bob the moo
Off the back of the most recent Batman film, I saw a documentary on the Batmobile that observed that the first ever film version of Batman just used a normal car and this was the point where I learnt that there was a Batman serial back in the 1940's. It took me a minute to track it but I did and I watched it as a bit of a curio piece, to see what the first film incarnation of this character looked like. As it turned out this was probably the way to approach it because essentially Batman is not too different from other serials of the time which involves a pantomime villain who is constantly outfoxed by the hero every week even though each each episode ends with a cliffhanger.In this case the episodes are barely 15 minutes long and each episode replay the final 3 of the previous episode (showing the cliffhanger) before it then moves forward. As a result each episode is very short and, although the plot generally flows, it does not have much time to set up the next stage of Daka's fiendishly Oriental plan before it is then concluding that part of his plan thanks to Batman's intervention. This means that everything moves quickly and is mostly pretty functional in the design. The one common thing is that there will be a fistfight and, mostly, Batman and Robin will get overwhelmed, leaving them in a fatal cliffhanger each week. The villains will invariably leg it back to Daka to report that Bats is a goner, meanwhile the duo escape time and time again. It gets quite samey after a very short while even if some of the episode have some better set pieces like car crashes and fires to liven things up. Mostly though it is fist fights and fairly standard plotting.Of course one thing that is also consistent is the casual and consistent racism against the, then enemy, Japanese. Although the modern viewer gets numb to it over 15 episodes, it is still hard to take the narration refer to slant-eyed treachery and other colorful and offensive terms; I understand it is of its time, but it is still weird to see how lacking in subtly it was. The episodes do at least have a good touch of darkness about them as batman has the vaguest touch of noir in the delivery and at least there is genuine death and violence in there. Wilson is less Batman and more just a standard serial hero – all chin, chest and brave clean Americanism. Croft works well with him as Robin although I didn't care much for Patterson's Linda or Austin's Alfred. Naish's Daka is a wonderfully dated piece of offensive ham but he does it with such sneering energy it is hard not to enjoy it despite what it is.Overall this version of Batman is very much of its time and very much worth seeing as a curiosity and piece of history of the character. As an actual series of films to watch though it is pretty basic; it is very short but yet still pads time, it offers action but mostly it is just basic fist-fights and it's plots are basic and seem to spend most of their energy on having digs at the Japanese.
flapdoodle64
Despite the overt racism, low budget, and low quality Batman suit, this serial was much, much better than I expected. It is better than the average Columbia serial, and should be very enjoyable to fans of old movies, B-pictures, golden age comics, as well as serials. I found that the serial was so engaging and the directing so skillful, that by the middle of the 2nd chapter I didn't think the suit was silly anymore.Lewis Wilson was very credible as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. As Bruce Wayne, he is suave and upper class, and as Batman he is tough, brainy, and no-nonsense.There's a couple scenes in which Batman takes crooks to the Batcave, tries to browbeat them for information, then locks them inside alone with his pet bats. In one very clever sequence, he employs a nice bit of deception on one of these thugs. But even though it is WWII, the fate of the world us up for grabs, U.S. territory has been attacked on 3 fronts and U.S. citizens are interned at camps in the Phillipines, Batman never employs torture, waterboarding, simulated suffocation, sexual humiliation, electric shock, or dog attacks, or other 'enhanced interrogation methods' to extract information from these traitors and saboteurs. That is because, even though he is a weird figure of the dark, striking terror into the hearts of criminals, Batman is not willing to degrade himself by torture, he is not willing to sacrifice his own humanity. What a concept! The fight scenes range from so-so to pretty cool. There are some good moves in some of the fight scenes, like when a bunch of thugs knocks Batman down and pile on, the stuntmen handled it really well when Batman throws the thugs off. Also, the stuntman who played Batman was able to throw a really convincing knockout punch, there are times when he really looks like he is putting all his weight into it, you almost feel it.I also liked the moments when Batman pulled Bruce Wayne's fiancé, Linda Page, out of danger: from his voice it sounds like he actually cares about her, and is not just using her to dispel rumors about his sexual preferences. Unlike a modern Batman, however, he never reveals his double identity to his love interest. Speaking of Linda, she is a quite a fox and a good actress. Douglas Croft made an excellent Robin, once you get used to his big hair (this is the 1st cinematic 'afro' hair style, 25 years before Linc from 'The Mod Squad'!), valiant, good in a fight, not the least bit obnoxious. Croft was 17 when this was filmed, appearing to be about 14 or 15, which is about how old the real Robin would have been Also, since the film is in black and white, Robin's suit shows up as a variety of gray tones, as opposed to the rather sissified red and yellow of the comics (what latent tendencies the guy who dreamed up that suit must have had!). Likewise, Batman's suit is darker in black and white, and in many scenes it's plausible that he really can frighten criminals.The director, Lambert Hiller, had previously done 'Dracula's Daughter,' and put in many atmospheric touches