The very first serial to adapt the comic book character of the Batman. In it, the Batman is a secret U.S. government agent, attempting to defeat the schemes of Japanese agent Dr. Daka operat... Read allThe very first serial to adapt the comic book character of the Batman. In it, the Batman is a secret U.S. government agent, attempting to defeat the schemes of Japanese agent Dr. Daka operating in Los Angeles at the height of World War II.The very first serial to adapt the comic book character of the Batman. In it, the Batman is a secret U.S. government agent, attempting to defeat the schemes of Japanese agent Dr. Daka operating in Los Angeles at the height of World War II.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Hotel Clerk
- (uncredited)
- Alfred Beagle
- (uncredited)
- Plane Passenger
- (uncredited)
- Intended Lockwood Pilot
- (uncredited)
- Brennan [Ch. 1-3]
- (uncredited)
- Henchman
- (uncredited)
- Agent on Plane [Ch. 10]
- (uncredited)
- Fred - the Mechanic [Ch. 5-6]
- (uncredited)
- Restaurant Patron
- (uncredited)
- Foster [Ch. 1-4]
- (uncredited)
- Dr. G.H. Borden [Ch. 1]
- (uncredited)
- Cave of Horrors Thug
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the first filmed appearance of Batman.
- GoofsAt the end of Chapter 2, as Batman is battling with the thugs, his cape is ripped off and thrown to the floor. After a brief cutaway to Alfred waiting in the car, it is back on his shoulders with no apparent break in the action.
- Quotes
Alfred Pennyworth: How many did I kill?
Bruce Wayne: Seven.
Alfred Pennyworth: But there were only four of the ruffians.
Richard Grayson: You killed three of them twice.
Alfred Pennyworth: Where are the bodies?
Bruce Wayne: We threw them out the window.
- Crazy creditsThis serial was promoted under the titles "The Batman", "The Bat Man" and "Bat Man". The actual title on the beginning of each chapter was simply "Batman".
- Alternate versionsFilmed at the height of the Second World War, this serial originally featured a large amount of racist dialogue. A later reissue (released on video by Goodtimes) maintains the fact the villain is Japanese, but otherwise features new narration and dialogue which substitutes less-racist terminology.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Three Stooges Follies (1974)
Even pre-pubescent, I could tell this one was superior to the draggy Sam Katzman chapter plays which engulfed my Saturday afternoons. Encountering it again in the sixties when it was a star turn in the low camp boom wasn't an anti climax. The imagery (imagery yet!) of the comic book survived diluted and distorted. Batman silhouetted against a night sky made white by the deep red filter, after Robin strikes fear into the hearts of the henchmen by showing the bat signal on their wall, remains embedded in the memory bank. A disguised Bruce Wayne waves a gun at one stage and we miss the Batmobile but Bob Kane made over his drawings of Alfred the Butler to look like William Austin.
Add on another forty (gulp) years and we've had political correctness an a version removing Knox Manning's narration about the wisdom of a government that locks up it's evil Nipponese citizens in a camp or the fetching Shirley Patterson shrieking "A Jap" when faced with J. Carrol Naisch, his Irish eyes pulled back into the fiendish mask of Dr. Dakar the sadistic son of Nippon feeding henchmen to pet alligators. The baggy forties suits and baggy 4F extras, along with the tackiness of the hand me down sets have become period detail as much as drab. We do notice that they have only two zombie hats so if there are a couple on screen, one has to go out and send another one in.
Along with that however, there are some remarkably well staged action scenes - the chase after that armored car we keep on seeing in old Columbia movies, the fire that showers (The) Batman with burning rafters,apparently staged by western specialist Harry Frazer who gets a writer credit.
Lewis Wilson, Douglas Croft and Shirley Patterson must have resented the fact that their careers peaked here but how about poor old Lambert Hillyer who was one of the architects of the classic westerns of William S. Hart and has now survived only as the director of record of this rush job kids actioner.
- Mozjoukine
- May 23, 2002
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Details
- Runtime4 hours 20 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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