The gong-ing sound played over the opening credits was exactly the same as the one produced by an old clock in the attic of my house when I was just a kid, going back almost sixty years now. I discovered it on one of my forays upstairs and nearly jumped out of my shorts when I accidentally got it to chime. The room had pretty much the same old dark house atmosphere of the mansion in this movie, and with very little lighting, the thing just scared the bejeezus out of me. But eventually I got over it and managed to play it over and over again as the weeks went by. I had to quit though when I found out a gorilla lived up there, that was about the same time I saw "King Kong" for the first time.
So this picture must have had it's fans back in the very early days of talking movies, and for that one can give it some credit. It doesn't take too long to realize that there might have been some inspiration here for the character of Batman in the comic book world, who made his debut in Detective Comics #27 in May of 1939. So that was almost a full decade later. Not only the character, but there was also that cool smokescreen effect produced by the getaway car right after the 'Bat' pulled off the bank heist. Add to that the various pulleys and ropes the Bat used in the story and you had a lot of early material being tested out here for the Caped Crusader to put into his repertoire.
Story wise though, unless you're a patient sort and willing to watch just about anything (which I am), the picture can be a chore. The best thing going for it in my estimation was the great atmospherics - the dark corridors, the revolving fireplace and that makeshift laundry chute that got used a couple of times. It appears the film makers were going for comedy along with the horror/mystery element, and I couldn't help thinking that it would have passed muster if Laurel and Hardy might have shown up. But gee, most of the players wound up screeching or going into exaggerated hysterics whenever something ominous was about to happen, and for me that was something of a turn-off.
And Chester Morris - man, his facial expressions were just hilarious. I guess I should have seen it coming but I didn't - when he revealed himself to be The Bat I thought it was just the dumbest thing. Here he's proclaiming "I've got the greatest brain that ever existed" while his foot's caught in a bear trap and he's wrapped in a chain by the unwitting action of some other characters. It occurred to me that all of this could have been avoided if Detective Anderson (Morris) simply didn't show up. As the Bat he pulled off the jewel heist and bank robbery, so why was he even at the Van Gorder mansion to investigate a jewel heist and bank robbery?
But the best had to be the time Dr. Venrees (Gustav von Seyferrtitz) began wildly shooting at the presumed villain escaping up the stairs. With his first four shots fired, there were already more than a dozen bullet holes in the wall! It's enough to drive you batty.
So this picture must have had it's fans back in the very early days of talking movies, and for that one can give it some credit. It doesn't take too long to realize that there might have been some inspiration here for the character of Batman in the comic book world, who made his debut in Detective Comics #27 in May of 1939. So that was almost a full decade later. Not only the character, but there was also that cool smokescreen effect produced by the getaway car right after the 'Bat' pulled off the bank heist. Add to that the various pulleys and ropes the Bat used in the story and you had a lot of early material being tested out here for the Caped Crusader to put into his repertoire.
Story wise though, unless you're a patient sort and willing to watch just about anything (which I am), the picture can be a chore. The best thing going for it in my estimation was the great atmospherics - the dark corridors, the revolving fireplace and that makeshift laundry chute that got used a couple of times. It appears the film makers were going for comedy along with the horror/mystery element, and I couldn't help thinking that it would have passed muster if Laurel and Hardy might have shown up. But gee, most of the players wound up screeching or going into exaggerated hysterics whenever something ominous was about to happen, and for me that was something of a turn-off.
And Chester Morris - man, his facial expressions were just hilarious. I guess I should have seen it coming but I didn't - when he revealed himself to be The Bat I thought it was just the dumbest thing. Here he's proclaiming "I've got the greatest brain that ever existed" while his foot's caught in a bear trap and he's wrapped in a chain by the unwitting action of some other characters. It occurred to me that all of this could have been avoided if Detective Anderson (Morris) simply didn't show up. As the Bat he pulled off the jewel heist and bank robbery, so why was he even at the Van Gorder mansion to investigate a jewel heist and bank robbery?
But the best had to be the time Dr. Venrees (Gustav von Seyferrtitz) began wildly shooting at the presumed villain escaping up the stairs. With his first four shots fired, there were already more than a dozen bullet holes in the wall! It's enough to drive you batty.