Dr. von Niemann is played by Lionel Atwill, so we know he is up to no good in his laboratory, but somehow his assistant and lodger, Ruth Bertin is oblivious to his villainy. She is romantically involved with Inspector Karl Breettschneider, who has been bedeviled by a rash of murder victims completely drained of blood. He initially thinks all the vampire talk is rubbish, but Dr. von Niemann gives it convincing credence.
Unfortunately, suspicion soon falls on poor
Herman Glieb, the town freak, who keeps bats as pets in his garret (you could
say they are in his belfry). He also has a habit of turning up at the wrong place,
at the wrong time.
Vampire Bat is
the sort of production Roger Corman could respect. It was produced by a “Poverty
Row” indie studio, but it approximated the look and vibe of the blockbuster
Universal monster movies by repurposing hand-me-down sets from Frankenstein and
Old Dark House. It also hired thesps who were (or would be) associated
with the Universal franchises. For instance, Lionel Belmore, who played the
Burgomaster in Frankenstein, plays Gustave Schoen, the Bergermeister (a
totally different role).
More importantly, Dwight Frye (Fritz in Frankenstein
and Renfield in Dracula) gives arguably his finest performance as
the nutty yet acutely tragic Glieb. He raves, rolls his eyes, and does what he
did best, but in a way that subverts and deconstructs his famous roles. Atwill
(who would become iconic as the Inspector with the wooden arm in Son of
Frankenstein) makes a coolly cerebral mad scientist, but he still chews
plenty of scenery as von Niemann.
This was definitely a “scream queen” job for
Fay Wray, but she plays Bertin with a bit more attitude and forcefulness then
we usually get from pre-Code horror damsels in distress (as she also did in The Most Dangerous Game. She also has some nice flirty chemistry with Melvyn
Douglas (fresh off Old Dark House), who is amusingly flamboyant and
sarcastic, also providing a nice contrast to the standard bland horror leading
men.
