Jan 291930
 
two reels

The arch-criminal The Bat has just finished his most daring robbery and heads off to the country to a mansion rented by elderly but fierce Cornelia Van Gorder. The house is soon filled with an array of strange characters, including Van Gorder’s niece, a suspected bank robber, a suspicious doctor, a stern police detective, a comical PI, the nasty nephew of the owner of the house, and cowardly servants. It is likely that the proceeds from a bank robbery is hidden in the house which means we get a murder and lots of spooky goings on. Which of the guests is actually The Bat?

The Bat Whispers is a remake of the silent film—entitled The Bat—that started the Dark House genre in film. The genre puts a bunch of eccentric characters into a secluded haunted house, but where the haunting is almost always a Scooby-Do situation. Lightning flashes and strange sounds come from the walls but it is all background. While some of these films are comedies (The Ghost Breakers), more often “quirky” is a better description (The Old Dark House). That’s the case here, as nothing is funny but quite a bit is peculiar. Everyone’s behavior is loud and broad. This is no place for subtlety.

For 1930 the camera work is impressive, with several techniques and technologies developed for the project. Still, there’s no mistaking that The Bat Whispers/The Bat came from a stage play. Generally we keep on one side of a room, with characters moving left and right. I ‘m pretty sure I could block the play after watching this. And while those techniques and technologies were new, that doesn’t mean they were used in an exciting way. For the historical development, The Bat Whispers might get a cinematographers blood pumping, but for me, it’s not pulse pounding.

The story is a basic thriller with an easy to determine mystery. The story progresses by having a number of characters hear some sound and then go rushing into a room where they spend time trying to determine what caused the sound. Rinse and repeat. It’s not a bad time, nor is it memorable.

Bob Kane said that this was his inspiration for Batman. Apparently he had a wide ranging imagination as there isn’t much here to base a superhero upon.

It was remade as The Bat in 1959 with Vincent Price.