Favorite Fictional Character --- Cornelia Van Gorder

I'm still having a huge issue with coming up with a continuous theme for the month of September.  After doing Bumblelion last week, I though I may stick with cartoon characters.  Then I remembered I have already done that this year, plus I'm thinking of doing a Saturday Morning Cartoon post every Saturday, though I'm not sure when I would start doing it.  So for this week, I'm going with someone completely different.  Because the weather has finally cooled off a bit, we actually had a few days that were just high of chilly, my mind has already started heading in a Halloween frame of mind.  I've already pulled out a few of my favorite movies, one of which is The Bat starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead.  The movie is based off the book, The Bat, by Mary Roberts Rinehart.  A movie I discovered years before I did the books.  I adore Agnes Moorehead, despite her politics, and she is never more regal than she is here.  So with no further ado, I present to you, Cornelia Van Gorder.

Wishing to escape a summer spent in the city, famed mystery writer, Cornelia Van Gorder, decides to rent a house in the country.  She moves into The Oaks with her maid, Lizzie Allen, and quickly discovers that something just isn't right with the house or the town.  It seems that the notorious burglar, occasional killer, knows as The Bat has resurfaced after a year off.  And for some strange reason, all his attention seems to be focused on The Oaks.  The servants are reporting strange sightings on the back staircases and ominous shadows appear in the darkened halls.

At first, our plucky heroine, doesn't put much stock into the worries of her servants.  If they want to leave, they can leave, she has better things to do with her time.  It's only after a clawed hand reaches through a broken window that Miss Cornelia begins to think something may be horribly wrong.  Are the rumors behind the death of the former bank president, who happens to own The Oaks, behind the strange happenings?  Is the fact that the bank is missing thousands of dollars in bonds, causing The Bat to look into The Oaks?  It doesn't take long for Miss Cornelia to put her sleuthing skills to task and get to the bottom of it all.

Through sheer will, courage, and a bit of luck, Miss Cornelia starts to piece together the truth of The Bat and that missing money.  As she delves into the mystery a bit more, the bodies start to pile up, and Miss Cornelia escapes a few close calls of her own.  She never backs down, though I think most of that is stubbornness and curiosity more than any sense of justice.  She puts herself at risk in order to find out the truth and unmask The Bat for all to know.  Of course the idea of writing her newest book based off the happenings never crossed her mind at all.

I believe this is the full movie, so for anyone who hasn't seen it, stick around and find out for yourself what a wonderful character Cornelia Van Gorder is.