Review of The Bat Whispers

This truly creaky version of the popular 1928 "The Bat" is worth a glance but even that might be hard to do for some viewers since the over-the-top acting by most of the cast turns this into a would-be Marx Brothers comedy. Despite a truly scary looking bat villian, it's like the director commanded everyone to "really show you're scared" and act like you have no brain. By far the worse of the characters is the hysterical maid played by a hyper-jittery Maude Eburne who shrieks, gibbers, moans, wails at the sight of shadows or a sound. She runs maniacally through the house to hide under her bed where she continues to convulse and gulp in horror. I finally had to mute the sound whenever she went into her hysterical mode. Although the rest of the cast are capable, especially the very durable Una Merkel, whose career continued on through the sixties, there's much too much talk and not very of the villian. When we finally learn his identify, we're too catatonic to really care anymore. Watch the original "The Bat" and enjoy a true fun scare event. It stars Jack Pickford and the monster-villian in that one can evoke nightmares long after watching it.