The Bat Whispers

The Bat Whispers is a 1930 American PreCode mystery film directed by Roland West, produced by Joseph M. Schenck, and released by United Artists. The film is based on the 1920 mystery play The Bat, written by Avery Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart and previously adapted to film in 1926.

An early talkie, this film is the second film version of the 1920 hit Broadway play The Bat, written by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. The first film version of the play, The Bat 1926, was also directed by Roland West. Just as in the play and the first film, people explore an old mansion looking for a hidden treasure while a caped killer picks them off one by one. This film is noted by Bob Kane as one of the inspirations for some elements of the Batman character, which he cocreated with Bill Finger.The film was shot in three versions a pair of 1.331 aspect ratio, 35mm negatives for US and foreign prints and aaspect ratio 65mm widescreen Magnifilm version misspelled Magnafilm in some ads. The domestic negative was cut down to 72 minutes for the 1938 Atlantic Pictures reissue, and subsequently was lost. ........

Source: Wikipedia