| Batman | |
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| Directed by | Lambert Hillyer |
| Produced by | Rudolph C. Flothow |
| Written by | Victor McLeod Leslie Swabacker Harry L. Fraser Bob Kane (character) |
| Starring | Lewis Wilson Douglas Croft J. Carrol Naish Shirley Patterson |
| Music by | Lee Zahler |
| Cinematography | James S. Brown Jr. |
| Editing by | Dwight Caldwell Earl Turner |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  15 April 1943 |
| Running time | 15 chapters (260 min) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Batman and Robin (1949) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Batman was a 15-chapter serial released in 1943 by Columbia Pictures. The serial starred Lewis Wilson as Batman and Douglas Croft as Robin. J. Carrol Naish played the villain, an original character named Dr. Daka. Rounding out the cast were Shirley Patterson as Linda Page (Bruce Wayne's love interest), and William Austin as Alfred. The film is notable for being the first filmed appearance of Batman. Also, the film introduced "The Bat's Cave". The name was altered to the Batcave for use in the comic books as well as the Grandfather's clock entrance. Also, the comic Alfred was overweight and clean-shaven prior to the serial's release. Austin was trim and sported a thin moustache. The comic Alfred's appearance was altered to match that of Austin's, and remains the same to this day.
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Plot
The film's plot dealt with Batman and Robin's struggle against Dr. Daka, a Japanese spy who invented a device that turns people into pseudo-zombies.
Production and release notes
The film was made during World War II, and like numerous works of popular American fiction of the time, contains anti-Japanese racial slurs and comments (in one scene, Robin tells Daka, "You're as yellow as your skin!"). The film also suffered from a low budget, indicative of many Columbia serials. No attempt was made to create a bona fide Batmobile, so a black Cadillac was used by Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, as well as Batman and Robin. Alfred chauffered the Dynamic Duo in both identities. The serial was released on home video in the late 1980s in a heavily edited format that removed the offensive racial content. A reviewer for the magazine Cinefantastique commented, "The changes aren't surprising when you see that Columbia is now owned by Japan's Sony Corporation. It appears that some of Daka's operatives escaped Batman's justice and were rewarded with positions at the new George Orwell department at Columbia." It should be noted that the edited version was not released by Columbia, but Goodtimes Home Video, an independent distributor. However, in the early 1990s, the cable network American Movie Classics, aired both Batman serials on Saturday mornings, with the 1943 serial uncut and uncensored. Sony released the serial on DVD in October 2005. The DVD release is an unedited version, with the exception of Chapter 2, which is missing its "next Chapter" sequence
Cast
- Lewis Wilson as Batman/Bruce Wayne
- Douglas Croft as Robin/Richard 'Dick' Grayson
- J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Tito Daka/Prince Daka
- Shirley Patterson as Linda Page
Chapter titles
- The Electrical Brain
- The Bat's Cave
- Mark of the Zombies
- Slaves of the Rising Sun
- The Living Corpse
- Poison Peril
- The Phony Doctor
- Lured by Radium
- The Sign of the Sphinx
- Flying Spies
- A Nipponese Trap
- Embers of Evil
- 8 Steps Down
- The Executioner Strikes
- Doom of the Rising Sun
See also
Notes and References
External links
- Batman at the Internet Movie Database
- Dr Hermes Review of Batman
- Batman Serials & Interviews @ Legions Of Gotham
- Serials @ Batman: Yesterday, Today, & Beyond
- Batman Site www.GothamCity.com.br
- Batman article at Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience
| Preceded by The Valley of Vanishing Men (1942) |
Columbia Serial Batman (1943) |
Succeeded by The Phantom (1943) |
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| The Serials | Batman (1943) • Hop Harrigan (1946) • The Vigilante (1947) • Superman (1948) • Congo Bill (1948) • Batman and Robin (1949) • Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950) |
| Single films | Superman and the Mole Men (1951) • Batman (1966) • Supergirl (1984) • Steel (1997) • Road to Perdition (2002) • Catwoman (2004) • A History of Violence (2005) • Constantine (2005) • V for Vendetta (2006) • Watchmen (2009) |
| Franchises |
Batman (1989–1997): Batman (1989) • Batman Returns (1992) • Batman Forever (1995) • Batman & Robin (1997) |
