When mixed with the process shots, it makes for a pretty exciting action scene, and gives you exactly what you came for: Batman kicking butt. Poor Batman doesn’t even get one scene of him skulking around in the shadows - I guess even night photography was beyond this serial’s budget (somehow the Batsignal works when it’s a bright, clear 78 degrees in the shade).īut there is some fun stuff to be found here! Right off the, er, bat, Batman gets in a fight on top of a moving train, and you can see at least some of it was actually shot for real. Considering how much more difficult Superman must have been to transform to live action, it’s surprising that his two serials seem more impressive on the superheroic SFX scale. Batman keeps his costume in a filing cabinet. Most of the time, he and Robin just look completely ridiculous as they stand around regular citizens, and everyone pretends this is a totally normal set of affairs.Ĭonsidering how rich Bruce Wayne is, he really skimps on the details: There is no Batmobile instead Batman and Robin drive around in a regular ol’ 1949 Mercury (which is parked right outside Wayne Manor). Superman, director Spencer Bennet and producer Sam “Eh, Good Enough” Katzman, this 15-chapter adventure has our heroes fighting almost exclusively during the day, which does Batman no favors.
Brought to you by the same team that would work on Atom Man vs. He spends a lot - a lot - of time in his secret cave base flipping switches and turning dials, while letting his fedora-d henchmen do the heavy lifting.Īs you can see from the first chapter, where poor Bats has to tilt his head up so he can see through the eye-slits of his dime-store cowl, Batman and Robin is a cheap, cheap affair. The machine runs on diamonds, so that means he has to steal a lot of them to keep it running. The Wizard steals the device, and starts using it in ever-larger doses to show Batman and the GCPD that he means business. Not too long after confronting Hammil for the first time, the wheelchair-bound inventor calls our heroes “A pack of careless idiots.” See? Crotchety! The initial suspect seems to be the uber-crotchety Professor Hammil (William Fawcett), who has invented a device that allows the user to remote control any vehicle in Gotham City. The Wizard is uncredited until the final chapter, since part of the “cliffhanger” aspect to this story is the Dynamic Duo trying to figure out who he really is. I have a giant, stretched-canvas framed version of this very poster hanging in 13th Dimension’s secret lair. Robert Lowery plays Batman/Bruce Wayne, Johnny Duncan (who died just last month, at age 92) is Robin/Dick Grayson, Jane Adams is Vicki Vale, and Lyle Talbot plays Commissioner Gordon.
#BATMAN AND ROBIN MOVIE#
Superman, click here!įor the complete BATMAN/SUPERMAN WEEK Index, click here !ĭid you know there was a film titled Batman and Robin that doesn’t make the average Bat-Fan want to throw themselves in front of the nearest train? It’s true! It’s a 1949 movie serial starring the Darknight Detective and the Boy Wonder squaring off against the mysterious hooded bad guy known as the Wizard!īatman and Robin was Columbia’s second Batman serial, but featuring an entirely different cast.
Hey, it’s a special REEL RETRO CINEMA two-fer! We’re gearing up BATMAN/SUPERMAN WEEK, so it only figured to have Rob Kelly take a look at our heroes’ filmic roots - namely, two of their serials!įor 1950’s Atom Man vs. UPDATED 5/26/22: The Batman and Robin serial debuted 73 years ago on May 26, 1949! Perfect time to re-present this fun piece by Rob Kelly from 2016. Posted By 13th Dimension on | 14 comments
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