User reviews

As a lover of the Saturday serials I was delighted to see that Columbia/Sony/etc.... was releasing the 1943 "BATMAN" on DVD (co-incidently on the same day that "Batman Begins" is released on DVD). I HAVE seen it at the movies on 2 consecutive Saturdays years ago and thought myself lucky to have "acquired" a bootleg copy through a fanzine (lousy print but when you're a collector you take the good with the bad). While it was unfortunate that our Japanese neighbors received harsh treatment due to the wartime climate, it was still good to see the rough and tumble action that Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft (or to be more precise, their stunt doubles) brought to the screen. I won't dwell on Lewis' less than athletic presence in costume but as Bruce Wayne he was a dead ringer. Rumor has it that the BatCave, the Grandfather's clock entrance and Alfred's miraculous weight loss in the comics were directly influenced by this serial. Some of the second in command gangsters were just as Kane drew them and although Shirley Patterson did little more than scream she was none the less a hottie as Linda Page. Throw in J. Carrol Naish as villain Dr. Daka and you have 4 hours of escapist enjoyment.

In Gothan City, in the Word War II, the Japanese spy Dr. Tito Daka (J. Carrol Naish) has a gang working for the Japanese government. He plans to steal a radium load to use in a lethal weapon and hijack an American prototype airplane. The evil Dr. Daka uses a machine to turn people into zombies to work for him. Batman is indeed the lazy millionaire Bruce Wayne (Lewis Wilson), and Robin is his protegee Dick Grayson (Douglas Croft) that are supported by the butler and chauffeur Alfred Pennyworth (William Austin). Bruce Wayne's love interest is Linda Page (Shirley Patterson) and Dr. Daka kidnaps her uncle Martin Warren to help him in his research but turns him into a zombie when he refuses to cooperate with the mastermind of the spy ring. Along fifteen Chapters, Dr. Daka stumbles upon Batman and the boy wonder Robin and they will fight each other.

"Batman" (1943) is the landmark of the first appearance of Batman on the screen and in serial at the climax of World War II. This low budget serial does not have the Batmobile; instead, Batman and Robin use Bruce Wayne's Cadillac convertible driven by Alfred. The plot has anti-Japanese messages and is silly, naive and funny in many moments, but is also highly entertaining and divided in 15 Chapters that were presented in the theaters once a week; now they are available on DVD. (1) The Electrical Brain; (2) The Bat's Cave; (3) The Mark of the Zombies; (4) Slaves of the Rising Sun; (5) The Living Corpse; (6) Poison Peril; (7) The Phoney Doctor (8) Lured by Radium; (9) The Sign of the Sphinx; (10) Flying Spies; (11) A Nipponese Trap; (12) Embers of Evil; (13) Eight Steps Down (14) The Executioner Strikes; (15) The Doom of the Rising Sun. Maybe the funniest scenes are when Dr. Daka communicates with his submarine by radio and they release a coffin with a near-death Japanese soldier only to tell that he should hijack an airplane; and when a spy breaks the window of the airplane to throw off a cargo of radium using parachutes for Dr. Daka's men. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Batman"

Apart from the costumes there's not much of the Batman we know today in the Caped Crusader's first movie outing. It was released in the midst of WWII, so instead of Jokers or Penguins we get a devilish Jap, played with relish by J. Carrol Naish. He's the best thing about this otherwise mediocre effort which nevertheless stands head and shoulders above most other serials of the day.

This serial is nothing short of a total blast, a fun romp from start to finish. You gotta love that the first thing you see at the start of chapter one, is Batman at his desk in his Batcave with bats flying all around, and you only see their shadows, but you also see the shadows of all the thick control wires making the fake bats fly around. That sets the tone perfectly!

No crappy computer effects to muck things up here. Of course this is a serial and it's all great fun, and you have to laugh that the film takes various dramatic license, such as why are Batman and Robin never just shot at, and why they don't fear guns (while always being unarmed themselves).

