Directed by Crane Wilbur
Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Gavin Gordon, John Sutton
The Film Detective comes through with another one. Coming in September is The Bat (1959), a mystery thriller that Allied Artists promoted much like House On Haunted Hill (1959). People expected horror and didn’t get it, and that has hurt the picture’s reputation over the years.
Price is as good as ever and Agnes Moorehead is terrific. This The Bat was the fourth film based on the stageplay by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, based on a novel by Rinehart.
The Film Detective has done incredible work over the last couple years, dragging cool movies like this from the depths of PD, dollar-bin DVD hell— and giving them new life on Blu-Ray. This one is easy to recommend.
The Hannibal 8 
I was just watching this film last week for the first time. It’s a fun flick!
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The Film Detective released this film on Blu Ray (as a BD/r) back in
2015 as a bare bones release. Gary at DVD Beaver was quiet impressed at
the time. I should imagine this version should carry considerable extras
and will be a “pressed” Blu Ray.
I hope,and indeed how can it not,feature a career retrospective of the
prolific Crane Wilbur who’s career extended from the silent days to
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)
THE BAT was Wilbur’s last official direction credit and there’s plenty
much in between to cover a fascinating career.
A Wilbur retrospective is the sort of project I’d love Toby Roan to get
involved in,but I guess Courtney Joyner will do his usual impressive
job.
The Ballyhoo featurettes that are included on Film Detective releases are
generally rather short-a retrospective of Wilbur’s career would ideally
need about 90 minutes-there’s just so much to cover.
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Wilbur did have a pretty incredible career. I’m particularly fond of his work as a writer, from He Walked By Night and The Amazing Mr. X to House Of Wax and Crime Wave.
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