Kickstarter Restoration of Roland West's"The Bat"(1926) Silent Classic with Ben Model (1 Viewer)

[Capt D McMars]

I just ran across this and want to let you guys know aboiut it, this one is with silent film Guru Ben Model, working with UCLA archives to bring back from the dead a film thought lost for decades. There is still time to be a part of it, if this is something you think is wporth while...

This Kickstarter project will fund the production of a Blu-ray/DVD release of Roland West's "THE BAT" (1926). The film stars Jack Pickford and Jewel Carmen and features an ensemble cast of Louise Fazenda, Arthur Housman, Tullio Carminati, George Beranger, Eddie Gribbon, Emily Fitzroy, and Sôjin Kamiyama. William Cameron Menzies’ production design could be also be considered a supporting player.

After being considered a lost film for decades, in the late 1980s "THE BAT" was discovered, preserved and (photochemically) restored in 35mm from a nitrate print by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Although a big hit in its original release, the film is relatively unfamiliar to silent film and to horror/suspense film fans today. Despite its being available for screenings, UCLA's 35mm show print has only been booked around a dozen times.

Bob Kane, credited with creating Batman, has said that "THE BAT" and "THE BAT WHISPERS" (West's 1930 talkie remake) were an inspiration for the idea of Bruce Wayne's have a bat identity and bat costume.

This project will bring Roland West's "THE BAT" back to fans' awareness and will get it added to the playlist of silent films shown every October.

Project credits​

• a new 2K scan of the 35mm preservation negative will be made by UCLA Film & TV. I have recently worked out a co-branding arrangement with UCLA, similar to the one I've had with the Library of Congress over the last several years.
• digital stabilization and restoration will be done by Thad Komorowski, of Cineaste Restoration
• grading (shot-by-shot exposure correction) will be done by Chris Crouse, who has done this work for Undercrank Productions on our releases of Zander The Great and the Raymond Griffith project.
• graphic design for the Blu-ray and DVD cases will be done by Marlene Weisman, who's done the design for all of the Undercrank Productions releases.
• Crystal Kui will serve as Associate Producer on the project, and will produce a video essay about The Bat that will be written and narrated by Scott MacQueen, Head of Film Preservation Emeritus, UCLA Film and Television Archive.
• I will create a new musical score for the film

The final Blu-ray and DVD will be released to the general public via my Undercrank Productions label. By being a backer, you will get your copy of the disc a month or two before it goes on sale to the public.

Our timeline will aim to have this finished and ready in time for Halloween in 2024.

 

[Richard Kaufman]

Backed with a Benjamin. I wish there was at least a mug offered!

 

[Capt D McMars]

Backed with a Benjamin. I wish there was at least a mug offered!

...this isn't PBS

 

[Capt D McMars]

 

[Capt D McMars]

Latest update on this project ~

Ben ModelCreator
October 28, 2023
I'm writing you today with some illustrated news about the first steps of the THE BAT project.
The 9 reels of safety 35mm preservation negative have been pulled from the vaults at UCLA Film Television Archive, and were prepped for scanning this past week. Each reel of film is usually 1000' feet of film, running about 11 minutes at 24 frames per second. In our case, it's slightly less per-reel, as THE BAT's total footage is actually 8,219 ft, according to this listing on the American Silent Feature Film Database.
Todd Wiener, Motion Picture Curator at the UCLA archive, sent me the photos below to share with you. Each reel of is carefully examined before going on to the next step – going through an ultrasonic cleaner.
Thanks again for supporting this project!
Best wishes,
Ben

 

[Capt D McMars]

Origin Story of This "Bat" Project​

Ben ModelCreator
November 7, 2023
I hope you had a fun and safe Halloween!
Last year, when Halloween season was at least a few months away, I knew that NOSFERATU (1922) was going to be everywhere in October. The film was turning 100, and there would be commemorative screenings in many theaters.
I knew I'd be booked to play for this film as well as a couple of the usual suspects, and the programmer in me started thinking outside the canon of a half-dozen or so silents that get shown every year in late October – and Roland West's THE BAT (1926) came to mind. I remembered playing for it at MoMA and, although I knew it'd been maybe ten years or so since that show, I remembered thinking it was good and that it would be a good fit for Halloween.

I co-progam a monthly silent film series at the Cinema Arts Centre on Long Island, and chose THE BAT for our "spooky silents" offering for Oct 2022, despite the Nosferatu-palooza that was going to be happening everywhere else. We booked UCLA's 35mm print, and while I was accompanying the film I noted how good it looked. The film also played really well with our audience.
This was the jumping-off point for my interest in bringing THE BAT to Blu-ray for more fans to see – and ideally for more programmers to know about.

In doing some research for the Kickstarter project, I thought I'd look up when I'd accompanied THE BAT at MoMA. It wasn't so easy. A search through several years of my iCal and even an old now-defunct email account turned up nothing.
Luckily MoMA has an online archive of its press releases. A search turned up a series called Screen Plays: From Broadway to Hollywood 1920-1966. The series included both THE BAT and THE BAT WHISPERS. Turns out…this screening happened in 1995.

THE BAT clearly made an impression on me. (You can read the press release for the series here.)
The 2K scan of UCLA's preservation negative is happening this month, and I will let you know when there's news or status updates on the process.
Thanks again for supporting this project!
Best wishes,
Ben
Like

 

[Robert Harris]

Can’t wait for this one!

 

[Capt D McMars]

here's the latest update for everyone.

Scanning THE BAT - behind the scenes at UCLA​

Ben ModelCreator
December 3, 2023
Greetings! I'm writing you today with some progress and good news...
The next step in our project has happened! Two weeks ago, the UCLA Film & Television Archive's Digital Lab made the new scan of their 35mm preservation negative of Roland West's "THE BAT"! A hard drive is on its way to UCLA, and I am anticipating that the drive will be loaded with the file and shipped back to me this coming week.
Motion Picture Curator at UCLA Todd Wiener was kind enough to take a few photos and videos of the scanning process, and I'm sharing these with you here. (I added some Debussy for the videos, so you'll have something to listen to.)
Thanks again for supporting this project. I'll have more for you later this month!
Best wishes,
Ben

 

[Capt D McMars]