Label: The Film Detective
Rating: Not Rated
Duration: 63 Minutes (Plus Special Features)
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas
Director: Frank R Strayer
All-Star Cast Includes Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas and the Immortal Dwight Frye in Macabre, 1933 Tale of Vampire Attacks
This stylized and macabre tale was directed by Frank R. Strayer, who spins a thrilling tale from Hugo-nominated screenwriter Edward T. Lowe (House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula), that will have you craving more films from the first Golden Age of Horror!
About The Vampire Bat …
When corpses drained of blood begin surfacing in the small European village of Kleines Schloss, town elders suspect a vampire is on the loose, but policeman Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas, Ninotchka, Hud) doubts the existence of blood-sucking creatures.
Arguing the contrary is mad scientist Dr. Otto von Niemann (Lionel Atwill, Doctor X, Mystery of the Wax Museum), who is caring for the patients—terrifying his lab assistant, Brettschneider’s love interest Ruth Bertin (Fay Wray, King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game).
Amid mass hysteria, fingers point at the village idiot, Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye, Dracula, Frankenstein), who has a creepy affinity for bats. But after local vigilantes eliminate him from the picture, the killings continue … and Brettschneider tries to keep a cool head as he reluctantly starts searching for supernatural answers.The Vampire Bat is presented in full screen with an aspect ratio of 1.33 and Dolby Digital sound. Restored from a 35mm composite acetate fine grain master and a 35mm nitrate print, UCLA’s restoration recreates the sensational Gustav Brock color sequence, unacknowledged and unseen since first run.
Special Features:
- A Melvyn Douglas featurette with his son, Gregory Hesselberg
- Audio Commentary by film historian Sam Sherman.
About UCLA Film & Television Archive
UCLA Film & Television Archive is renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media and is dedicated to ensuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come. A unique resource for media study, the Archive is one of the largest repositories of moving image materials in the world, with more than 450,000 holdings. The Archive is celebrated for its restoration work, which is presented at prestigious events around the world. A selection of notable restoration projects includes: Different From the Others (1919, Richard Oswald), Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch), Sons of the Desert (William A. Seiter, 1933), The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger), Woman on the Run (1950, Norman Foster), The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton), Scorpio Rising (1963, Kenneth Anger) and Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991). www.cinema.ucla.edu
About The Film Detective:
Founder Philip Elliott Hopkins – who has been a fixture in the entertainment industry since 1999 – has channeled his life-long passion for collecting classic films into The Film Detective, a leading purveyor of restoration and distribution of broadcast-quality, digitally-remastered programming, including feature films, television, foreign imports, documentaries, special interest and audio. Since launching in 2014, the Massachusetts-based company has distributed its extensive library of 3000+ hours on DVD, Blu-ray and through such leading digital and television broadcast platforms as Turner Classic Movies, American Movie Classics, NBC, Bounce TV, Hulu, Amazon, EPIX HD, MeTV, PBS and more. In 2016, the Film Detective launched its OTT classic movies channel streaming on Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV. Visit us online at www.TheFilmDetective.com
