The Kennington Bioscope is a regular cinema event featuring live accompaniment to silent films that takes place at the Cinema Museum.

The Bat (1926) Directed by Roland West, with Jack Pickford, George Beranger, Louise Fazenda and Arthur Housman (of Laurel & Hardy fame). We are very pleased to be able to present a brand-new digital restoration by Undercrank Productions, presented courtesy of Undercrank Productions / UCLA Film & Television Archive.

The comedy mystery was adapted from the play The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. Roland West had 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.

“The raided bank! The haunted halls! The hidden chamber! The flitting Omen of Ill! The ghostly shades! The disguised strangers! The hysterical maid! And the stirring tempo of a thousand terrors, gasps and LAUGHS!” – Print Ad – Sunday Vindicator, (Youngstown, Ohio) 13 June 1926.

George T. Pardy in The Motion Picture World, praised the films balance of sudden humour with “eerie, creepy, blood-curdling atmosphere”.

The first half of the programme will feature:

• The Pumpkin Race (Fr 1907) (7 mins). Gaumont director Louis Feuillade’s short involves runaways, except that, instead of it being a runaway horse, it is a trick film involving hundred-pound pumpkins that get away.
• Pete’s Haunted House (US 1926) (animation – 6 mins). Animator Walter Lantz spots Pete the Pup reading a book about ghosts, and decides to give him a scare for the season in this amusing mixed live action-cartoon short.
• One Too Exciting Night (GB 1922) (16mm – 15 mins). Gaston Quiribet produced for Hepworth. Quiribet uses stop motion techniques to achieve cinematographic tricks.
• The Diabolic Tenant (Fr 1907) (8 mins hand-coloured). A Georges Melies trick film in which a man moves into an unfurnished room and proceeds to decorate it with a selection of furniture and family members which he improbably pulls out of a small bag.

Live piano accompaniment from John Sweeney and Andra Bacile.

Silent film with intertitles which may be suitable for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Tickets & Pricing

£7. Seats are limited, so please arrive early or request an invitation using the email kenbioscope@gmail.com.