Truth is, this serial is non-stop, it's virtually always exciting and there's a lot of cool fights. One thing I noticed is that Batman is either always getting his head bashed in, or he's getting into some trouble where Robin has to save him (at the start of the next chapter of course). You'd figure since Robin saves Batman so many times, Batman would treat Robin a little more equally!

And about the 'racist' stuff...it was made in 1943 folks. Consider the climate in America at the time and who our enemies were, and just let it go. No matter how much the revisionists try, you can't change the past, and it should not be hidden, either. And in no way does the tone of the storyline detract from the fact that this serial is such a blast. This should be released on DVD in its original uncut form, the way it was meant to be seen.

(COLUMBIA SERIAL) Fun serial, flabby Batman, silly villain. This has got to be J Carroll Naish's worst performance. If you listen carefully, Wilson's Aussie accent sneaks out occasionally. This was obviously the inspiration for Adam West's Batman of the 60's. A favourite

This is one of the best of Columbia's serials produced in the 40s. There's no Batmobile or Batplane but hey, this was 1943.

There's the usual assortment of narrow escapes, last minute rescues, zombies, an alligator pit and an endless supply of the villain's henchmen.

Also included are some great stuntwork and excellent fight scenes.

Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft make an credible Batman and Robin and their alter-egos Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Two distinct advantages this serial has is it's wartime setting and the casting of the excellent J. Carroll Naish as the chief villain, Daka who is trying to install "The New Order" in America. Many serial and "B" movie veterans are cast in other roles. Look for George J. Lewis, Tom London and Dick Curtis as various henchmen and Charles Middleton, on the right side of the law for a change.

I was an avid serial fan when I used to go to the Saturday afternoon matinees at the local theater in the early 1950's. Three Columbia serials (with the occasional Mascot serial) were usually shown, hence my bias toward Columbia.

I actually saw 'The Batman' in the mid 1960's when it was shown at a City theater as a 'Cinethon' - all 15 episodes in sequence from start to finish in one sitting. I lived through it as any serial fan would and enjoyed every minute but under these circumstances, some details normally overlooked when watching one episode each week were revealed.

I was intrigued by the access to Dr. Daka's hideout via the amusement park ride. A great bit of imagination went into that one! I seem to recall that the great Jack Ingram was killed off in an early episode and reappeared about Chapter 11 but I could be mistaken after nearly 40 years have elapsed.

The progressive reappearance of the Columbia serials on DVD has me over the moon and I look forward to receiving the 1949 'Batman and Robin' serial when it is released in March. If 'The Batman' is released on DVD, I will be one of the first in line to buy it.

I saw this (all fifteen chapters) as a young kid, and along with my friends I was mesmerized. Kids didn't notice that the final scenes of each chapter didn't exactly match with the beginning of the next week's episode, but what the hell. Batman and Robin were able to get out of those jams, and that was what really mattered. Special effects were par for the time, especially considering they were on a low budget.

An earlier comment criticized that the film referred to Japanese as "slant-eyed". There was no political correctness in society at that point. America was at war, and even newspapers used rougher descriptions when making reference to Germans and Japanese. The film also mentions how wise it was to round up and interne all people of Japanese extraction. This was 1943, and the serial was reflective of the public mood of the moment. No apologies should be necessary.

It's Batman/Bruce Wayne (Lewis Wilson) and his ward Robin/Dick Grayson (Douglas Croft) fighting crime in Gotham City. Little Tokyo has been cleared out but dark forces still remain.

It's wartime Batman and some of the racist anti-Japanese takes are not going to age well. It's not unexpected. The racism is very jarring but it's the times that they were living in. It is weird to see the cheesy bad costumes clashing with the serious ugliness of racism. It's childish. This is no Dark Knight nor is it masterpiece theater. It's a 15 episode serial. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger and the theaters would show the episodes one week apart. It's historically interesting for many reasons. One can see some of the 60's TV show and quite frankly, it shows more of the style of the 50's Adventures of Superman. It does get rather repetitive. The story meanders and rambles. The action beats are the same for every episode although there are some bigger set pieces but some are just hand-to-hand in a warehouse. This is not good cinema but it is interesting.

