IMDb RATING
6.3/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
A master criminal terrorizes the occupants of an isolated country mansion.A master criminal terrorizes the occupants of an isolated country mansion.A master criminal terrorizes the occupants of an isolated country mansion.
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Did you know
- TriviaOne of only a handful of films to be shot in the widescreen Magnifilm 65mm format (other studios were also experimenting with other wide formats at the time). The expense of upgrading theaters with new screens and projectors - after just having to install sound equipment - coupled with the Depression and the December 1930 edict from the MPPDA that the film industry not cause "the public's curiosity to be aroused about any new innovations for at least two years" effectively killed the new format. Widescreen formats did not return until the middle of the 1950s out of the necessity to compete with television.
- GoofsAfter the bank robbery, there is a obvious slot in the "road" where the miniature car travels.
- Quotes
The Unknown: What I'd like to know is how did you get the dope from headquarters on this case?
Detective Anderson: The same way I get everything, with my mind. I've got the greatest brain that ever existed.
- Crazy creditsAfter the film an actor comes onto a movie house stage and implores the audience to withhold the identity of the bat from family and friends so they can also enjoy the movie.
- Alternate versionsThis film was shot in two versions with a different director of photography for each. One is in standard 35mm and the other in an early 65mm process. The 65mm version is considered "stagebound" (it was actually based on a popular play) while the 35mm version is considered more "cinematic". Prints of both versions still exist.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Cinemassacre's Bat-a-Thon (2008)
Featured review
A tour-de-force of chases, shootouts, and robbery, as "The Bat" terrorizes a city, and particularly the renters of a mansion where he makes his hideout. Nearly everybody is a suspect, but the key lighting pretty much gives it away. Nonetheless, West keeps the pace moving so fast that we don't really have time to stop and think about much of anything. Features West's trademark effects with miniatures and wires.
Some remarkable photography (in 65mm, no less) in the disappearing silent gothic tradition makes this movie a link from the newly emerging horror scene to the old "haunted house with criminals" genre into which it more properly falls.
"Goofy gothic" excellence.
Some remarkable photography (in 65mm, no less) in the disappearing silent gothic tradition makes this movie a link from the newly emerging horror scene to the old "haunted house with criminals" genre into which it more properly falls.
"Goofy gothic" excellence.
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- Roland West's The Bat Whispers
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- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
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- Sound mix
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