recommended

How sad is this?

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

First screen adaptation of Batman is made after just several years of comic-book releasing which caused some interaction between them. Although it was based on comic, it brought in some new details that comic took over later on. The most important thing comic took from this show is Bat-cave. Also, after this show comic changed appearance of Alfred to fit his appearance here.Originally, it was shown as 15 episodes and then, 20 years later, it came to theaters as one 4 hours long movie.Story is extremely simple and naive, characters are two-dimensional and from today's angle it looks totally silly. And yet, it has that something, that comic-book charm appealing to kids hidden in all of us. While I was watching it, I felt the same way as many years/decades ago when I was 10 year old boy, reading comics on summer vacation. In my opinion, adaptation of the comic-book should have exactly that kind of influence on audience, so in spite of all shortcomings I'm giving it strong seven.7/10You can find version of 3 hours and 35 minutes on YouTube.Spoiler warning !Movie was made during the WWII and Batman works directly for the police, trying to reveal Japanese agent that has mission to enable Japanese takeover of USA from inside. Back then all media was poisoned with war propaganda, so fact that this movie is full of racist remarks can be forgiven or at least ignored.Every conflict between Batman and villains is almost identical. Batman finds villain's layer, invades by surprise and fighting begins. There are almost no weapons, no one even uses legs to kick, not to mention something more sophisticated. It's mostly just fist fighting, like in Wild West saloons. Batman and Robin fight against two or three times more opponents and they get fairly beaten when something unexpected happens and saves their asses in last moment, so at the end they end up victorious. Villains all wear hats and during the fights those hats never fall off their heads.Because of low budget there is no Bat-mobile and almost no gadgets.

This is by far the best Batman production since the original comic books. The realism is not matched, even in Nolan's films. For the time, no ALL TIME, the cinematography is brilliant! Constant plot twists and profoundly touching dialog between Batman and Robin make this truly the only Batman film worth watching. Subtle nods to the crime stories (spoiler - like the gangsters constantly picking up their hats when they get knocked off) are there if you look for them. Its goodIts Great!Watch it!!On second thought Batman and Robin of 1997 was marginally better.

I've seen parts of Batman, (the 1943 version) wow and I've noticed the way DC is drawing him now! makes me wonder if theve gone back and doing Batman the way Lewis Wilson was built, the black bat on his chest and all, wow, ill admit there's no batmobile in this very first movie about the dynamic duo but hey ya cant have everything !laugh out loud! Dauglas Croft is pretty good as Robin, caurse in each incarnation hes always been more of the TEEN wonder than boy wonder! AND the way Lewis Wilson and Dauglas Croft actually take off there masks while still in costume! now thats something you only see them do in the comic books! but wow, Im impressed, as far as im concerned guys Lewis Wilson was the ultimate and definite Batman at least for that era!

When the 20th Century-Fox TV series "Batman" made its debut, the serial was already playing in special release. Hugh Hefner had booked the serial for his Playboy Club theater in Chicago, and was so pleased with the results from his key-club members (some of whom laughed, some of whom were nostalgic, but all of whom enjoyed the picture) that he had it booked into a public theater downstairs. Based on this, Columbia Pictures put together "An Evening with Batman and Robin", and four-walled (in exclusive screenings at mostly Art Houses) it around the country. The timing of the series and serial was co-incidental. The details of this period are covered in articles in both FILMFAX and EXTRA ADDED ATTRACTIONS magazines.