35mm vs. 65mm
The Bat Whispers |
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| [click photos for comparisons of the 35mm and 65mm versions of The Bat Whispers] |
In particular, June occasionally employed close-ups as dramatic punctuation in the 35mm version, but Planck almost never uses close-ups in the 65mm version. For example, in an early scene, the camera watches as a man embezzles money from a bank vault. The camera is perched high above the bank entrance, but at the right edge, a figure sways back and forth. In the 65mm version, this figure -- the Bat -- remains a blur, but in the 35mm version, June provides a close-up of the figure and reveals that the Bat is a man in a long black cape. At other times when the movie reaches a dramatic climax, June pulls in close on the characters. When Detective Anderson accuses the niece of committing a murder, June uses a close-up to show us Anderson scowling and the niece crying. However, in the 65mm version, the camera curiously remains at medium distance. This same pattern is repeated over and over during The Bat Whispers, as if Robert Planck (or possibly West) thought close-ups weren't appropriate with widescreen films.
While the movie looks great in 65mm, Planck doesn't seem committed to the widescreen format. Many of the scenes are framed as if they were shot for 35mm -- with blackness obscuring the left and right edges. However, several of the sequences that utilize miniatures, such as the aforementioned tracking shot toward the mansion, play out better in 65mm. In 35mm, when the camera moves over the yard, it almost comes to a dead stop before finding the blackness after a flash of lightning (and then entering the mansion). In 65mm, no hesitation exists during this camera movement. The camera fluidly moves across the lawn and into the mansion. During another scene that utilizes miniatures, an automobile belches out a cloud of smoke. The smoke lingers on a highway, causing the following driver to lose control of his car. In 65mm, the smoke becomes adequately thick, but in 35mm, the smoke has begun to dissipate before the car arrives.
Little differences like these suggest that more care was taken while filming the 65mm version; however, June's superior use of the camera makes many scenes more effective in the 35mm version. In either version, The Bat Whispers is still fun to watch. (Both June and Planck had long careers in Hollywood, frequently working on MGM musicals. Among their many credits, June photographed The Great Ziegfield, Babes in Arms, and Funny Face, while Planck photographed Our Daily Bread, The Man in the Iron Mask, and Anchors Aweigh.)
Director Roland West was only 43 years old when he filmed this movie; however, the following year, after filming Corsair with Thelma Todd as his leading actress (who he was romantically involved with at the time), West's Hollywood career ground to a halt. Corsair was his final movie, and four years later, his name would become forever linked to Todd's when her battered body was discovered in a garage. Her death was officially ruled as suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, rumors persist to this day that she was murdered and West was considered a prime suspect in a case that was never solved.
