batmobileless....

[thoreau]

Will Dr. Daka turn the Batman into a zombie?

"HE MOVES LIKE A FLASH! HE RIDES LIKE THE WIND! HE CAN PUNCH LIKE A BATTERING RAM!..The mighty red-blooded American-hero comes to thrilling life in new adventure serial!"

Thats how "The Batman" begins - - a DVD of the original 1943 serial of the Batman and Robin adventures. I went over to my friend Jeffery's last night to watch the first five installments of the adventures. I've been eager to check these out since Jeffery said he had them.

"In his first screen appearance, the Caped Crusader of Gotham City (belying the lethargic facade of his alter ego Bruce Wayne) battles Dr. Daka, Japanese mastermind of a wartime espionage-sabotage group. Daka has a radium-powered death ray that pulverizes walls, a classic alligator pit to dispose of enemies, and can turn men into electronic zombies who do his bidding and transmit video signals to Daka's lab! Batman has no Batmobile, but there are bats in the Bat Cave..."

It was filmed towards the end of world war II - so there is lots of slanty eyes - and blatant antijapanese stuff. the villian is "hirohito's accomplice" - dressed in cheap suits - with a diabolical laboratory. where he turns good hearted yankees into "jap zombies." It is so out of touch - its funny actually. the kind of funny that we really shouldn't be laughing at. and the story is also written that batman is a government agent - and him and Robin? are FAR to eager to be 'playing' together.

I am not sure if it's netflixable - but - its worth checking out. Good hearted fun - and entertaining to see how "action stories" were filmed decades before special effects and batmobiles....

IMDB Entry Here