I first heard of this movie years ago in a Cinemassacre video talking about the history of Batman movies, and I've always wanted to see it from that point on. Unfortunately the only DVD release was a cheap public domain copy that looks like it was sourced from a VHS. But now we have an actual 2K restoration from a 35mm nitrate copy coming to Blu-Ray from our friends at Undercrank Productions, which I donated to their Kickstarter for this project a year ago (my name is in the credits), and boy is it great to see this rare but nonetheless important silent film released not at the quality of a potato. Seriously, support these restorations and releases when you can if you love this stuff.
The film itself is your rather standard convoluted Old Dark House Murder Mystery play shtick, much like 1927's <i>The Cat and the Canary</i>. Though while this film is not nearly as campy and stylized as that film, it really is a fun time nonetheless. The production design by William Cameron Menzies is really fantastic and awfully impressive for what is essentially a non-major studio project, and the cinematography by Arthur Edeson and an apparently uncredited Gregg Toland results some very memorable visuals, it's really no wonder Bob Kane was so inspired by this film when he and Bill Finger created Batman. Curious to see how Roland West's sound remake <i>The Bat Whispers</i> pushes those visual ideas further.
Just a random note, but there is a Japanese side-character that is presented very stereotypically and is referred to a couple times by an outdated offensive slur. I'm used to this stuff when dealing with the silent era, but was pretty surprised to find out that the part wasn't played by a white actor in yellow face, but by an actual Japanese actor named Sojin Kamiyama. Apparently he eventually appeared in a bit part in Kurosawa's <i>Seven Samurai.</i> Odd connection, the stereotype is still very cringy, but I definitely learned something new in the process.
I first heard of this movie years ago in a Cinemassacre video talking about the history of Batman movies, and I've always wanted to see it from that point on. Unfortunately the only DVD release was a cheap public domain copy that looks like it was sourced from a VHS. But now we have an actual 2K restoration from a 35mm nitrate copy coming to Blu-Ray from our friends at Undercrank Productions, which I donated to their Kickstarter for this project a year ago (my name is in the credits), and boy is it great to see this rare but nonetheless important silent film released not at the quality of a potato. Seriously, support these restorations and releases when you can if you love this stuff.
The film itself is your rather standard convoluted Old Dark House Murder Mystery play shtick, much like 1927's <i>The Cat and the Canary</i>. Though while this film is not nearly as campy and stylized as that film, it really is a fun time nonetheless. The production design by William Cameron Menzies is really fantastic and awfully impressive for what is essentially a non-major studio project, and the cinematography by Arthur Edeson and an apparently uncredited Gregg Toland results some very memorable visuals, it's really no wonder Bob Kane was so inspired by this film when he and Bill Finger created Batman. Curious to see how Roland West's sound remake <i>The Bat Whispers</i> pushes those visual ideas further.
Just a random note, but there is a Japanese side-character that is presented very stereotypically and is referred to a couple times by an outdated offensive slur. I'm used to this stuff when dealing with the silent era, but was pretty surprised to find out that the part wasn't played by a white actor in yellow face, but by an actual Japanese actor named Sojin Kamiyama. Apparently he eventually appeared in a bit part in Kurosawa's <i>Seven Samurai.</i> Odd connection, the stereotype is still very cringy, but I definitely learned something new in the process.
