Batman (serial)
Batman | |
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Directed by | Lambert Hillyer |
Written by |
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Based on | |
Produced by | Rudolph C. Flothow |
Starring | |
Cinematography | James S. Brown Jr. |
Edited by | |
Music by | Black and white |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 15 chapters (260 minutes) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Batman is a 1943 American 15-chapter theatrical
The serial's story line involves the Batman, 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.[3] Serving Daka are his American henchmen.
Batman is notable for being the first appearance on film of Batman and for debuting story elements that quickly became permanent parts of the Batman character's
The serial was commercially successful and in 1949, four years after World War II, spawned another Columbia chapter serial, Batman and Robin. The entire first Batman serial was re-released theatrically in 1965 as An Evening with Batman and Robin, and proved very popular (some theatres showed the chapters as a Saturday matinee). Its success inspired the action-comedy lampoon series Batman (and its 1966 theatrical feature film spin-off) starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
Plot
The Batman/Bruce Wayne (Lewis Wilson), and his ward, Robin/Dick Grayson (Douglas Croft),
Dr. Tito Daka (J. Carrol Naish), the Japanese leader of the ring, plans to steal the city's radium supply to power his invention, a hand-held ray gun that can dissolve anything hit by its powerful beam. He forces from Warren the location of the vault where the radium is stored. Daka sends his American henchmen, along with a zombie that he controls by microphone via an electronic brain implant, to steal the precious metal. Batman discovers the plot and eventually routs the gang after a terrific battle.
In his secret Bat's Cave, the Batman interrogates one of Daka's henchmen, who reveals the radium was to have been taken to The House of the Open Door, located in the mostly deserted "Little Tokyo" section of Gotham City. Batman and Robin infiltrate the gang's lair (also Dr. Daka's
Traps and counter-traps follow in the succeeding chapters, as the Dynamic Duo continue to thwart the plans of the Japanese agent and his henchmen. When Dr. Daka attempts to steal America's Victory Plans, the Batman and Robin finally prevail. They oversee the capture of Daka's men and finally the death of the Japanese agent, as he tries to escape and falls through his own hidden trapdoor into a pit full of hungry alligators.
Chapter titles
Chapter | Title | Release # | Release Date | Length (feet) |
Running Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Electrical Brain | 5120 | July 16, 1943 | 2423′ | 26.9 minutes |
2 | The Bat's Cave | 5121 | July 23, 1943 | 1606′ | 17.8 minutes |
3 | The Mark of the Zombies | 5122 | July 30, 1943 | 1638′ | 18.2 minutes |
4 | Slaves of the Rising Sun | 5123 | August 6, 1943 | 1664′ | 18.5 minutes |
5 | The Living Corpse | 5124 | August 13, 1943 | 1565′ | 17.4 minutes |
6 | Poison Peril | 5125 | August 20, 1943 | 1538′ | 17.1 minutes |
7 | The Phoney Doctor | 5126 | August 27, 1943 | 1467′ | 16.3 minutes |
8 | Lured By Radium | 5127 | September 3, 1943 | 1525′ | 16.9 minutes |
9 | The Sign of the Sphinx | 5218 | September 10, 1943 | 1500′ | 16.7 minutes |
10 | Flying Spies | 5129 | September 17, 1943 | 1618′ | 18 minutes |
11 | A Nipponese Trap | 5130 | September 24, 1943 | 1447′ | 16.1 minutes |
12 | Embers of Evil | 5131 | October 1, 1943 | 1333′ | 14.8 minutes |
13 | Eight Steps Down | 5132 | October 8, 1943 | 1322′ | 14.7 minutes |
14 | The Executioner Strikes | 5133 | October 15, 1943 | 1441′ | 16 minutes |
15 | The Doom of the Rising Sun | 5134 | October 22, 1943 | 1840′ | 20.4 minutes |
Source:[4]
Cast
- Lewis Wilson as Bruce Wayne / Batman
- Douglas Croft as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin
- J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Tito Daka/Prince Daka
- Shirley Patterson as Linda Page
- William Austin as Alfred (uncredited)
- Robert Fiske as Foster (uncredited)
- Gus Glassmire as Uncle Martin (uncredited)
- Karl Hackett as Wallace (uncredited)
- Tom London as Andrews (uncredited)
- Charles Middletonas Ken Colton (Episodes #6-#8) (uncredited)
- Harry Tenbrook as Bartender (uncredited)
- Charles C. Wilsonas Police Captain Arnold (uncredited)
Production
The serial was made at the height of
Just like many other contemporary serials, Batman also suffered from a low budget. No attempt was made to create the Batmobile, so a black 1939 Cadillac Series 61 convertible was used, chauffeured by Alfred when Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were either in their civilian or Batman and Robin identities. It is driven "top-up" when it is the Batmobile, and "top-down" when it is Bruce Wayne's car.[5] Batman's hometown of Gotham City, an analog of New York in the comics, becomes an analog of Los Angeles in the film.
