Shocktober 2024: The Bat Whispers (Roland West, 1930)

The first ten minutes of this pre-code thriller are amazing. We are launched, in media res, into a riveting caper — wildly imaginative, visually dazzling — following the masked criminal ‘The Bat’ as he steals precious jewels from the city’s upper class and easily evades the bumbling cops. The inspiration oozes from the screen — Feuillade’s Les vampires, Lang’s Metropolis, Murnau’s Nosferatu — German expressionists galore! A love letter to shadows! The filmmakers throw everything they got at the screen — miniature models, matte paintings, inventive camera movements that really shouldn’t work this early in film history! Director Roland West and cinematographers Ray June and Robert H. Planck strap a camera on a speeding police car, employ cut scenes to illustrate the passing of time (in 1930!), stage audacious dolly shots that transition into interior shots 30 years before Touch of Evil! Are we in for the Best Movie Ever?

Not quite. This visual feast quickly loses steam, and soon ends up being a very stagey, rickety comedy-thriller, clearly based on some kind of farce — and I start to recognize the story — turns out this Broadway play has been filmed at least three times: as a silent movie in 1926 (as The Bat, also directed by West) and in 1959 it was adapted again (as The Bat, directed by Crane Wilbur) with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead in the leads. I’ve seen the 1959 version, it’s a fun time.

The convoluted story revolves around a banker’s house that attracts a number of shady characters, including the titular bat, who are all searching for a hidden treasure. A variety of subplots involving secret lovers, fake doctors, moronic private eyes and superstitious maids complicate matters. It chugs along but the contrast to its delirious opening is profound. The farcical elements are rough too. It does end on a clever, fourth wall-breaking note, which redeems it somewhat.

Director West lived an interesting life — he was part of one of Weirdowood’s most notorious scandals, the death of Thelma Todd — well worth a read on Wikipedia. Considered a lost film until a print was found in 1988. Dr. Runtime approved (83 mins).