The Bat

Helen_S4.0

Well what a brilliant good humoured thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this to a Silent film virgin or somebody who just hasn't been able to gel with any as it just doesn't let up from the off. Probably the plain old funnest one I've seen so far. The story is great, it looks great. That house and the miniatures beautiful. I loved the music through the whole thing with one part in particular making me think of the music in Eyes Wide Shut. The characters, especially knitting Auntie were super. A Batman film with this mask please! :P

𝕭laze the 𝓐ction 𝕵unkie2.5

This early silent whodunit influenced the creation of The Caped Crusader himself, Batman. It utilizes a man dressed as a bat as the antagonist who sticks to the shadows, uses ropes to descend buildings quickly, and has a secret identity. The film is also incredibly dark and gothic and takes place in a gothic-mansion set. There's even the earliest version of a bat-signal in this one, clearly copied from this original film by other Batman media later. Yet here The Bat is the villain and the entire runtime is spent by the characters in trying to find and identify The Bat. Honestly this old silent film was probably more entertaining than many of the more recent entries on this Mill Creek 50-pack, yet that's not real high praise as I've been struggling to stay interested in most of these old titles. I will say that I enjoyed the ending of this one, the closing minute especially. This one isn't bad for a nearly century-old silent film.1926 Ranked1920’s RankedHorror RankedEarly Horror RankedComedies RankedEarly Comedies RankedCrime and Law Enforcement / Investigation films RankedHeist / Treasure films Ranked

Will Sloan

This amiable Old Dark House comedy-mystery is best remembered for its title character, a masked-and-caped vigilante who, as every other review on here will also be happy to tell you, was an acknowledged influence Batman. The Bat has a nearly identical logo to the man from Gotham, and I guess he also wears a costume and is generally sneaky and mysterious, although he looks more like the Donnie Darko rabbit, or maybe an Adbusters version of Mickey Mouse. The real attraction here, however, is that most potent of silent-cinema delights, that's right I'm talking about our old friend, the interplay of light and shadow.Newly available in a very fine-looking restoration on Blu-Ray from the essential silent-film label Undercrank Productions.