The Batman *** (1943, Lewis Wilson, Douglas Croft, J Carrol Naish) – Classic Movie Review 5109

Director Lambert Hillyer’s wartime 1943 vintage 15-part film serial The Batman is exceptionally lively and enjoyable. It is notable as the first ever screen appearance of the Caped Crusader, giving Lewis Wilson the honour of being the first movie Batman.

Armed with Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker and Harry L Fraser’s screenplay, based on the DC comic books created by Bob Kane, the Dynamic Duo (Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft as the Batman and the Boy Wonder Robin) battle a crime gang of killers. It is the first of two excellent Columbia Pictures serials, followed in 1949 by Batman and Robin.

Made during World War Two, the film has an evil Japanese scientist as its main bad guy. J Carrol Naish, who was born of Irish descent in New York City but regularly played East Indian, Latin, Arab and Oriental characters, has a field day as the villain, The fiendish traitorous Japanese spymaster Dr Daka, who operates a spy ring in Gotham City’s deserted Little Tokyo, turning American scientists into electronic zombies who do his evil bidding.

Shirley Patterson (1922–1995).

Also in the cast are Shirley Patterson as Loveliest of Zombies Linda Page, William Austin as the butler Alfred Pennyworth, Frank Austin, Lynton Brent, George Cheesebro, Dick Curtis, Lester Dorr, Kenne Duncan, Robert Fiske, Sam Flint, Terry Frost, Gus Glassmire, Karl Hackett, Earle Hodgins, Jack Ingram, Warren Jackson, I Stanford Jolley, Eddie Kane, George J Lewis, Tom London, Knox Manning, John Maxwell, Charles Middleton, Ted Oliver, Pat O’Malley, Bud Osborne, Stanley Price, Frank Shannon, Michael Vallon, Anthony Warde and Charles C Wilson.

The 15 episodes run 260 minutes. The 15 chapter titles are: 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 Phony Doctor; 8. Lured by Radium; 9. The Sign of the Sphinx; 10. Flying Spies; 11. Nipponese Trap; 12. Embers of Evil; 13. Eight Steps Down; 14. The Executioner Strikes; 15. The Doom of the Rising Sun.

Bruce Wayne has a butler in the film, so a tubby, clean-shaven Alfred was introduced into the comic books. After the film was released, he was quickly redrawn by DC as a thin Alfred to resemble the very different-looking William Austin with his thin physique and moustache.

The serial introduced the concept of the Bat Cave, later adapted into the comics, and there are actual bats in the Bat Cave!

Bob Kane has a cameo as the newsboy in Chapter One, shouting: ‘Read all about the Batman!’ before handing a newspaper to Bruce Wayne.

Director Matt Reeves reuses the title for his 2021 film The Batman (with a 1 October 2021 release date), just as the 1997 film Batman and Robin did with the 1949 Batman and Robin.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5109

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Robert Pattinson in the 2021 film The Batman.