THE DEVIL BAT

US, 1940, 68 minutes, Black and white.
Bella Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O' Brien, Guy Asher, Yolande Donlan, Donald Kerr, Edward Mortimer, Alan Baldwin, Hal Price.
Directed by Jean Yarborough.

Almost a decade after appearing as Dracula, Bella Lugosi appears as a sinister doctor in an American city cultivating bats, killer bats.

Lugosi has his Dracula look about him though, most implausibly, his character’s name is Paul Carruthers though he has no physical resemblance or accent to any Paul Carruthers. He is a respected doctor in the city, everybody praising him, the company he works for even offering him a gift of $5000 for his research. His work for the company for years on a whole lot of health products – but explained he is currently working on a men’s scent.

On the side, his doing experiments with bats, enlarging them. However, his secret is that he resents the company managers for taking his inventions and not rewarding him financially. Is rather cynical about the donation.

With success in the bats, and finding ways of two of the sons of the founders of the company to put the sent on their faces – they become victims of the bats.

In the meantime, the pleasant journalist (Dave O’ Brien from the Pete Smith Specialties and a prolific screen writer, especially for the Red Skelton Show) and his photographer sidekick persuade their editor that they will report the stories. These go down well until they decide to get local Artisan to create a giant size bat which they photograph as the real thing).

There is the daughter of one of the owners who is an attractive leading lady, also attracted to the journalist. Eventually, the bat is tracked back to the laboratory and the mad scientist exposed.

Familiar enough material, with Jean Yarborough, a prolific director of this kind of film, entertaining in its way, even with Bella Lugosi being Paul Carruthers!