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Batman - The Complete 1943 Movie Serial Collection |  | Actors: Lewis Wilson, Douglas Croft, J. Carrol Naish, Shirley Patterson, George Robotham
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy New: $5.49
as of 9/4/2010 03:10 EDT details
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New (42) Used (26) from $3.74
Seller: moviesmusicgames
Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 7702
Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Closed-captioned
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 99
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 259 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 043396119291
UPC: 043396119291
EAN: 0043396119291
ASIN: B000AQOHNA
Theatrical Release Date: April 15, 1943
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Collection of Batman films from 1943.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
 The Very First Batman Movie January 10, 2006
Scott Lothrop (Tampa, FL, USA)
36 out of 36 found this review helpful
Before the big glossy Batman movies and the campy 1960's television series there was this little masterpiece. It starts strong with the spooky music over the opening credits. Lambert Hillyer was an experienced B-movie director but this was his first and only serial. He makes it an enjoyable adventure with an unusual sense of humor for a serial. Note the banter between Alfred, Batman, and Robin in the third chapter after Alfred fires a few shots with his eyes closed.
The film has been criticized as racist, which it certainly is, rife with comments like "Since a wise government rounded up the shifty-eyed Japs..." and "your twisted Oriental brain." But that's exactly the way it was at the height of World War Two, so this is really a historical document of the pervasive attitude at that time. The War was still unsettled in 1943, and people were terrified of the Japanese threat. The serial has also been issued in a cleaned-up version, but this one is much more realistic even if it wouldn't be acceptable today. Just try to enjoy it for what it was.
I particularly like Lewis Wilson when he's Bruce Wayne, with his tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a lazy playboy, even though in his Batman guise he displays a bit of a gut that kept him out of the 1949 sequel. He's really a cool dude for 1943.
J. Carrol Naish was a great character actor, garnering two Oscar nominations in a long and distinguished career. He specialized in foreign dialects, and as Dr. Daka he does his best Peter Lorre imitation. Any villain would kill for that living room with the built-in alligator pit.
Douglas Croft (nee Douglas Wheatcroft, 1926-1963) was a successful child actor in the early 1940's. The year before he played Robin in this serial he was in both "Pride of the Yankees" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy," playing Lou Gehrig and James M. Cohan, respectively, as a boy. Not much is known of him as he dropped out of acting later in the decade, and died at the age of only 37.
Shirley Patterson (1921-1995, later known as Shawn Smith) was Miss California of 1940. After this performance she played in B-Westerns opposite Charles Starrett, Johnny Mack Brown, and others. Even Charles Middleton, that all-time favorite serial villain, puts in an appearance starting in Chapter Six, but this time he's on the right side of the law as Dan Colton, who has discovered a radium mine and of course Daka needs radium for his nefarious schemes.
As usual with Columbia serials the fights and the chases don't measure up to Republic's standards, and in general the cliffhangers aren't as good either. But the way Batman escapes from the old room-with-sharp-blades-closing-in routine at the end of Chapter 13 is a classic. The Chapter 14 cliffhanger isn't bad, either.
Be sure to watch for a cameo appearance by Bob Kane, the original creator of Batman. He's the young man who plays a newsboy who sells a newspaper to Bruce Wayne early in the first chapter.
WORLD WAR 2 BATMAN September 12, 2005
William J. Landis (ALBUQUERQUE,NM)
77 out of 85 found this review helpful
Since the DVD version has yet to be released,I can't comment on that version but have to rely on the VHS Tape which I have.Many reviewers have commented on the "racism" in this serial. Undoubtably they were not alive or at least going to the movies at that time in their life.The serial while it may not be considered politically correct in the present time only reflected the attitude of an nation that was drawn into WW2 by the attack of the Japanese on Pearl Harbor in 1941.All motion pictures of that era released by the 7 major studios pictured the axis ( Germany,Japan and Italy ) in an unfavorable light just as in the 50's during the Cold War Russia was portrayed in the same manner..Columbia Pictures which is a subsidiary of Sony Corp ( a Japanese entity)is to be congratulated for releasing the serial..I enjoyed it thoroughly.Although Columbia serials were never as well produced as the serials from Republic Pictures,this is one of their better chapter plays. One of the unintended bloopers that I enjoyed seeing was in one of the early chapters. This chapter has Batman fighting with his cape on and the cape mysteriously disappears in mid fight and just as mysteriously reappears before the fight is concluded.I notice the format is listed as color which is incorrect unless Columbia colorized the discs.I do hope they have copied the serial unto dvds with a restored print as the VHS tape was not as clear as it should be.I was disappointed to see that it will be released on 2 disks.All 15 chapters could well fit on one disk.
Discussion of the quality of the prints used / Still the finest non-humorous Batman so far November 27, 2005
Tim Munton (Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
5 stars for the content ( or maybe only 4 and a half due to the ending, which I discuss below ) but only about 2 and a half for the technical side - ie quality of prints used etc.
But I've given it 5 overall just to emphasise what a great serial it is.
Just to clear up what the general condition of the prints used in this set is - as this isn't totally clear from the previous reviews :
Basically only episode 1 is in terrible condition - & terrible it is :
Quite blurry in places , lots of scratches, some vertical lines & "artefacts" in places, the contrast/brightness levels jumping around a lot between shots, & in places even the soundtrack gets very muddy ( although you can always make out what they're saying ).
Watchable, but its pushing it somewhat.
After this it gets a lot better :
The next 2 or 3 episodes while not in brilliant condition are a lot better than episode 1 & their soundtrack is fine throughout, & there is no blurryness of the type already mentioned.
