Devil Bat’s Daughter ** (1946, Rosemary La Planche, John James, Michael Hale, Nolan Leary) – Classic Movie Review 3736

Rosemary La Planche, the 1941 Miss America, stars as Nina, the daughter of Bela Lugosi’s now deceased vengeful inventor character Dr Paul Carruthers from 1940’s The Devil Bat.

And this time a psychiatrist called Doctor Elliott (played by Nolan Leary) is supposed to be treating Nina as his patient. But actually he trying to drive her crazy to persuade her that she is a vampire bat so that she will think that she suffers from a compulsion to kill and eventually think that she murdered his wife. He drugs Nina, murders his wife and leaves evidence that points to Nina.

Along comes Ted Masters (played by John James) to help Nina out of her pickle and also in the process to clear Lugosi’s Dr Carruthers’s name too.

Director Frank Wisbar’s 1946 poverty row horror film sequel provides more ridiculous but amusing low-budget chills and LaPlanche is better than expected, though, alas, PRC’s cheap production always lets it down.

Griffin Jay’s screenplay is based on Wisbar and Ernst Jaeger and Leo J McCarthy’s story.

Also in the cast are Molly Lamont, Michael Hale, Eddie Kane, Ed Cassidy, Monica Mars, Frank Pharr and Frank Marlowe.

La Planche (1923–1979) enjoyed a 12-year, 30-film movie career from 1937 to 1949.

It is the film debut of Michael Hale, a former ad man for the Los Angeles Times, who was married to one of Hedda Hopper’s assistants. He made only one other film, The Killers (1946), though was busy on TV in the Fifties.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3736

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