Good start, but then it gets ruined

Absolutely Fantastic

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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.

This is the very first time batman was ever shown on screen and it was awesome because it has a great man to play batman lewis Wilson does a great batman. It has lots of action in it. Now the acting isn't that good but it is OK for 1943 the villains in this serial are pretty good. This serial has a good good screen play for it. So this is great adaption of the comic book batman. I'm sure that you will not be disappointed with batman. So make sure that you rent or buy batman because it is really good. Also the guy who plays robin does it pretty good and same with the person who plays Alfred.Overall score ******** out of ********** ***1/2 out of *****

When the 20th Century-Fox TV series "Batman" made its debut, the serial was already playing in special release. Hugh Hefner had booked the serial for his Playboy Club theater in Chicago, and was so pleased with the results from his key-club members (some of whom laughed, some of whom were nostalgic, but all of whom enjoyed the picture) that he had it booked into a public theater downstairs. Based on this, Columbia Pictures put together "An Evening with Batman and Robin", and four-walled (in exclusive screenings at mostly Art Houses) it around the country. The timing of the series and serial was co-incidental. The details of this period are covered in articles in both FILMFAX and EXTRA ADDED ATTRACTIONS magazines.