The Bat Whispers

Restored Version
USA|1930|B&W|84 min|35mm (Magnifilm Version)|English|Chi subtitles
The film was shot in three versions: a pair of 1.33:1 aspect ratio, 35mm negatives for US domestic and foreign prints; and a 2.13:1 aspect ratio 65mm widescreen Magnifilm version, which is one of the first widescreen films ever made. In 1988, the UCLA Film and Television Archive restored and preserved the 35mm foreign version and the 65mm Magnifilm in cooperation with the Mary Pickford Foundation, with the latter in 35mm reduction prints upon photochemical restoration.
15.10.2022 (Sat) 16:35 Broadway Cinematheque

Screening with The Making of The Brilliant Biograph and The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe 

From left to right: Maude Eburn, Grace Hampton, William Bakewell, Una Merkel, Charles Clark, Ben Bard.

Dir: Roland West
DP: Robert H. Planck
Cast: Chester Morris、Una Merkel

A mysterious criminal known only as ‘The Bat’ announces his escape to the country as a decoy for him while he robs a bank. In the banker’s country mansion, meanwhile, occupants—each with their own ulterior motives—were ‘haunted’ by mysterious noises, a threatening note and then murder, leading to suspicion that the Bat is among their midst. West’s sound film remake of his own silent picture from 1926 based on the Broadway play The Bat is highly original for its time featuring roof-hopping sequences with German Expressionist touches, and has become an inspiration for Bob Kane’s creation of Batman.

35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive

Roland West (1885-1952)
Renowned for his noir films in the 1920s and 30s, West defied convention in his pursuit of delivering sensational visual effects. The Bat Whispers is one such film made with his self-devised equipment and methodologies.

Magnifilm

While research points to the Fearless Superfilm as the kind of camera used in this process and the original negative film corresponds to the modern 65mm film, this has not yet been established beyond doubt. Theatre operators just having speakers and projection equipment installed for the transitioning to sound films were reluctant to invest further in widescreen projectors and screens, incidentally leading to Magnifilm’s rapid obsolescence, with The Bat Whispers as the only film presented in this process.