Four years after DC Comic Books introduced Batman in 1939, the Cape Crusader with his sidekick Robin first appeared on the screen in July 1943's serial "Batman." The wealthy American philanthropist Bruce Wayne, alongside his ward, young Dick Grayson, became crime-fighters after both parents were killed by murderers. Columbia Pictures produced a weekly serial consisting of 15 episodes called "Batman." Starring 23-year-old Lewis Wilson, the youngest to ever play the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, the series unveiled for the first time many visual elements not included in artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger's DC Comic books. Wayne's hideout called the "Bat's Cave" along with his famous Batmobile was first seen in this series, while Alfred his butler is a skinner version than the overweight one seen in the comics. The villain of the film series, Japanese Dr. Tito Daka (J. Carrol Naish), was originally planned to be The Joker, whose hideout was at a carnival. But with the Japanese taking on the role of the bad guys in many espionage movies after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the studio opted for a gang leader from Japan whose intention is to destroy American with a gigantic ray gun. DC Comics had introduced such stalwart Batman characters such as The Joker, The Catwoman, and The Penguin well before 1943. Another departure from the comic books is in the film serial Bruce Wayne is a secret agent for the United States governmentsl office in Los Angeles (filmed in L. A. to save expenses) rather than in Gotham City, a.k.a. New York City. The series' first episode, 'The Electrical Brain," kicks off with the kidnapping of the scientist uncle of Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, Linda Page (Shirley Patterson). Batman traces her uncle's kidnappers to Dr. Daka's hidden laboratory, equipped with an electrical ray gun, the exact same one first used in 1935's "Bride of Frankenstein," and later in Mel Brooks's 1974 "Young Frankenstein." Dr. Daka is planning to steal the city's radium supply to power his ray gun intending to destroy America's military. Daka is supported by zombies whom he controls by electronic brain implants he had inserted into them.

Unlike the Batman in the comic books, our hero takes a pounding, getting thrown off buildings and down elevator shafts. Says film reviewer Richard Scheilb, "The film's greatest interest is perhaps as a time capsule. Being made during World War II, it reflects a great deal of the typical US attitudes towards the Japanese. The Japanese are characterized with a racism that quite takes one aback - lines like "... since a wise government rounded up the shifty-eyed Japs," or "your twisted Oriental brain." Columbia studio tabbed newcomer Lewis Wilson, from Framingham, Massachusetts, as its Cape Crusader in his film debut. Wilson, uncredited in the series until 1944, was replaced in the follow-up Batman series in 1949, starring Robert Lowery titled 'Batman and Robin.' Wilson left showbiz in 1954 to work for General Foods, passing away in 2000 at 80. Douglas Croft, 16, as Robin, was discovered by a talent agent loitering around a film studio, and appeared as young George M. Cohan in 1942's "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and as a youthful Lou Gehrig in "The Pride of the Yankees." As the youngest actor to play Robin, and the only one with curly hair, Croft gave up film in 1947, dying in 1963 of acute alcohol intoxication and liver disease at 37.

After the second 1949 Batman series, the Cape Crusader remained dormant on the screen until Columbia re-released the entire series in late 1965 as 'An Evening with Batman and Robin." The serial proved so popular ABC-TV produced the 1966 live-action television series 'Batman' with Adam West and Burt Ward. Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" began the feature film trend of Batman movies, each becoming more of a blockbuster than the previous ones, making him one of the most popular DC Comic characters in cinematic history.

Batman is not technically as "good" as other serials such as most Republics, but I do like it better and enjoy it more than most others. Sure it is too long in the middle with 15 chapters and all, but there is just something about it that really appeals to me.

First of all it is Batman. Second, it just drips with atmosphere. All of the scenes in Daka's hideout are done so well that I can hardly imagine them being improved on. There is a darkened smoky atmosphere to the hideout with its walls covered with Japanese paintings and designs. Can anyone possibly think of a better way to have that set look? The theme music and the scraping sound heard when the door to the hideout opens are very distinctive - though minor elements of the serial, they add incredibly to the sum total of my evaluation.