that give this serial the ambiance of a 1930's Universal horror film. The original Batman comics borrowed heavy from those films, and had only been created 4 years prior, in 1939. Having read many of those comics, it is my opinion that this serial comes the closest to the original concept of Batman, as envisioned by his original creators, Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, Jerry Robinson and Bob Kane (who managed to grab all the credit). The 1st year or 2 of Batman comics had a very dark, primitive, gritty feel, which this serial captures nicely.Speaking of horror, Dr. Tito Daka has to be one of the greatest, most evil, intelligent, sadistic and insane serial villains ever. As great as, perhaps greater (?) than Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon. And the wacky happenings in Daka's lab and hideout are just some of the wildest, weirdest, pulp-fictionest stuff you've ever seen.There has been much said over the years about the racism of this serial. Dr. Daka was played by a Caucasian actor, and his Japanese voice sounds instead like Peter Lorre trying to do a Mexican accent. But there are a couple places where the narrator talks about the WWII U.S. govt. concentration camps, wherein 120,000 U.S. citizens were unconstitutionally confined for the duration. Even after all these years, that's still offensive.Another touchy point are the recurring shots of a bizarre propaganda carnival ride, in which wax figures depict Japanese soldiers picking on and brutalizing Caucasians. Obviously, these images were meant to inflame anti-Japanese feelings in U.S. theater-goers, thus helping the nation retain it's 'resolve.' Today, however, anyone who has read even the smallest amount of history will know that compared to the real atrocities committed by both Japan and the U.S., the wax tableaux now seem mild in comparison.I am told that the late 1980's VHS release of this serial had been censored of much of the anti-Japanese references, possibly by the Japanese company Sony, which holds the rights to it. If that is so, then it is perhaps cautionary that Sony no longer feels obliged to sensor this material. Maybe this gives we who would inter people on the basis of religion or ethnicity (can you say 'Gitmo'?) a glimpse into a previous time when, to our eventual shame, we did the exact same thing. Or perhaps Sony sees that the U.S. is now competing in the War Crimes Olympics, thus tacitly condoning, perhaps emulating, the Axis tactics of WWII. Maybe Sony just thinks atrocities have come back into style.
DarkAvenger1989
How great a chapterplay is this? The evil Dr. Tito Daka (obviously a distant relative of the Jackson Five) is planning to help Japan destroy America with a group known as The League of the New Order. The New Order is made up of "dishonored" businessmen (all specialists in their field)--basically crooks who did jail time and then turned traitor at first opportunity. The New Order also has zombie slaves and almost every Serial Henchman you can find working for them: George J. Lewis, Jack Ingram, Robert Fiske, Tom London, Kenne Duncan (well, he works for them as a zombie anyhow), Stanley Price, Dick Curtis, and George Cheseboro are among the crooks running rampant in it. Charles Middleton's also in it, but as a good guy for a change.Opposing them are Batman and Robin, who are working secretly for the US government. Exactly why they have to be G-Men is a mystery, but it's all good.The League of the New Order's main plan involves building a radium death ray gun. To do so, they (of course) need a large supply of radium. Batman keeps fouling up their attempts to get said radium, much to Dr. Daka's ever growing annoyance. A decent number of these attempts involve Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Linda Page (the ultra-hot looking Shirley Patterson), who's uncle Martin Warren has been turned into a zombie by Daka. Plenty of wild action ensues, including plane crashes, burning warehouses, exploding buildings, and Batman being fed to Daka's pet alligators! Woo-hoo! Some random thoughts: Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft become the first screen Batman and Robin and they're both pretty darn good. Croft is actually a kid as opposed to a 30 year old playing a kid (Jack Armstrong anybody?) and is a lot of fun to watch as Robin. He's also nowhere near as annoying as most serial kids--none of your "gee whiz!" antics. Wilson plays Bruce Wayne and Batman to the hilt, playing off the idea of Bruce Wayne being a worthless playboy better than almost anyone else ever has. His Batman's plenty tough, too and it looks like he had a blast with the role.Just how mean a baddie is Dr. Daka? One of the most memorable scenes occurs when he tells his men at one point "not only have your comrades failed in their mission, they lost their worthless lives as well"! Daka is surely one of the nastiest villains in all of serial history, easily belonging on the same plane as Doctor Satan, Fu Manchu, and Ming the Merciless.Though Middleton is only in four chapters, he practically steals every scene he's in. His character is reminiscent of the miner in the first Dick Tracy serial, but he plays it much better. He's definitely one ornery cuss, that's for sure.Knox Manning's narration is an absolute hoot! Especially the bit about the "wise U.S. government"! Love it! Love it! The "racist" dialogue is also a bit of a hoot. People who get upset by it tend to forget that this was World War II, Japan was the enemy, and this was a morale booster of a film. The context definitely needs to be remembered when watching this film.The Columbia DVD looks pretty damn good (even if Chapter One is a little washed out) and better still, it's uncut. Having only ever seen this in lousy prints before, I can tell you it was a real treat to see it look this good. It's also an outrageously enjoyable serial, well worth seeking out. I'd also say its one of the top five comic book serials ever. BATMAN is the serial that proves the Columbia naysayers wrong (as if proof were needed!).