These episodes are basically quite easily watchable & if your not obsessed with technical quality you'll probably find them ok.
Then round about episode 4 or 5 until the end of disc 1 there is another quality jump ( upwards ) :
Now the image is very clear indeed, & there are hardly any scratches etc - in fact if someone had told me they were restored/remastered I would believe them : generally crisp, clear & easy to view & listen to; in fact not dissimilar in technical quality to the 1949 "Batman & Robin" DVD serial collection.
The only thing one might still notice is that as before some shots seem very darkly lit or others are overlit ( depending on how you look at it ) ie not just because they alternate between at night / in daylight / bright sunlight / in shadows etc.
Quite possibly this is caused by technical deficiencies / inadequacies in the lighting etc during production when it was originally filmed in 1943.
Or maybe this release uses the best shots from several different prints but without bothering to "regrade" the brightness/contrast to a more cohesive effect - ? - which also might explain this.
Disc 2 retains throughout the great picture/sound quality of the final episodes on disc 1 as just described.
They really should have remastered episode one - which is a fantastic episode really cramming in the atmosphere & excitement - & the next 2 or 3 as well.
The 1949 serial is remastered ( it says on its back cover )& has Japanese subtitles I notice.
The 1943 has no such subtitles : Is this why its not remastered - ie because Sony Columbia don't think they can sell it to the Japanese because of its anti-Japanese WW2 language ?
It would seem likely - which is a real shame; its a great serial.
Another real deficiency ( & for the 1949 one too ) is that there's hardly any info about the serial's production/actors, & how it was regarded at the time.
A few comments on the aesthetics of its content :
It has a great pulpy vibe reminiscent of 1930s gangster movies & to a minor extent 1930s/40s SF, some great pulpy/film noirish lighting & atmosphere.
The opening shot of the Batman in his cave in episode 1 is highly evocative & atmospheric ( with a slight horror-ish atmosphere in that bit alone ).
Batman's costume is fine & the cowl is SUPERB : It has long horns, well designed eye-holes & the nosepiece is somewhat pointed, which conspire to make him look appropriately devilish ( except for when in one shot about half way through the serial it is too high up on his face ).
Lewis Wilson is great in the role ( actor & costume are far better than in the 1949 version )- & far better than any of the actors from the 80s onwards; its not that he's a great actor its more that he reflects the period in which it was made; ie he's unironic & his general attitude, & vocal tone especially, are appropriate to the role; this naiveity thus appeals & adds to the serial's highly expressive 2-dimensional charm & charisma, which it has inherited from the 30s gangster flicks.
Accordingly its a close reflection - the closest filmed reflection in fact - of the original Batman comics of the late 30s /early 40s.
The recent "Batman Begins" film also reflects that period quite well in places but not as much as here, where we find authentic monochrome grit, shadows, hoodlums & bustle. Although I must qualify this by saying that this is also sometimes characterized by the sort of lamebrained - but quite acceptable & even endearing - absurdity that you often find in cheap B-movies.
The music is fine though mainly unobtrusive.
But the opening titles score is superbly atmospheric & brooding ( again reminiscent of the 30s )& the static "Batman-as-an-umbrella" iconic image over which it plays is great also, as are the lurid chapter titles which then appear ( & it is at that point that the opening score expresses a most delicious frisson of menacing foreboding )
I would say that Adam West is preferable in the role except that great though he is that version is essentially comedic; so I don't think he can really be directly compared to all the other on-screen versions of Batman, which in relation to the lead role at least, are all essentially serious .
Although the plot is highly repetitive over the 15 episodes this is fine as it gives it an air of mildly surreal absurdity.
The villain - Dr Tito Daka ( J. Carroll Naish ) is fantastic - vocally reminiscent of Peter Lorre to a large extent, & great at gloating & sadism, & - of course - absurdly overconfident most of the time,
The only real criticism I can make is that the last episode ( or 2 ) is rather anticlimactic; Dakar - who only meets Batman face to cowl at this point - doesn't get to gloat very much over Batman himself ( although previously he has a lovely gloat over Batman's girlfriend Linda ), & its all resolved rather too quickly, easily & relatively undramatically compared with what's gone before.
Still; the finest non-humorous Batman so far !
And its the original screen adaptation to boot : If the first 3 episodes were restored it would be nearly perfect.
A Great Historical Serial on Batman... January 2, 2006
K. A. Stevenson (Tucson)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
As I watched this 1943 Batman serial, I could just imagine how young boys and girls of the time would anxiously await the next exciting episode each week at the theaters! Each episode ends in a real cliffhanger!
Although I am a big movie buff of films made during the 1920's - 1950's, this was one of the first serials that I had watched. I found that its condition was much better than many films of that period that I have viewed.
I found the serial to be just hilarious in many ways as I viewed "zombies" (with little metal caps); ray guns; saw the heroine, Linda, fainting repeatedly; and watched as "pre-Batmobile" Bruce and Dick would pull costumes out of their briefcases while Alfred drove them around in the Packard sedan!
The Batman serial DOES have a great deal of wartime propaganda and Japanese are repeatedly referred to as "Japs" and "slant eyes." Although I was born in Japan, I didn't have a problem with this as it was just indicative of the times. I would really regret the censorship more. Young kids should just be told that the US was at war with Japan at the time and the film was a little overzealous in this respect... and that now our countries are on very good terms.
I highly recommend this serial. It was a delightful look back at Batman's history.
Nostalgia re-visited April 10, 2007
Mr. Brian Edwards (Skelmersdale UK)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
If this serial was at your local cinema when you were growing up, then the memory of those times are re-kindled with this DVD. Every punch ,every
move, every cheer, every boo.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
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