THE BAT WHISPERS (1930)
Label: VCI Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 85 Minutes 32 Seconds (US 35mm version), 85 Minutes 56 Seconds (UK 35mm version), 84 Minutes 50 Seconds (65mm Magnifilm version)
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: B&W 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.32:1) - U.S./U.K. Versions, 1080p HD Widescreen (2.00:1) - Magnifilm Version
Director: Roland West
Cast: Chester Morris, Una Merkel, William Bakewell, Grayce Hampton, Maude Eburne, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Spencer Charters, Charles Dow Clark, Roland West
The Bat Whispers (1930) is a pre-Code mystery film directed by Roland West (Alibi), based on the 1920 play The Bat, written by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, which itself was a stage adaptation of Rinehart's 1908 mystery novel The Circular Staircase. The play had previously been adapted in the silent era in 1926 as The Bat, also directed by Roland West, and was later re-made as The Bat (1959) starring Vincent Price (The Comedy of Terrors) and Agnes Moorhead (Caged!, TV's Bewitched). This was a first time watch for me, having enjoyed a recent re-watch of the '59 version with Price, which was delightful, I had high hopes for this earlier incarnation, and was not disappointed.
The story is similar but different, we have an infamous burglar/jewel thief known as "The Bat" who taunts police by leaving notes at the crime scenes, early in the film plays cat and mouse with the police as he sets about lifting a priceless necklace from a high-rise apartment building safe, then announcing that he is retiring. We then meet Mrs. Van Gordner (Grayce Hampton, Caged!) and her shrill maid Lizzie (Maude Eburne, The Vampire Bat), the latter of whom is on edge because of radio reports of the local bank has just been robbed, and the chief suspect is a bank teller named Brook (William Bakewell, Dance, Fools, Dance), who just so happens to be a love interest for Van Girdner's niece Dale (Una Merkel, Saratoga, Spinout), who she sneaks into the mansion under the guise of a well-manicured gardener. It turns out the Van Gordner is leasing the mansion from the robbed bank's president Mr. Flemming, and Dale has brought Brook to the mansion hoping to find a secret room where they believe the bank loot is being kept - though why they think this never really dawned on me either time I watched it.
Throughout the night their are strange noises and light turning on and off at the mansion, which sets Lizzie on edge, fearing the bank job was done by The Bat and that he might be afoot in the area - she's not wrong. When Dale calls the nephew of the bank's president Richard (Hugh Huntley) in hopes that he can help her find the building plans for the mansion and locate the secret room. Hugh ends up shot dead by un unseen assailant, soon after Dr. Venrees (Gustav von Seyffertitz, She), Detective Anderson (Chester Morris, Three Godfathers), and a private detective Jones (Charles Dow Clark, The Ghost Walks) to sleuth the murder mystery and perhaps find the missing bank loot.
Meanwhile there are various sighting of The Bat and an unknown masked-man who threatens tells the caretaker (Spencer Charters, Arsenic and Old Lace) that he will set him on fire if he does not convince everyone to leave the mansion ASAP. There's also a stranger who was apparently knocked unconscious that shows up, and The Bat and the mysterious masked-man continue to terrorize the occupants while they begin a search for a hidden room, hoping to find the stolen money.
There's a lot to love about this twisty mystery thriller, starting with the image of The Bat, seen early on in shadow with a scalloped cape in the shape of a batwing descending from ropes and casting shadows on walls, it's quite a wonderful image, and was apparently on inspiration on the creation of Batman according to none other than Bob Kane. I was also wowed by the technical merits of the filmmaking, I was not expecting to be dazzled but this film is not only gorgeously shot with some notable expressionistic light and shadow play, but features several technical set-pieces that really blew my hair back, opening with a scene of a clocktower then panning down all the way to the street level, a shot done with building, car and people miniatures before it transitions to an actual street scene - in 1930!?! Maybe I am just naive but this seemed like it was way ahead of it's time. Also, another shot that follows a character as he jumps over a railing and run through a courtyard, the camera trailing just behind him just seems so effortless, but in 1930 camera set-ups surely were not lightweight and portable, it stands out as something quite special as well. Another earlier scene of a car chase with The Bat's car emitting a exhaust-smokescreen is shot using slot cars on a miniature set of forested street, it's not seamless by any means but it looks so dang cool. There are so many visual flourishes here that I found transfixing, I really think I was boring my wife to death as we watched it and I was pausing and re-playing these scenes saying "Wow, look at that!", haha, but she stuck with me all through it, what a sweetie. But seriously, the way that the camera moves and glides throughout this whodunit thriller is absolutely stunning.
Another fascinating element is that actually made this film twice, shooting one version in 35mm framed, and then shooting the scene again in 65mm using a short-lived widescreen format called 'Magnifilm', which like some of the technical feats of this film was years ahead of it's time, with widescreen not really catching on until the 1950's when movies needed something to set themselves apart from the growing in popularity TV.
I won't lie, I prefer the 1959 remake with Vincent Price, which I think streamlined the story a bit and I liked the clawed-hand look of The Bat, but I cannot deny how entertaining this mystery thriller is, it holds up, and the performances, which can get deliciously camp, are wonderful throughout. There's a scene where The Bat while fleeing accidentally steps into a bear trap, which was laid out at the start of the film by the paranoid maid Lizzie, that scene had me dying with laughter, I couldn't believe Chekov's beartrap was paying off. Also, Chester Morris as Det. Anderson is so over-the-top and sort of maniacal, and then we have maid Lizzie who is shrill, skittish and easily startled, she was far and away my favorite character in a film loaded-up with interesting characters and whodunit tropes.
