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Agnes Moorehead Deserved a Better Movie
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In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, we prowl the drafty halls of The Bat (1959), a murder mystery that promises a terrifying faceless killer but mostly delivers a parade of suspects tripping over blueprints. Agnes Moorehead stars as Cornelia Van Gorder, a sharp-witted mystery novelist renting a sprawling mansion called The Oaks — which comes furnished with hidden rooms, suspicious servants, and a serial killer with a steel claw for a hand. Vincent Price also shows up as Dr. Malcolm Wells, a physician whose hobbies include bats, embezzlers, and sinister monologues.
I walk you through the revolving-door plot: embezzled securities hidden in the house, relatives and witnesses turning up conveniently, and the Bat breaking in every other scene like a home renovation enthusiast with a murder streak. The police prove about as effective as a screen door on a submarine, while Cornelia holds everything together with intelligence, sarcasm, and more initiative than the entire male cast combined.
By the time the Bat is finally unmasked, the only surprise is how long it took anyone to notice. It’s less a horror film than a reminder that sometimes the only thing scarier than a clawed killer is a detective who can’t detect.
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