Film #056 - Batman (1943)
The 1943 movie serial Batman not only marked the first appearance of the iconic comic book character, it marks the first appearance of any DC character. (Superman would not appear for another five years.) As such, it had more of an influence on its subject matter than most adaptations.
One big influence it had was on the character of Alfred. Prior to the serial, Alfred had been portrayed as overweight and clean-shaven. However, the appearance of William Austin in the role (thin and mustachioed) was adopted by the comics and has been his primary appearance ever since. Another was the concept of the Batcave (here called “The Bat’s Cave”) and its secret entrance from Wayne Manor.
Fortunately, that’s where the influence ends, as Batman is ultimately a rather skewed view of the hero. For one thing, it was made during the war and if you know anything about 1940s serials, you know what that means. Batman (Lewis Wilson) and Robin (Douglas Croft) work for the government fighting espionage on the home front. Specifically, they are after Dr. Daka, as stereotypical a Japanese villain as ever you saw. Racial epithets abound and the story lacks the grounding in reality that marked much of Batman’s early days.
But that’s not to say they got everything wrong. The costumes are pretty good for the time, and this is still the only Batman live action project to actually portray Robin as the youth that he was. (Most go for a late teen.) Of course, they do drive around in a regular car, not a proper Batmobile and apart from Alfred there is no sign of the rest of his supporting cast (Commissioner Gordon, etc.)
The performances from Lewis and Croft are actually quite strong, despite the serial’s repuation for being poorly acted. Particularly Croft, who was able to make the Robin character believeable and likable, often providing witticisms that helped offset the mostly bubmling Alfred. I think most of Batman’s bad rep comes down to the preposterously over-the-top performance by J. Carrol Naish as Daka, who never leaves a scene unchewed. (Naish was actually a fine actor, but there’s something about these kinds of parts in those days that brought out the worst in people.) Shirley Patterson plays an acceptable, but unremarkable love interest for Bruce, Linda Page, and some amusement can be gotten from Police Captain Arnold (Charles C. Wilson), who is much more self-centered than Commissioner Gordon.
The plot is not bad for a war-time serial, with Daka engaged in some truly ingenious devices. I was particularly impressed with one scene where an apparent corpse is delivered to Daka, only to be revived just long enough to deliver a message before dying for good. It’s chilling and does a good job of conveying the message of how ruthless these enemies could be. But ultimately, it’s your basic runaround, with little to make it stand out, were it not for the lead characters.
Batman was obviously done on a low budget (as indicated by the “Batmobile” and the plastic bats in the cave), but does pretty well with what it has. They wisely keep things low tech most of the way and what devices there are are straightforward enough not to look too phony.
In the end, Batman is interesting because it is the first stab at the character and doesn’t do too bad. But the lackluster plot, histrionics of Daka and, to some, the nasty anti-Japanese tone kind of spoil things and prevent it from being truly great.