Batman (serial)

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Batman
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)
Allmovie 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Chapter titles

1. The Electrical Brain
2. The Bat's Cave
3. Mark of the Zombies
4. Slaves of the Rising Sun
5. The Living Corpse
6. Poison Peril
7. The Phony Doctor
8. Lured by Radium
9. The Sign of the Sphinx
10. Flying Spies
11. A Nipponese Trap
12. Embers of Evil
13. 8 Steps Down
14. The Executioner Strikes
15. Doom of the Rising Sun

[edit] 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

[edit] 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

[edit] See also

• List of film serials
• List of film serials by studio

[edit] External links

• Batman at the Internet Movie Database
• Batman Serials & Interviews @ Legions Of Gotham
• Serials @ Batman: Yesterday, Today, & Beyond
• Batman Site www.GothamCity.com.br
• "BATMAN ON FILM" -- The 40s Serials