Batman (1943) or Batman and Robin(1949)

[gordonblu]

Just wondering of you who have seen these *ahem* interesting films, which one do you prefer?

It's pretty tough for me. There are things I like about both of them, and things I hate about both of them.

Batman 1943:

the good Batman's ears almost point straight up in this film. Robin's costume is fairly accurate with the exception of the nosed mask.

There are some good character actors who make appearances in this film, most notably George J. Lewis(Zorro's dad from the Disney series and a personal fave of mine), Anthony Ward ( who was Republic's main "action heavy"), And Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton.

Some of the cliffhangers were more plausible than the latter serial.

There's a really good Dummy in one of the chapter endings when Batman falls down an elevator shaft.

Alfred looks fantastic( the serial was responsible for the more canon physique of Bruce's manservant.) More on Alfred later...

The serial introduced the Batcave (known as the Bat's Cave)

the badLewis Wilson sucks as Batman. Okay Bruce Wayne, BAAAD Batman. Douglas Croft looks like an evil pixie as Robin.

Daka's Zombies a.k.a. overweight old men with Fred Mertz pants.

Alfred may have looked good, but was really annoying as a character.

The Batmobile is a light-colored convertible? A black car would have made more sense.

No offense to the great stuntman Eddie Parker, but he makes Batman look like a spaz in the fight scenes.

The Bizarre The Japanese stereotype is pretty strange in this film. I know this would probably offend most people. I find it rather funny, but mostly from a cultural thing: i.e. that most people at the time accepted this as being an accurate portrayal of an Asian man! The actor was actually Irish.(This is not the worst portrayal from the period though, that honor goes to Nino Pipitone's Transylvanian(?) preformance as Haruchi in G-Men Vs. The Black Dragon, an otherwise good serial.)



Batman and Robin 1949

the good

Batman's cape is actually black! I also like Robin's cape being darker in this serial as well.

I appreciate John Duncan's performance as Robin. He may be a bit too old but he is more plausible during the fight scenes than the evil pixie of the previous serial.

First appearance of Commissioner Gordon in live action! Lyle Talbot was one of the better contract players at Columbia, he also made a good Lex Luthor in Atom Man vs. Superman. Sadly he's probably best remembered for being in Ed Wood's turkeys.

The fight scenes are a little better in this serial( though not on par with Republic's) this may be due to Eddie Parker playing one of the henchmen and NOT doubling for Batman.


the bad I don't really care for Robert Lowery's portrayal of Batman either, although I tolerate it more than Wilson's.

Batman's ears look like devil horns, and Lowery has obvious trouble seeing through the mask slits. He also looks pretty flabby as Batman,more so than Adam West!( the costume was actually made to fit Kirk Allyn who had just played Superman and was a little more physically fit as he was a dancer, but for some reason they ended up not using him in the Batman role.)

Vicki Vale is an annoying Lois Lane clone in this film.

Another light convertible for the Batmobile!


The bizarre
Prof. Hammil is portrayed as being in a wheelchair, but uses a machine to secretly give strength back to his legs, yet later he is seen walking around in view of other people and they don't even bat an eye! Even for serial continuity that's pretty bad!


I guess I have a softer spot for the latter than the former.

What do YOU think?

[Azrael]

I think that I HAVE to find and download them some time in the future. It's a shame that I haven't watched these things yet! The first was released just FOUR years after Batman's first appearance.

Oh, and I think the first one was called THE Batman, not just Batman  

[The Joker]

I like the 1943 Batman serial the best.

Why? Basically due to just sentimental reasons. AMC (American Movie Channel) started airing these back when I was 12, and I remember taping each and every episode on VHS for 15 consecutive weeks (yeah, they aired only one episode every week) just to get the whole thing.

[gordonblu]

I think that I HAVE to find and download them some time in the future. It's a shame that I haven't watched these things yet! The first was released just FOUR years after Batman's first appearance.

Oh, and I think the first one was called THE Batman, not just Batman  

In the bulk of the serial, he WAS called "the Batman", however the title of the serial was just Batman.

The posters for the serial sometimes called it The Batman, and when it was re-issued in the 60's, it was called "An Evening With Batman And Robin".

[phantom stranger]

I haven't seen the second one yet. What I liked about the first is that Batman goes undercover a lot. It's a neat narrative device and one I always thought Batman would do in the "real world."

[Paul (ral)]

I really have to watch these!

[Grissom]

I'm with you Ral, it was only year before last that I realised that there were old Batman serials. Might get them on dvd just to see what they were like.

[Azrael]

I think that I HAVE to find and download them some time in the future. It's a shame that I haven't watched these things yet! The first was released just FOUR years after Batman's first appearance.

Oh, and I think the first one was called THE Batman, not just Batman  

In the bulk of the serial, he WAS called "the Batman", however the title of the serial was just Batman.

The posters for the serial sometimes called it The Batman, and when it was re-issued in the 60's, it was called "An Evening With Batman And Robin".

Oh, sorry then. All I have seen from this serial are these vintage posters that clearly say THE BATMAN. Sergio Aragones in his DC comic book parody had some fun with the "The", so I kind of like him called THE Batman 

[gordonblu]

no reason to apologize. I couldn't remember myself after you posted so I had to pull out my dvd to answer the question. Besides, you gave me an excuse to watch some of it again!


I also like it when he's referred to as THE Batman, because it A:makes him sound more imposing, and B:proves that someone else could dress AS Batman, but never BE Batman.