That was an excellent one.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Boring

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The first Batman adventure put on film everInteresting is the word for this...but I personally think the next serial, titled Batman And Robin (1949), is better. The second one had better casting/scripting/action/music. But many don't agree with me and some even get angry when I say this.I once viewed this 1943 version in an Australian movie theatre and the mostly 20something crowd was just so surprised that racist language like this was once used in Hollywood shows. As for showing this serial to today's kids? It should be fine for them, however adults might need to explain to them why the racist comments are present.

Comics as we know them today owe much to the pulp magazines that preceded them. Case in point: BATMAN. Like the original Dark Knight himself (The Shadow), The Bat-man was a product of the Pulps- although he debuted in what I've referred to elsewhere as "the Pulps with pictures"- comic books. The early movie serials often featured characters from both. This "Natural Evolution" led to the very first BATMAN serial. While the minimalist Budgets were often blamed for the Below Average result(s), it was, more often than not, the relative skill(s) of the director(s) that determined the true worth of what we saw. Thanks to the often atmospheric direction of Lambert Hillyer, BATMAN evokes an air of dark mystery from its opening shot: we see The Bat-man seated in "the bat's cave," brooding pensively, staring directly at us. The camera eases in closer as bats flitter about the cave: we see their shadows on the wall. It's an impressive opening and Lewis Wilson as The Bat-man is believable both as the playboy alter ego and as the Revenge-driven masked man. It would be hard to imagine a better Robin than Douglas Croft: he's young enough (and small enough) and athletic enough to be believable as a crime-fighter's sidekick. True to his True Nature as a man obsessed with setting wrongs right, The Bat-man this time around is in the employ of the U.$. Government (it is, after all, War Time). The dastardly Dr. Daka proves a formidable opponent, but The Bat-man has a trick or two up his own sleeve: when he's outed in Chapter 11, it turns out he's wearing a disguise under his mask. There are one or two gaffs along the way, but they're relatively minor. BATMAN is definitely one of the better serials (though I don't see why they didn't paint one of the cars jet black and affix a bat-fin to it) and well worth a look.

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.

How great a chapterplay is this? The evil Dr. Tito Daka (obviously a distant relative of the Jackson Five) is planning to help Japan destroy America with a group known as The League of the New Order. The New Order is made up of "dishonored" businessmen (all specialists in their field)--basically crooks who did jail time and then turned traitor at first opportunity. The New Order also has zombie slaves and almost every Serial Henchman you can find working for them: George J. Lewis, Jack Ingram, Robert Fiske, Tom London, Kenne Duncan (well, he works for them as a zombie anyhow), Stanley Price, Dick Curtis, and George Cheseboro are among the crooks running rampant in it. Charles Middleton's also in it, but as a good guy for a change.Opposing them are Batman and Robin, who are working secretly for the US government. Exactly why they have to be G-Men is a mystery, but it's all good.The League of the New Order's main plan involves building a radium death ray gun. To do so, they (of course) need a large supply of radium. Batman keeps fouling up their attempts to get said radium, much to Dr. Daka's ever growing annoyance. A decent number of these attempts involve Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Linda Page (the ultra-hot looking Shirley Patterson), who's uncle Martin Warren has been turned into a zombie by Daka. Plenty of wild action ensues, including plane crashes, burning warehouses, exploding buildings, and Batman being fed to Daka's pet alligators! Woo-hoo! Some random thoughts: Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft become the first screen Batman and Robin and they're both pretty darn good. Croft is actually a kid as opposed to a 30 year old playing a kid (Jack Armstrong anybody?) and is a lot of fun to watch as Robin. He's also nowhere near as annoying as most serial kids--none of your "gee whiz!" antics. Wilson plays Bruce Wayne and Batman to the hilt, playing off the idea of Bruce Wayne being a worthless playboy better than almost anyone else ever has. His Batman's plenty tough, too and it looks like he had a blast with the role.Just how mean a baddie is Dr. Daka? One of the most memorable scenes occurs when he tells his men at one point "not only have your comrades failed in their mission, they lost their worthless lives as well"! Daka is surely one of the nastiest villains in all of serial history, easily belonging on the same plane as Doctor Satan, Fu Manchu, and Ming the Merciless.Though Middleton is only in four chapters, he practically steals every scene he's in. His character is reminiscent of the miner in the first Dick Tracy serial, but he plays it much better. He's definitely one ornery cuss, that's for sure.Knox Manning's narration is an absolute hoot! Especially the bit about the "wise U.S. government"! Love it! Love it! The "racist" dialogue is also a bit of a hoot. People who get upset by it tend to forget that this was World War II, Japan was the enemy, and this was a morale booster of a film. The context definitely needs to be remembered when watching this film.The Columbia DVD looks pretty damn good (even if Chapter One is a little washed out) and better still, it's uncut. Having only ever seen this in lousy prints before, I can tell you it was a real treat to see it look this good. It's also an outrageously enjoyable serial, well worth seeking out. I'd also say its one of the top five comic book serials ever. BATMAN is the serial that proves the Columbia naysayers wrong (as if proof were needed!).