The Bat (1926)

Roland V. West bought the rights and directed The Bat (1926) (affiliate link), one of the first “old dark house” mysteries for United Artist in 1926.  Arthur Edeson was the cinematographer for both this film and The Old Dark House (1932), which share similar Expressionist elements. Both films are set in large mansions, which have seen better days.  The key to the residents safety in both films is solving the mystery of the old dark house before they are murdered by mysterious forces.

The Bat (1926) concerns a master burglar and murderer, who is looking to recover a large amount of money that he has stolen.  The money is hidden at the Courleigh Fleming home, which has recently been rented by Miss Van Gorder, a mystery writer.  Fleming has recently died.  However, his ne’er do well nephew Richard wants to search the house, so he and his accomplices are trying to scare Miss Van Gorder and her niece away.

Unbeknownst to all of them, “The Bat” is also lurking around the house because he believes that the money is at the Fleming Mansion.  Throw in two detectives, a mysterious stranger, a Japanese butler and a terrified maid and you have the makings for a genre bending film.  The Bat can be classified as a comedy-drama-mystery-thriller.  The film runs about 86 minutes.

In an ad placed in The Film Daily from 1926, Roland West states that five million people had already read the novel or seen the play by Mary Roberts Rinehart.  They expected to gross 10 million dollars on the production.  The movie reviews at the time were all positive.  Bob Kane would later say that his creation, Batman, was inspired by the villain of this film and West’s sequel The Bat Whispers (1930).

West directed 14 films with his last film being Corsair (1931).  The films had been well-received by the viewing public.  Today, West is more famous as a suspect in the death of Thelma Todd, who he engaged in a volatile affair with between 1930 and her untimely death in 1935.  Todd was found dead in her garage with her vehicle running.

The coroner ruled it an accidental death but West supposedly confessed to his friend Chester Morris of Boston Blackie fame in 1952.  West was already deathly ill at this time, so the confession was never acted upon.

Today, The Bat (1926) is a largely forgotten mystery.  Unfortunately, a lot of the copies are probably darker than the original print, so we don’t have all the detail available to us that 1926 audiences did.  However, the copies are good enough to educate and entertain us.

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