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An arch-criminal known as ‘The Bat’ who taunts police officers by providing clues about his upcoming crimes, terrorises the occupants of an isolated mansion during a raging thunderstorm. Though highly formulaic with all the narrative and iconographic cliches of the melodramatic haunted house genre such as rooms concealed behind swiveling fireplaces, subplots revolving around fragments of obscure treasure maps, shots, screams and faulty electric lighting, the film distinguishes itself through a succession of astonishing visual sequences. Director Roland West specially designed and constructed equipment and models that allowed the camera to exuberantly swoop, glide and zoom through space, hurtle down corridors and lurch from the tops of buildings. The stylised high-contrast expressionistic lighting is evocative of the German silent cinema which the director revered. One of the first films to be shot in widescreen (65mm ‘Magnifilm’), this version has been restored by the UCLA film archive. Nine years after the film’s release, the memory of its caped master-criminal inspired young comic-book artist Bob Kane to create a new superhero: Batman.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
311935
Language
English
Audience classification
G
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Expressionism in motion pictures
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Crime films
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Detective and mystery films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)