Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Am I Missing Something?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Where do I begin? *Spoilers!* (Barely)*Gotham is comprised almost entirely of either scrub brush or empty warehouses. *Batman keeps his costume balled up in a generic metal filing cabinet. The costume itself is of very poor construction and clearly impairs his ability to see. He drives a standard sedan which is indistinguishable from other cars on the road. His abilities as a detective are several steps below a knock-off Hardy boy. As Bruce Wayne, he makes very little effort to conceal his hidden identity.*Robin barely enunciates his dialog and seems completely bored or half awake throughout the entire run. *The villain is comically inept and his goons are even worse. His machinations are confused and almost all of his screen time consists of him standing in front of a large piece of machinery twiddling knobs. *Every single fight scene is a farce that looks as though the actors are improvising it as they go. *The story barely progresses over the course of 15 episodes and repeats plot points liberally. *Batman eventually triumphs only because the 'villains' he fights against are even more incompetent than he.This is easily the cheapest, laziest and least imaginative vision of Batman I have seen and I'm well acquainted with his exploits. Enjoyable only in a derisive, ironic way.

Where to begin...? Lowery as Batman takes a solid shot to the jaw from a stuntman during one fight scene, yells, "That HURT!" and promptly returns the favor. (While this appears to be intentional- the blow doesn't seem to actually LAND-, it's more fun to imagine it was a gaff.)The middle-aged Duncan (who's 30 if he's a day) drops down out of a tree, clearly injures himself, and hops up to literally limp offscreen. Lowery tilting his head back so he can see through the eye holes cut in his mask, which clearly wasn't tailored to his needs. The costume, which clearly wasn't tailored to Lowery's contours, sagging in all the wrong places at all the wrong times. Lowery producing from under his cape a blowtorch complete with gas tank. Duncan as "The Boy Wonder" going prematurely bald as the serial rages... Ad infinitum. So Bad it's GOOD, BATMAN AND ROBIN rates a solid 7 for sheer Entertainment Value.

With the end of World War II, there was a marked change of tone and settings in the film world. This was especially true in that staple of the Saturday Matinée, the Serial. After all,Nazi Germany,Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan had now been defeated. There were no Nazi U Boats, Imperial Japanese soldiers, nor any Axis Spies or 5th Column Traitors to deal with. Now the bad guys would either have to be of the domestic variety of crook. Or, if by chance the baddies were of the international espionage set, their Nationality would have to be kept a secret. Just as before the United States got into the War, the villains country could be implied, but not specifically stated.The second Batman chapter-play did follow all of the above mentioned, using a large number of common underworld types and a secret leader of unknown origin and identity (until the end), who was bent on, what else, world domination.The cast and production team changed as Columbia had Sam Katzman produce it. Mr. Katzman's Production Company, called ESKAY, was known for the frugality of its productions. Much of its output was done at and released by Monogram Pictures. The best known of these would probably be the EAST SIDE KIDS series, one branch of the DEAD END Family Tree.This was the second serial for a comic character;but it was not the first time that it was done. Flash Gordon, Don Winslow, The Spider, Tailspin Tommy, Jungle Jim,The Green Hornet and Secret Agent X9, had all had 2 or more.DICK TRACY leads the pack with four serials. But unlike these others, which may have had one or two changes in cast, the 1949 Batman film cleaned house, leaving no one from the original.Veteran Robert Lowery, who referred to himself as "the King of the B's", was a good choice for Bruce Wayne/Batman. His dead panning of Wayne's dialog contrasted with the so-serious speech of Batman. He possessed the build and obvious athleticism to bring a certain authenticity to the role.John Duncan* had been around doing juvenile roles for several years (including the previously mentioned EAST SIDE KIDS series), and now had matured some, giving him both the youthful appearance and the gymnast-like musculature that Robin would have.Additionally, we have all characters and elements taken directly from the comics feature. News Photographer,Vicki Vale (Jane Adams), Alfred the Butler(Eric Wilton) and Police Commissioner James Gordon(Lyle Talbot) were all characters out of the comic book adventures. They reprised the Bat Cave from the '43 version and added The Bat Signal(the bat emblemed searchlight,Batman summoner of Gotham City's sky), albeit in a sort of vest pocket size.Like many serials, they did employ a hooded mystery man villain as the "brains" heavy you know, unknown but having several on screen suspects to keep the audience guessing for 15 chapters.This was okay, or at least adequate, but begs the question: Why not use one of the great colorful villains from the comics pages? The Batman TV of 2 decades later did so, making the series so memorable.As for THE NEW ADVENTURES of BATMAN and ROBIN, it ranks far above most serials of its Post World War II period. As well as common crooks and masked super villains, it confronted the Super Nova Explosion of Technological Advancement, a phenomenon of which we still have a lot of apprehension.NOTE* John Duncan, now a man in his 80's, still makes appearances a various Film Fan conventions around the country. We met him in a Bud & Sharon Courts promoted event, here in Chicago about 2 years ago. He was most energetic and gracious to the fans (including this writer).

I remember this being shown in serial version as a black & white fill-in for a 70s youth culture show in Australia. It was actually a music and pop culture show, and this was done as a novelty bit; but I thoroughly loved it; and avidly followed the adventure every week. I wish some younger kids shows of today had the guts to try something like that, and reinvent the classic stories.I especially remember the submarine going to the hidden lair of the villain.And also Batman and Robin riding around in the standard convertible. For a while, I started to doubt this version existed, since it never got mentioned in any discussion of Batman.It's this version that caused me to be rather dismissive of the more campy over-the-top TV series (starring Adam West and Burt Ward) that everyone is so fond of now.