The Devil Bat ~ 1940 -BW

QUICKIE: Bela Lugosi stars in a (kinda vampirish) bat movie! Can you believe it?!!!

PLOT: (from IMDB): Dr. Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) feels bitter at being betrayed by his employers, Heath and Morton, when they became rich as a result of a product he devised. He gains revenge by electrically enlarging bats and sending them out to kill his employers' family members by instilling in the bats a hatred for a particular perfume he has discovered, which he gets his victims to apply before going outdoors. Johnny Layton (Dave O'Brien), a reporter, finally figures out Carruthers is the killer and, after putting the perfume on himself, douses it on Carruthers in the hopes it will get him to give himself away. One of the two is attacked as the giant bat makes one of its screaming, swooping power dives.

SUMMARY: Wow! Bela Lugosi plays a mad scientist/Dr. (again!) who is doing secret experiments (again!) on bats to make them grow gigantically big. He also trains his monster bats to be killers (again!) when they smell a certain scent. He tricks certain members of the Heath family into wearing the new cologne which has the scent that attracts the killer bat.

Even though the story is so similar to so many other mad scientist plots, this is still a good film and worth a watch. Bela movies are always enjoyable, he's a good actor and really plays it up. I love the scenes where he throws the switch and the electricity makes the bat grow. It's like a tribute to Frakenstein, and it made me laugh and cackle "It's A-live!". Of course, it never made a fried bat.

There's also the boy/girl love story, the rich uncle/father, the newspaper man and the dumb police. This movie has it all folks! But because the plot is such a repeater the movie is just good and not great. Still enjoyable though, Bela movies always are.

Suzanne Kaaren plays Mary Heath the niece/love interest, and Donald Kerr provides most of the comedic relief playing 'One-Shot' McGuire, the newspapers' photographer. Who trys to get a picture of the devil bat while also romancing the Heaths' French maid (Yolande Donlan). Did I forget to mention the French maid?

The Vampire Bat ~ 1933 -BW

QUICKIE: People are dying by what appears to be a vampire but is actually the local Dr. (again).

PLOT: (from IMDB) When the villagers of Klineschloss start dying of blood loss, the town fathers suspect a resurgence of vampirism. While police inspector Karl remains skeptical, scientist Dr. von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) cares for the vampire's victims one by one, and suspicion falls on simple-minded Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye) because of his fondness for bats. A blood-thirsty mob hounds Gleib to his death, but the vampire attacks don't stop.

SUMMARY: Oh! There's a "burgermeister" in town! Which is just a German mayor/police chief. They always look like Burl Ives on a very bad hair day. They make me laugh just by showing up on screen. There's also a local mental case which everyone suspects is the vampire, at least until they drive him into a cave and kill him. But that doesn't stop the blood draining deaths.

It's actually the Dr. who has created a machine to drain people's blood while mocking the local superstitions of vampirism. Apparently he's got a heart in an aquarium and discovered that by pumping blood into it he can keep it alive. I guess the thought of a transplant never entered his mind. No, it's enough to keep it beating freestyle in an aquarium forever. Eventually he's discovered to be the mad murderer and he's killed.

I was disappointed it wasn't an actual vampire movie, but rather a giant mockery of one. A decent story just the same. & we all love Fay Wray. A very suspensfull and a bit shocking scene when everyone figures out that the town murdered simple minded Herman by driving a stake through his heart. "Karl" insists that a decent burial is the least that could be done for him now that they know he's not a vampire. OH! What a sick town!

Dead Men Walk ~ 1943 -BW

QUICKIE: George Zucco plays a vampire!

PLOT: (from IMDB): With the death of Dr. Elwyn Clayton (George Zucco), his twin brother, Dr. Lloyd Clayton (also George Zucco) is almost relieved. His late brother has changed significantly since a trip to India where he had become interested in mysticism and the occult. In fact, his brother has now risen from the dead and is a vampire out to seek revenge on his brother who had a hand in his premature death. Despite several deaths in the town, Lloyd is reluctant to believe his late brother is a vampire. When Elwyn attacks their niece Gayle, he enlists the aid of her fiancé to fight the evil that is among them.

SUMMARY: The fabulous George Zucco in a dual role of vampire & the good brother trying to stop him. A different take on the story as Clayton is made a vampire through occult sorcery instead of through siring. The rest is typical: he's after the pretty girl (and it's never mentioned, but she's his daughter-ew), the boyfriend suspects the uncle which incites the townsfolk to come after the good Dr., thinking he's a murderer. No one believes in vampires until the end when the 2 brothers fight to the death in a burning building and fire just happens to be the only way to kill vampires in this movie. A fun little vampire movie. Not much new though.