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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
One of the truly oddball artifacts of the early talkie era, either a cockeyed fluke or a surrealist masterpiece. Producer-director Roland West had already done a silent film version of The Bat (1926), Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood's creaky stage melodrama about a fiendish criminal haunting a lonely Long Island mansion. The coming of sound cued a remake--now The Bat could whisper as well as skulk. And in a stroke of genius worthy of his mad mastermind, West added yet another dimension: The Bat Whispers would be one of a handful of 1930 features shot in widescreen, with a compositional emphasis on forced perspective and inky shadow play.
The plot is lunacy, but there are images here that seem to have escaped from the collective unconscious. Some of the miniature work, like a plunge down a skyscraper that then tilts and cuts 'subliminally' into a real-life street scene, is easy to spot, yet chances are you'll find yourself enchanted all the same. And there's a chase during which the widescreen angles suddenly drop the floor right out from under one character, and you feel it in the pit of your stomach.
Like 1930's other pre-CinemaScope experiments , The Bat Whispers was shot in two versions--the 65mm Magnifilm production and one in the conventional 'square' 35mm format. Deprived of the widescreen's radically unsettling asymmetry, West's movie became just another old-dark-house picture. You can see both on the DVD, and compare the standard version against the lustrous widescreen restoration by the UCLA Film and Television Archive (different cameramen, different setups, and occasionally different rhythm and action). On the other hand, why not just click on the real movie and prepare to go batty? --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Technically and Historically Fascinating, But Unlikely To Appeal To Most Modern Viewers
THE BAT WHISPERS has a convoluted history more interesting than the film itself. Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1957) created this tale of a master criminal skulking around a creepy country mansion as the 1907 novel THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Critics were not impressed, but the public loved it--and in 1917 Rinehart joined forces with playwright Avery Hopwood to adapt it to the stage. Retitled THE BAT, in 1920 it took Broadway by storm with its mixture of crazy characters, corny situations, and spooky ... Read More
Rating: - An old dark house, a clever bat, some outstanding tracking shots. Just don't say rubeola is a plant
When you hear the Bat whisper, you don't know whether to smile at the dated melodrama or admire some classy scenic set ups and camera work. The film may show its age with acting that is over the top, broad comic relief and a solution that for modern audiences is fairly easy to anticipate, but it looks great. The film was shot in an early version of wide-screen as well as a standard release version, using different cinematographers, cameras and set-ups. The wide-screen version is the one to watch. This ... Read More
Rating:  - Definately worth a look.
The Bat Whispers is definately best of the "Old Dark House/Clutching Hand" type film I have ever seen (and that's covering about 53 years of movie viewing). This film held my attention from beginnning to end with creative model work, active camera movement and very imagenative camera angles and cinematography. This film is best viewed in the "Widescreen" version (This DVD contains both the 65MM experimental Widescreen version and standard Fullscreen versions)because it broadens the expanse of the settings ... Read More
Rating: - Hard to FInd
I tried for months to purchase this and each place said it was out of print or unavailable. Then I came here and here it was and in stock. So I quickly purchased it. I must say I was pleased after reading up on all the hype of this movie. There were parts of it that were comical only because of the difference in time and when this was made. But you need to take all that into consideration when you watch this. If you can, put yourself back into the year this came out and just marvel at it.
Rating: - This Movie is not out of print no more.................
Is there any reason why these sellers are selling this movie so much still? apparently it is in print again. Anyhow this is a artistic classic I Highly Recommend this movie.
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