Vintage original 11 x 14 in. US glossy-style title lobby card from the 1920s silent film mystery thriller, THE BAT, released in 1926 by United Artists and directed by Roland West. The cast includes Emily Fitzroy, Jack Pickford, Jewel Carmen, Robert McKim, Arthur Housman, Louise Fazenda, Tullio Carminati, Eddie Gribbon, George Beranger, Charles Herzinger, Sôjin Kamiyama, and Lee Shumway.
 
The image depicts some of the film's major characters pausing on a staircase as they react to a noise in the large house they are staying at. It is unrestored in fine- condition as shown.
 
*"The Bat is a 1926 American silent comedy mystery film directed by Roland West and starring Jack Pickfordand Louise Fazenda. The film is based on the 1920 Broadway hit play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, which itself was an adaptation of Rinehart's 1908 mystery novel The Circular Staircase. The Bat has been cited as an early influence on the "slasher film" genre.
 
Director Roland West was reportedly a huge fan of Rinehart's stage play The Bat. So much so, that when initial negotiations to purchase the rights to the play fell through, he became inspired to instead direct an adaptation of another horror-themed stage play, called The Monster. On September 11, 1925, The Film Daily reported that Roland West had purchased the rights to the play for $75,000 with the intent to produce a film version.
 
On November 4, 1925, The Film Daily reported that Julien Josephson had completed the screenplay adaptation of The Bat. The Trade Review reported that Josephson allegedly had "written the screen story of The Bat without changing the general plot, but has added mystery complications calculated to baffle even the hundreds of thousands who have seen the stage play,” with West going so far as to claim that "The picture will be a complete surprise even to those who have seen the stage play."
 
The prop department was directed by Ned Herbert Mann, who constructed the miniatures for the film: the buildings and "the Bat" in flight. The interior of the mansion was constructed at the United Artists' Hollywood sound stage under the direction of William Cameron Menzies. Scenic artist Harvey Meyers was enlisted to paint shadows on the sets to enhance the somber atmosphere of the more suspenseful, dark scenes that are later into the film.Cinematographer Arthur Edeson, assisted by then-newcomer Gregg Toland, was enlisted to shoot the film.
 
Around the time of filming, much of the film's production was shrouded in mystery, in accordance with the secrecy behind the identity of "the Bat" character, with many of those involved in the filming being obliged to take an oath to not reveal any details of the story publicly and with West disallowing visitors onto the set. West also made his cast work at night, stating that "Given the quiet of the studio at midnight, when no other companies are working, and plenty of spooky music from an orchestra, the players really are in a mood to simulate dark deeds."
 
Motion Picture World's George T. Pardy called The Bat "a box-office knockout" and became one of West's best-received films. The New York Timesdubbed the film as "both entertaining and exciting" and Photoplay dubbed the film as "It's thrilling. It's chilling. It's a scream of laughter and spookiness."
The film was considered to be one of the "most coveted" lost films for decades, until a print was discovered in the 1980s and restored by film director and archivist Robert Gitt for the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Director Roland West remade his film four years later as The Bat Whispers (1930), with Chester Morris and Una Merkel, and also released by United Artists."
*(source: Wikipedia)
 
ARMSFB