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The Bat Whispers (1930)

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From Time Out Film Guide

A talkie remake of West's silent The Bat, adapted from a hugely popular Broadway whodunit (by Mary Robert Rinehart and Avery Hopwood). The creaky plot, about a super-thief hiding out in an old dark house and terrifying its inhabitants, is virtually incomprehensible, a non-stop succession of spooky clichés strung together with scant regard for logic or motivation; while attempts to inject humour - centred largely around an hysterical housemaid - are often embarrassingly unfunny. Fascinating, however, is West's unusual visual sense: all enormous shadows, overhead shots, and (for the time) a surprisingly mobile camera. Remade, ineffectually, in 1958 as The Bat.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Cast: Chester Morris, Una Merkel, Maud Eburne, William Bakewell, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Grayce Hampton full cast

Duration: 85 mins


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