- and without the aid of those tiresome CGI's that make up 90% of the movies we see today.

There was a television production of this with Helen Hayes as the writer and Margaret Hamilton as her companion. There was a funny bit in which Hamilton says to Hayes, "I'm so scared my teeth are chattering," to which Hayes replies, "take them out and put them in your pocket."

EACH DAWN IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE.

[–] Professional_Tourist 14 years ago

My goodness, I never realized this had been produced on television, just the following year, and with Agnes' good friend Helen Hayes in her role as Miss Cornelia. And Jason Robards as Lieutenant Anderson! And the theater critic Walter Kerr wrote the teleplay! He must have cut the story quite a bit, though, to fit it into a sixty-minute time slot with commercials.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923166/

I would love to see this.

[–] antpaste 14 years ago

It was a pretty good production. In addition to being a good mystery, there were some great comic reaprtees between Hayes and Hamilton. The teeth gag is the only one I remember, though.

EACH DAWN IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE.

[–] Professional_Tourist 14 years ago

Do you know if this is available anywhere, online or on DVD?

[–] antpaste 14 years ago

I got a video of the film from a box left by my mailbox which said, "Free. Help Yourselves." Since the video seemed to be in pretty good condition I assume it is a fairly new copy. I don't know if there is a DVD available, but you might want to check Amazon.com.

EACH DAWN IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE.

[–] novastar_6 14 years ago

My God, I never heard one word of this and I always thought I knew about all the film productions of it. I'll have to see if it's available on video anywhere.

[–] Professional_Tourist 14 years ago

I never heard one word of this and I always thought I knew about all the film productions of it. I'll have to see if it's available on video anywhere.

I know what you mean, I was very surprised too! I've looked around, including on Amazon, and didn't find anything. But some vendor may have a copy somewhere.

[–] Professional_Tourist 9 years ago

I never heard one word of this and I always thought I knew about all the film productions of it. I'll have to see if it's available on video anywhere.
I know what you mean, I was very surprised too! I've looked around, including on Amazon, and didn't find anything. But some vendor may have a copy somewhere. 

A kinescope of the 1960 television production of The Bat was added to the Internet Archive, in the fall of 2013. It's available to view online here:

https://archive.org/details/TheBat1960

[–] EdgarST 9 years ago

Besides having the words "filmed theater" everywhere, it has all the looks of a television episode. You can compare what a very good director as Alfred Hitchcock could do working within a television framework ("Psycho") and what Crane Wilbur made. Still it is fun.

[–] EdgarST 9 years ago

Besides having the words "filmed theater" written all over, it has all the looks of a television episode. You can see how a very good director as Alfred Hitchcock could work within a television framework and have "Psycho" as a result, and what Crane Wilbur made. Still it is fun.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

... without the aid of those tiresome CGI's that make up 90% of the movies we see today.

Quite honestly I think the movie would have benefitted from a touch of the old CGI (if it had been around) when the Bat pulls out his fearsome looking "toy" bat which proceeds to fly on cue to Lizzie and bite her. Shades of Ed Wood!🐭

[–] novastar_6 9 years ago

Quite honestly I think the movie would have benefitted from a touch of the old CGI (if it had been around) when the Bat pulls out his fearsome looking "toy" bat which proceeds to fly on cue to Lizzie and bite her. Shades of Ed Wood!

This movie introduced me to the concept of rabid bats, and I still cringe in terror any night there's one, or several flying low overhead.

[–] HarlowMGM 8 years ago

The movie is clearly a low-budget "independent" film so considering that the direction is pretty good. Sets were rather limited but the atmosphere was great. Most of the budget likely went to the fairly big names Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead, pretty much every one else in the film is an obscure actor (alas including the lovely ex-child actress Darla Hood who surely was grateful to be back in films even in a small part like Judy.)