The Bat

4.21937Comedy

The delightful Johann Strauss comic opera Die Fledermaus was mercilessly lampooned in this truly bizarre production. For starters, a framing device has been added: After appearing in 300 consecutive appearances of Fledermaus (which translates as The Bat) the lead tenor (Georg Alexander) imagines that he's seeing bats everywhere. Driven a bit over the edge by all this, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about the opera, with a group of non-singers cast in the leading roles. The original libretto about romantic assignations, political imprisonments and mistaken identity is burlesqued to the hilt: at one point, the hero finds out that his prison cell is surrounded by rubber tubes!

Original titleDie Fledermaus

Release1937-10-30

Runtime103 min

StatusReleased

CountriesGermany

Original languageDE

SpokenGerman

DirectorPaul Verhoeven, Hans H. Zerlett

WritersRichard Genée, Carl Haffner, Lotte Neumann, Walter Wassermann

ProductionImagoton, Tobis Filmkunst

Votes4

Popularity2