J. Carrol Naish's portrayal of Dr. Daka is amongst the best acting ever done on film. The character and his dialog are just so fitting as the epitome of a villainous "jap" spy. Credit needs to go to the scriptwriters for dreaming it all up and to Naish for the brilliant execution of it. His lines and the trance like expression on his face as he talks about the emperor being the "heavenly ruler and prince of the rising sun" and freeing the "enslaved people of America" are just unbeatable acting.

Some of Daka's underlings are "zombies". They wear a radio headset receiver which has a wire connected to their spine so he can control them. Sure - that makes sense. This is the best example of serial logic and science I've ever seen. Its the perfect thing to describe to people in order to explain how things work in serials.

Of course Daka's scientific devices are powered by radium! Is it just me or do a lot of super scientific devices in serials run on radium? Saying its powered by radium somehow makes it all make sense.

Daka and Emperor Ming are the two ultimate serial villains. Sure there are some others that were really cool, but no one really even come close to them.

Nuff said!

First big-screen adventures of the Dynamic Duo is a typical movie serial disappointment. Costumes and sets look cheesy, the acting is subpar even for a serial. Not to mention just a WEE bit racist (even the narrator refers to the Japanese as "slanty-eyed"). This should be seen just to keep pace with Dark Knight cinematic history.

This 15 Chapter Serial was over 20 years old when we saw it in our neighborhood. The overwhelming success of the BATMAN TV Series created a market for everything that was Batman. So, Columbia released its venerable wartime relic to the movie houses in the spring of 1966. It wasn't edited into some sort of feature summary, but rather the whole serial was shown, chapter after chapter, all in one sitting! We saw it twice!

There have been a lot of criticisms of this film, ranging from the reference to "the Japs" and indeed reference to the establishment of the Nesi Camps by executive order of President Roosevelt at the urging of California Governor Earl Warren. (Nesi refers to native born Americans of Japanese descent) Well, we all know that it was World War II going on out there and our films were full of our propaganda. We can't condemn this serial for that. The studio was doing its part for the war effort by having the heroes battle Axis Agents, Sabateurs and 5th Column Traitors as well as common thugs.

The production was very frugal, for it obviously was to be produced for as cheap a price tag as possible. The serials were, after all, a sort of throw in to the general out put of film. They were meant for the Saturday afternoon bubble gum crowd. Always filmed in B&W, as were most motion pictures of the time.

The cast was full of veteran character actors, who would always give a decent performance with whatever storyline they had. The true "Star" of BATMAN was J.Carroll Nash.He was born in New York City of Irish ancestry, but no shillelaghs or clay pipes for him. After extensive experience on the stage, Mr. Nash made a living portraying Italians (Sahara, Life with Luigi radio TV), Hispanics (The Fugitive (1947) ) and Indians. He also did some Orientals as in the Charlie Chan TV and Dr. Daka, the Japanese operative and lead villain of this 1943 BATMAN.

But it is the lead of this production, Lewis Wilson, who was the reference of the heading "My Favorite Batman". Of all of the actors to be cast in the role, (and the have been no less than six in live action film) it is Lewis Wilson and his horn ear type cowl that I think of as the best. First, he did originate the role when Batman Comics were only about 4 years old. Secondly, he looked like the character Bruce Wayne as drawn in the comics. He had a sort of upper class accent which Mr. Wayne would probably possess.He had appeared to have a stocky sort of a build which also coincided with the comics. Finally, he wasn't in very many films in his career and BATMAN was probably his widest exposure.

As for production values,well they did the best with what they had. They even managed to evoke some of the dark, mysterious mood of the Batman Comics feature. Indeed, the mood and World War II period are well represented with the use of B & W film.

I sure hope that this one will be out in VHS and DVD in its original, uncut form. Don't re-write it for the sake of political correctness. Such revisionist behaviour is equal to book burning. Afterall, we must take the thorns along with the rose petals.

UPDATE**** Dateline:Chicago, Illinois, April 17, 2006. Well, it's not news by now, but Columbia has released this great 1943 BATMAN Serial this past year.To their credit and our delight, they also released 1949's NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN AND ROBIN with Robert Lowery and John Duncan in the starring roles. These chapter-plays are complete,uncut from crisp,clean newly struck film masters. They are available in DVD sets.

