Tickets $10/$9 in the King 4K Screening Room
PRESENTED IN THE 65MM WIDESCREEN FORMAT RESTORED BY UCLA FILM ARCHIVE
From the UCLA Film Archive:Preservation funded by the National Endowment for the Arts
The Bat Whispers (1930)
Directed by Roland West
Shot simultaneously in 35mm and 65mm, THE BAT WHISPERS represents a marvel of technical innovation. Previously filmed by director West in 1926, this version achieves a dynamic aesthetic through the use of startling camera movement, dramatic lighting and expressionistic sets, clearly inspired by LES VAMPIRES and THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. Revolving around the hunt for stolen money in an isolated mansion, THE BAT WHISPERS deftly combines dramatic flourishes with lighter moments, including a suitably hammy performance by Chester Morris as The Detective desperate to find both the money and the killer. Cartoonist Bob Kane would later cite the film as one of the seminal influences in his creation of Batman.
Based on the play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. Producer: Roland West. Screenwriter: Roland West. Cinematographer: Ray June. Editor:James Smith. Cast: Chester Morris, Una Merkel, Chance Wardrobe, Richard Tucker.
—————————————–More Background————————————
Roland West’s The Bat Whispers (1930) is a stylish blend of mystery, horror and comedy based on the enormously successful stage play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. When a master criminal known as “The Bat” announces his retirement, a daring bank robbery suggests that he may still be active. The missing money is believed to be hidden somewhere inside an isolated country mansion occupied by the formidable Cornelia Van Gorder, her nervous maid Lizzie and a collection of suspicious visitors. Secret passages, flickering lights, mysterious noises and murder soon transform the house into a shadow-filled maze in which almost anyone could be the masked criminal.
The picture is especially important for Roland West’s remarkably inventive direction and its bold use of German Expressionist lighting, elaborate miniatures and sweeping camera movements. It was simultaneously photographed in conventional 35mm and in Magnifilm, an experimental 65mm widescreen process presented at approximately a 2:1 aspect ratio—more than two decades before widescreen became standard in Hollywood. The rediscovered 65mm version was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and is now considered one of the great visual achievements of early sound cinema. The Bat’s dramatic appearance and bat-shaped signal were also among the inspirations Bob Kane later acknowledged in the creation of Batman.
Principal cast
- Chester Morris — Detective Anderson
- Una Merkel — Dale Van Gorder
- Grayce Hampton — Cornelia Van Gorder
- Maude Eburne — Lizzie Allen
- William Bakewell — Brook
- Gustav von Seyffertitz — Dr. Venrees
- Spencer Charters — The Caretaker
- Charles Dow Clark — Detective Jones
- Hugh Huntley — Richard Fleming
- Ben Bard — The Unknown
- Chance Ward — Police Lieutenant
Principal crew
- Director and screen adaptation — Roland West
- Producer — Joseph M. Schenck
- Based on the play by — Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood
- Cinematography — Ray June; Robert H. Planck, widescreen photography
- Art direction and settings — Paul Roe Crawley
- Film editor — James Smith
- Music — Hugo Riesenfeld
- Production company — Art Cinema Corporation
- Distributor — United Artists
Runtime: 82 minutes
Format: Black-and-white; sound; produced in both 35mm and 65mm Magnifilm versions.
Selected press quotes
- “A good picture…for shivers and smiles.” — Variety
- “The sets are top-notch, presenting the proper eerie atmosphere.” — TV Guide
- “A superior mystery chiller in its own right.” — Radio Times
- “One of the most ambitious visual stylists working in Hollywood.” — Turner Classic Movies, on director Roland West