Also, just an another aside, I was curious why I was not familiar with the name of director Roland West, so I looked him up, interestingly he made one more film after this, 1932's Corsair, starring Thelma Todd (Horse Feathers) who he was dating, apparently she died in 1935 and he was suspected in her murder, which seems to have put the kibosh on his career, and he allegedly made a deathbed confession to his friend, actor Chester Morris in 1952, staying that he did indeed kill her.
Audio/Video: The Bat Whispers (1931) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from VCI Entertainment, offering three different version of the film. We get both the U.S. and slightly longer British versions of the film in shot on 35mm in the 1.32:1 aspect ratio, and we get the Magnifilm 2:1 widescreen version, which was an early widescreen format only used on a handful of film in the 30's before being dropped. Th version are quite fascinating, with the U.S. and Brit versions being quite similar but with alternate takes, and the 65mm Magnifil version being a film of completely different takes - they shot the scene in 35mm and then re-set and shot a different take for the 65mm format, which I find fascinating. You can actually watch all three version and get something different with all three version, utterly fascinating. Of the two 35mm versions I prefer the British version, the blacks are looks less to me which was more pleasing; but of the three version I think the large format Magnifilm version is easily my preferred viewing experience. The framing is gorgeous, the Magnifilm process required more lighting and I think it has more of a German expressionistic deep shawy look it it, the grayscale is far superior and contrast is more even tones, plus the source in in better shape. The 35mm versions have stray vertical lines while the 65mm version is much cleaner. The restorations performed by UCLA Film & Television Archive and look absolutely wonderful, with additional clean-up and restoration performed by VCI.
Audio on all three come by way of uncompressed English PCM 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is certainly of it's vintage and sounds slightly filtered, but some background hiss persists, regardless, dialogue and the sound design shine well enough even with a limited range.
This 2-disc release is well-stacked with extras, on disc one we get both the U.S. and UK Versions of the film, plus a 5-min Photo Gallery of stills, lobby cards, and press kits, plus 10-min US vs UK Version Comparison, offering side-by-side video of each version, briefly noting the minor differences is performance, dialogue and staging.
Disc 2 offers the the 65mm Magnifilm Version of the film, with an optional Audio Commentary by author and film critic Mick LaSalle; plus a 10-min US 35mm vs 65mm Version Comparison which again offers a side-by-side video comparison of the two versions of the film. Next up is the 8-min The Bat (1926) vs The Bat Whispers (1930) Scene Comparisons. I have not seen the earlier silent version of the film, which was also directed by Roland West, but it looks like a new restoration in on the way to disc in the near future, which I look forward to. Complimenting that comparison we also get the 2-min The Bat (1926) Before and After Restoration Demo which showcases the gorgeous restoration work we hopefully can look forward to seeing soon, perhaps from VCI. The last extras is certainly not least, we get a bonus film, the highly enjoyable 1959 remake The Bat, starring Vincent Prive and Agnes Moorehead in HD, and looking pretty great. That version is also available on Blu-ray from Film Detective. I did not have time to compare the two, but this HD version looks solid.
The 2-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a clear keepcase, looking nearly identical to VCI's recent release of Street Scene (1931), meaning it's a pretty classy presentation with clean design elements that look terrific. Inside there's a 12-Page Illustrated Booklet with liner notes detailing the restoration process and appreciation of the old dark house whodunit mystery thriller by film historian Richard Barrios, as well as notes about the cast and crew.
Just as a side note, I have long loved VCI for their cult film catalog, however, especially their budget collection DVD set like the Scream Theater double-features, and a couple of tasty Blu-ray titles, though I have not always been pleased with the quality of their HD releases, which more often than not had poor video sources and shoddy encoding, with packaging that was poorly designed and looked cheap. However, these last few releases have seemed to be a turning point for them in terms of A/V quality and packaging presentation, and I hope this is something we see more of going forward. They've been around for decades and I want to see them not only prosper and grow but really come into their own in terms of quality control.
Special Features:
Disc 1.
- The Bat Whispers, 35mm US version (85:32) HD
- The Bat Whispers 35mm UK version (85:56) HD
- Photo Gallery (5:25)
- US vs UK Version Comparison (10:14) HD
Disc 2
- The Bat Whispers, 65mm Magnifilm Version (84:50) HD
- Audio Commentary by author and film critic Mick LaSalle (2024)
- US 35mm vs 65mm Version Comparison (10:14) HD
- The Bat (1926) vs The Bat Whispers (1930) Scene Comparisons (7:33) HD)
- The Bat (1926) Before and After Restoration Demo (1:54)
- Bonus Film: The Bat (1959) HD
Both this and Street Scene are easily my favorite releases from VCI to date, previous to this it was their Blu-ray of the made-for-TV chiller Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981), which I am very excited to say is getting a 4K UHD, also from VCI, which I am eagerly anticipating. Aside from that I am hoping we see a Blu-ray of The Bat (1926) in the near future, and more gems from The Mary Pickford Collection to follow. The Bat Whispers (1930) is a visually stunning old dark house whodunit, and I loved the offbeat humor, it's just a banger of mystery film, highly recommended, and easily one of my favorite film discoveries of 2024.
Screenshots from the VCI Ent. Blu-ray (Magnifilm Version):
Extras:
Buy it!
#ad
