Silly bit of hokum about the goings-on with people on a tropical island, including a woman who says she'll give herself (wink wink) to any man who can kill a giant stingray that killed her brother. Enter an escaped convict posing as a minister, who sees the woman writhing around during a voodoo ritual and promptly falls in lust with her. I'd imagine all those fishermen out risking their lives for booty (literally) aren't too happy about that. Raquel Torres plays the woman and, for those in desperate need of titillation, she's prancing about half-naked throughout and even has the 1930 equivalent of a wet t-shirt scene. Charles Bickford plays the convict and, judging by his hair and eyebrows, Louis B. Mayer's car must have been short two quarts of oil during the filming of this picture. Boris Karloff also appears in a minor role but nothing worth his fans getting excited about. The best parts of the picture are the water scenes and the "sea bat" itself, a nice bit of special effects for the time. Unfortunately there aren't enough of these scenes. I had no idea that stingrays were thought of as mysterious monsters less than a century ago or that sponge diving was a "weird industry." These are things I learned from watching this movie. It's worth a look if you have no prejudices against early talkies. Just don't expect anything impressive.
Review of The Sea Bat