Rumor has it that Columbia will be doing the same thing with their two serials starring the Man of Steel, SUPERMAN (1948) and ATOM MAN VS.SUPERMAN (1950). Who knows, this could be the start of something big for us serial buffs!Let's hope!

* In response to learned those who state that it is erroneous to say that Columbia Pictures re-released this serial because of the success of BATMAN TV, we offer the following. Yes, this is correct, but only up to a point. There was a special showing of the fifteen Chapters of the 1943 BATMAN Serial in a few big city movie houses. In my town, Chicago, it was at the very trendy Playboy Theatre and advertised as "An Evening with Batman & Robin". This was before the debut of BATMAN on ABC, January 12, 1966. It was after that time, BATMAN '43 went into general release, nationwide.

Movie serials were very popular from the 1920s into the 1950s. Fans, especially kids, loved them and would go religiously to theaters each week to see each installment. However, something a bit unusual took place with the serials made during the WWII era...the usual villains were now Axis villains...working for the enemy, Japan or Germany.

In "Batman", then, it's not surprising that the villain, Dr. Daka (J. Carrol Naish) is an evil Japanese baddie...intent on destroying America.

"Batman" not only marks the first film where Batman and Robin fight the Axis but it's the first film with the crimefighters. Because it's the first, it has a few issues fans today might dislike...the duo wear pretty cheesy outfits, Batman is hardly invicible and is no tougher than other serial stars such as Spysmasher, and Alfred is much more active in the film...and was created by the studio (Columbia Pictures) and later was incorporated into the comics.

So is this LONG serial (nearly 4 and 1/2 hours) any good? Yes, but it also seems not particularly different from the average serial of the day. In other words, it has the usual narrow escapes, the usual fist fights (many of which Batman actually loses) and looks much like a typical Columbia serial.

Now I should give you a word of warning. While the film is well made, it's clearly meant as a propaganda piece to bolster the American war effort and get the pubic to hate the enemy. So, you'll hear things such as 'sland-eyed devils' and folks talking about how GOOD the Japanese internment is...a sad chapter in American history. As for me, I used to teach history and didn't freak out or wet myself over this...it IS the way films were during this period. So, either get over this (as well as that Naish is about as Japanese as a burrito), or don't watch.

Okay, I'd probably be reluctant to admit to close friends or family that I'd enjoyed this show but to be truthful I did enjoy it.

For starters, just seeing Batman and Robin on screen was enough for me. I wasn't even born around the time it was on but I did watch it about 20 plus years ago and I just found it funny.

I liked the way each chapter ended in a cliffhanger (something that the 1960's series had as well) and it was great to see Batman and Robin escape from many seemingly inescapable traps. J. Carrol Naish also made an interesting villain even if he was a typical stereotype.

All in all, a great serial adventure which should be released onto video here in the United Kingdom. If it was, I'd buy every episode.

Bereft of the budgets and storytelling ingenuity Republic Pictures brought to their chapter plays, Columbia's first stab at DC Comics' Batman franchise is a drab, exceedingly repetitive bore, with J. Carroll Naish's "oriental" villain Prince Tito Daka dreaming up some of the most inane--and easily survivable--traps for heroes Batman (Lewis Wilson) and Robin (Doug Croft), who change clothes so frequently in odd places together (in the backseats of cars, in alleyways, even behind trees!) that it's not surprising Frederick Wertham would later blow a head valve over this stuff. Hell, Bruce Wayne's "excuses" for missing time with girlfriend Linda Page (Shirley Patterson) are almost brazenly gay, even for the period. The cliffhangers that cap certain episodes--usually after yet another poorly staged fistfight between the heroes and Daka's goons--are woefully under-realized (a car wreck is heard but not seen, as is a building explosion), usually with the heroes simply emerging in the next episode from wreckage we never saw happen. Skip this one.

Discovering the Batman serial and the strip cartoon at the age of eight must have shaped (warped?) my taste for the rest of my life.

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.