a review of 蝙蝠

HOOPTOBER 3.0 NIGHT FIVE: + 2024 ANTI-CRITERION CHALLENGE #2: THE 1920s Maybe a little too busy and frantic to really work as either a murder mystery or gothic horror, but I found this one kind of charming nonetheless. The influence on the development of Batman a dozen years later seems unmistakable (especially the appearance of a literal Bat-signal at various points) and there are short stretches that feel surprisingly atmospheric, only to be punctured by some slapstick gag or a mugging reaction shot by the stereotyped Irish housekeeper. Speaking of which, there's also a couple of unfortunate lines in the intertitle dialogue that use slurs to refer to the Japanese butler, but surprisingly for the time he's portrayed with a certain level of dignity by an actual Japanese actor, instead of a white actor in makeup.