Originally written April 12, 2017

The oldest Batman movie that a lot of general audiences are probably familiar with is the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie starring Michael Keaton. However, most Batman fans will remember the Adam West Batman from the 60s as the first Batman movie. But then the nerdiest of nerds will know that there was actually a film adaptation of Batman that even pre-dates the Adam West Batman. This 1943 serial is in fact the first film adaptation of Batman, coming out only 4 years after Batman was first created in comics.

Like a lot of early depictions of things, this Batman serial isn’t really anything special to watch now that we’ve had tons of better Batman stories, but it is significant for being the first of its kind and introducing elements that are now common to the Batman mythos. The biggest element of Batman lore that was first introduced here is the Bat Cave, Batman’s secret hideout hidden under his house. After this serial, the Bat Cave quickly became a permanent part of the Batman mythos. There are other smaller elements too, such as the depiction of Alfred. In the early Batman comics, Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred, was overweight, but due to Alfred’s actor in this serial being a thin man, that is how we’ve depicted him ever since. The serial also has many smaller influences to the evolution of Batman that are most clearly seen in Adam West’s Batman character. A lot of elements in that show/movie were influenced by this serial.

So then, many might be wondering which of the many famous Batman villains we get to see him take on in this serial. Is it the Joker? No. Penguin? Nah. Catwoman? Nope. Riddler? No sir. In this, we get to see Batman take on his most famous villain ever…Dr. Daka. Wait…who? Yes, see, while the serial did influence much in terms of famous Batman tropes, it also ignored many that were already established. You’ll find in this serial that there is no Batmobile, no villain from the comics, and Batman is a secret government agent instead of an independent crime fighter. This sort of stuff is quite jarring, because it doesn’t fit with the Batman that we all know and love today.

However, you have to think of it in the scope of the time period in which it came out. This was in the middle of World War II, and so a lot of films at the time were feeding into it. Batman was no exception, which is why we have a Japanese villain here (an enemy of the American people at the time). This can get uncomfortable at times because there are many racist things said in the serial. Luckily, the plot itself isn’t too racist, featuring Dr. Daka trying to steal radium to power a gun that can dissolve anything it hits. As secret government spies, it’s up to Batman and Robin to sabotage Daka’s plans, and that’s really all there is to it.

This is a film that I can appreciate for what it is, but as far as my enjoyment of it…it’s a little low. This is probably mostly due to the serial format. Like I said earlier, we’ve just gotten way better Batman stories over the years, and so when you have a 15-chapter serial that features a lackluster story, it gets old after a while. Altogether, the serial clocks in at over 4 hours, which is just kind of a lot. This is the fourth serial I’ve seen from this era, and I’ve found that the problem with them usually lies more in the middle chapters. It’s exciting to see all of the introductory stuff in the first chapters and the climax/conclusion in the ending ones, but all of the stuff in the middle is just unnecessary fluff. I don’t regret seeing the serial for its historical significance to a character I love, but it certainly doesn’t hold up too well today.

3/5