An enjoyable farce in the style of "Grand Guignol", which only masquerades as a mystery but in its heart is early horror.
Director Roland West was already famous by the time he did this film, having worked with Lon Chaney and other stars, but it stands in many ways as his most significant work. Many people nowadays only know him for his connection to the murder of Thelma Todd. But we can see here his desire to raise the state of the art of suspense cinema, with photography by no less than Arthur Edeson and Gregg Toland. In fact trick photography is evident in a great many of the scenes here, and used to great effect especially in the area of shadows and forced perspective shots.
Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda star as guests in a huge castle which may also be the home to the mysterious "Bat", a masked thief who intimidates his victims with letters prior to dispossessing them of all their jewels. A whole host of detectives descend on the scene when it is learned that the Bat is in the house.
None of the performances are particularly memorable. What people will walk away from -- with this and with the innovative sound version, "The Bat Whispers" -- is the sense of charm and fun that these early film-makers associated with murder and horror. This film famously was the inspiration for the "Bat Man" character, who is basically the Bat turned good (the Bat even has a secret hideout in the Gothic mansion in this film just like in those stories). The fact that the character had to be turned into a hero to continue into the 20th Century might just say something about how much more seriously we take crime at this point in our society. Presumably 1920s audiences were expected to sympathize to some extent with the Bat -- after all, all his victims were ridiculously wealthy people who could probably afford to part with a few diamonds.
All in all a solid film, a good example of entertainment driven 1920s cinema and the possibilities that were there for suspense even before dialog and camera movement became vogue.
Director Roland West was already famous by the time he did this film, having worked with Lon Chaney and other stars, but it stands in many ways as his most significant work. Many people nowadays only know him for his connection to the murder of Thelma Todd. But we can see here his desire to raise the state of the art of suspense cinema, with photography by no less than Arthur Edeson and Gregg Toland. In fact trick photography is evident in a great many of the scenes here, and used to great effect especially in the area of shadows and forced perspective shots.
Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda star as guests in a huge castle which may also be the home to the mysterious "Bat", a masked thief who intimidates his victims with letters prior to dispossessing them of all their jewels. A whole host of detectives descend on the scene when it is learned that the Bat is in the house.
None of the performances are particularly memorable. What people will walk away from -- with this and with the innovative sound version, "The Bat Whispers" -- is the sense of charm and fun that these early film-makers associated with murder and horror. This film famously was the inspiration for the "Bat Man" character, who is basically the Bat turned good (the Bat even has a secret hideout in the Gothic mansion in this film just like in those stories). The fact that the character had to be turned into a hero to continue into the 20th Century might just say something about how much more seriously we take crime at this point in our society. Presumably 1920s audiences were expected to sympathize to some extent with the Bat -- after all, all his victims were ridiculously wealthy people who could probably afford to part with a few diamonds.
All in all a solid film, a good example of entertainment driven 1920s cinema and the possibilities that were there for suspense even before dialog and camera movement became vogue.