Following a crazed killer known as "the Bat".
Opens with narration from who we later identify as one of the main female characters, Cornelia who owns the mansion and writes mystery novels.
The cuts are seamless with a fade usually occurring from one scene to the next when a change of location occurs. Such as when Cornelia and Lizzie get into the car to go to the bank. It shifts from the chaufer getting into the car and it is overlapped with a fade of the inside of the bank. Another overlapping fade occurs when Cornelia calls for Dr. Malcolm Wells after Lizzie was bitten by a bat released into the room by the killer. This is the most frequently used cut, other times he'll use a black out fade - but it occurs less frequently.
Wilbur uses a lot of still shots, people still and chatting with movement stirring in the background. Usually people walking back and forth crossing from one side of the frame to the other as the characters in question are talking.
At times Wilbur will do a close up and then as it's zooming into the shot quickly shift to a wider shot. Such as when Lizzie and Cornelia first lock themselves into their room to hide from the Bat killer.
He shows a lot of the scenery in this film, preferring wider shots over close ups to show the surrounding environment. You can see this occurring whenever there is human interaction, such as when Dr. Wells and John Fleming were on vacation at a lodge in the woods. We are brought into this small place with a fire place, tables, with a gun on the wall- that same gun is used in a scene or two later to kill John Fleming.
The light is increasingly dramatic to help add depth to the black and white qualities of the film.
A good example is when John Fleming admits to embezzling the money from the bank to his doctor, Malcolm Wells.
Dialogue is used to perpetuate the story.
There is a lot of foreshadowing using phrases like, "that'd be like robbing the family tomb!" (which is where Fleming told Dr. Wells he hid it before Wells shot him) and mentioning a character and then the scene will shift to a scene in a separate area of town where that character is interacting with other characters. Such as when Mark Fleming, the nephew of John Fleming is discussing Dale, a female character that has only shown up once prior to Mark's mention of her.
Some dramatic scenes are used to break up scenes such as: when the Doctor and John Fleming are together and Price has sat down to ponder the offer made by John Fleming.The scene quickly shifts over to the woods which are completely black with streaks of fire lighting up the area. Another foreshadowing device, because right after the woods are engulfed the Doctor shoots Fleming and then tosses Fleming's body into the fire.
Repetition occurs a few times in the film through the house Cornelia lives in, the same scene of the property is used a few times - he uses repetition through certain places within the home: the stairs, and Cornelia's room for example. He also uses it through first showing a huge grandfather clock which the Bat hid the body of Mark Fleming, and as the body is being carried out we are exposed to a clock face.
Sound used in the film is mainly man made, crashing of items as they fall down the stairs or natural sounds: crickets at night, the shutting of doors, blowing of wind during storms etc. Beyond that there is some small classical music that is used, which is an undercurrent for some of the dialogue of the movie. During the storm scene he uses the disembodiement of the sounds first (doors banging in the wind, a rug on the wall hitting a knight at the top of the stairs creating a scraping sound. Each time a sound occurs it flashes to the item causing the sound and then back again to the reaction of the women hearing the sounds.
Women are usually cut off either around the breasts, pelvis, or knees during a scene.
Atmosphere is really important for this film, burning forests and buildings help to create the drama as does the fact that majority of it takes place at night under minimal lighting- and there is a storm when the Bat first shows up at Cornelia's mansion.
"Don't try it, whatever you do, you can't hide...murder."
"That's it dear, that's the End."
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