While many serials made changes as part of their adaptation, to the extent that they were often 'improved', Batman fared better than most, with minor changes.[6] In this serial special utility belts were worn but never used, the villain was not taken from the comics' stories, there was no Batmobile, and Batman was a secret government agent instead of an independent crime-fighting vigilante. This last change was due to the time period's film censors, who would not allow the hero to be seen taking the law into his own hands.[6]
Several continuity errors occur, such as Batman losing his cape in a fight but wearing it again after the film only briefly cuts away.[6] The opening narration in chapter 1 states that Wayne Manor is in the fictional Gotham City, but his mail in chapter 5 is addressed to Los Angeles. In the first chapter, Batman, when hearing the name of Dr. Daka asks "who is that?" Then in the last chapter Batman tells Daka he and other enforcers have been looking for Daka since he killed two agents trying to deport him—an element never mentioned in any earlier chapter. In the transition between chapters 5 and 6, it is unclear how Batman survived the plane crash which killed two villains who were on the plane with him.
Press releases announced Batman as a "Super Serial", and was Columbia's largest-scale serial production to date. The studio gave it a publicity campaign equivalent to a feature film.[7]
Release
Theatrical release
Batman was first released to theaters one chapter per week, beginning on July 16, 1943.[1] Columbia re-released it to theaters in 1954 and 1962.
In 1964, film buff
Home media
A silent abridged version was released in 8 mm and Super 8 formats during the 1960s, with the complete serial edited into six chapters running 10 minutes each. Several three-minute reels titled with action scenes were also issued.
In the 1970s, the complete 15-chapter serial in its original unaltered format was released in a Super-8 Sound edition.
In the wake of the success of Tim Burton's Batman, the serial was released as a two-part VHS series in 1990 by GoodTimes Entertainment in a heavily modified form that dubbed over most of the original dialogue of a racially sensitive nature. Dan Scapperotti of Cinefantastique commented that he was not surprised with those revisions as Columbia came at the time under the ownership by Japan's Sony corporation.[8] Alterations made by Sony were limited to the soundtrack itself, and no frames or scenes were cut. Gary Owens provided a new narration track, while additional lines of a racially sensitive nature were replaced by voice actors bearing little similarity to the original voices.
In October 2005, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment unveiled a two-disc DVD of the serial. This release restored the original dialogue but is missing several seconds in Chapter 2, such as the "Next Chapter" sequence at the end. The image and sound quality of Sony's set varies; the first episode is an upscale of the previous VHS transfer, but the remainder of the episodes were restored.
On February 4, 2014, Mill Creek Entertainment released Gotham City Serials, a two-disc DVD set with both the 1943 serial and the 1949 Batman and Robin serial.
Television
In 1989, the cable network
Critical reception
Author Raymond Williams Stedman noted in 1971 that the serial "gained good press notices" but "scarcely" deserved it, going on to describe it as an unintentional farce.[9] Jim Harmon and Donald F. Glut describe Batman as "one of the most ludicrous serials ever made" despite its "forthright" simplicity.[6]
The casting of Lewis Wilson as Batman and Douglas Croft as Robin has been criticized. Some critics felt that the actors and their
Also, the costumes were criticized as unconvincing in execution, and although the Batman costume was based on his original appearance, it draws special criticism for being too baggy and topped by pair of "devil" horns.[6][9][11]
Will Brooker remarked in the 2001 Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon that, although he feels that the depiction of the Japanese characters is racist, Batman has little direct contact with them. However, when Batman does in fact finally meet Daka in the final chapter, he immediately exclaims "Oh, a Jap!" He soon after calls Daka "Jap murderer" and "Jap devil" and finally discusses a "Jap spy ring". Brooker surmises that these elements are likely to have been added as an afterthought to make the film more appealing to audiences of the time and that creating a nationalistic, patriotic film was not the filmmakers' original intent.[12]
Influence
An Evening with Batman and Robin was especially popular in college towns, where theaters were booked solid. The success of this re-release led to the creation of the TV series Batman.[6][7] The breathless opening and closing narration of each chapter in this and other Columbia serials was, to some extent, the model that was parodied in the mid-1960s series.
The success of both the re-release and the subsequent TV series prompted the production of The Green Hornet. Originally a radio action crime drama series from 1936 to 1953, it was also the basis of two Universal Pictures movie serials in 1940. The 1966-67 TV show was played as a straight superhero action mystery series, and was also very popular with audiences but lasted only one season, owing to significantly higher production costs. The failure of The Green Hornet led to the belief that similar revivals of serial properties were not possible in the television market of the time, and no further series were produced.[7]
At DC Comics, Prince Daka appeared in All-Star Squadron #42-43 (February–March 1985) as the leader of several Japanese super-operatives. Since the #42-43 storyline occurred in 1942, it depicts Daka's activities prior to the events of the 1943 serial, as noted by writer Roy Thomas in a letter column.
From 2016 to 2019, Big John Creations produced a web series called Mystery of the Bat-Man as an homage to the original serial. Six chapters have been released under the guise of a "lost" serial from the late 1930s, complete with fictional backstory.[13]
References
- ^ ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
- ISBN 978-0786437450.
- ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
- ISBN 9781402747175
- ^ "Batmobiles 1943".
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
- ISBN 0-8065-1252-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8061-0927-5.
- ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
- ^ Harmon, Glut, pg. 222
- ^ Brooker, Will (2001) Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon, Continuum
- ^ "Big John Creations". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-06-04.