IMDb > Batman (1943)
Batman
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Overview

User Rating:
6.8/10   470 votes
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Down 12% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Bob Kane (character)
Victor McLeod (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Batman on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
15 April 1943 (USA) more
Tagline:
A HUNDRED TIMES MORE THRILLING ON THE SCREEN! (original 1943 one-sheet posters) more
Plot:
Japanese spymaster Prince Daka operates a covert espionage organization located in Metropolis' now-deserted Little Tokyo which turns American scientists into pliable zombies. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
NewsDesk:
Batman's Costume To Go Under The Hammer
 (From WENN. 18 March 2008, 8:07 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Fantastic - one of the most enjoyable of the cliffhanger serials! more (31 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Additional Details

Also Known As:
An Evening with Batman and Robin (USA) (reissue title)
The Batman (USA) (poster title)
more
Runtime:
260 min (15 episodes)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
CHAPTER TITLES: 1. The Electrical Brain; 2. The Bat's Cave; 3. The Mark of the Zombies; 4. Slaves of the Rising Sun; 5. The Living Corpse; 6. Poison Peril; 7. The Phony Doctor; 8. Lured by Radium; 9. The Sign of the Sphinx; 10. Flying Spies; 11. Nipponese Trap; 12. Embers of Evil; 13. Eight Steps Down; 14. The Executioner Strikes; 15. The Doom of the Rising Sun. more
Goofs:
Errors in geography: In chapter 5, Bruce Wayne receives a letter that gives his address as Los Angeles. Bruce lives in Gotham City (which is mentioned in chapter 1). more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator: High atop one of the hills which ring the teaming metropolis of Gotham City, a large house rears its bulk against the dark sky. Outwardly there's nothing to distinguish this house from many others, but deep in the cavernous basements of this house is a chamber hewn from the living rock of the mountainside...
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Steel (1997) more
Soundtrack:
If I Were King more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful.
Fantastic - one of the most enjoyable of the cliffhanger serials!, 27 May 2005
10/10
Author: scarletfire-1 from United States

Batman is not technically as "good" as other serials such as most Republics, but I do like it better and enjoy it more than most others. Sure it is too long in the middle with 15 chapters and all, but there is just something about it that really appeals to me.

First of all it is Batman. Second, it just drips with atmosphere. All of the scenes in Daka's hideout are done so well that I can hardly imagine them being improved on. There is a darkened smoky atmosphere to the hideout with its walls covered with Japanese paintings and designs. Can anyone possibly think of a better way to have that set look? The theme music and the scraping sound heard when the door to the hideout opens are very distinctive - though minor elements of the serial, they add incredibly to the sum total of my evaluation.

J. Carrol Naish's portrayal of Dr. Daka is amongst the best acting ever done on film. The character and his dialog are just so fitting as the epitome of a villainous "jap" spy. Credit needs to go to the scriptwriters for dreaming it all up and to Naish for the brilliant execution of it. His lines and the trance like expression on his face as he talks about the emperor being the "heavenly ruler and prince of the rising sun" and freeing the "enslaved people of America" are just unbeatable acting.

Some of Daka's underlings are "zombies". They wear a radio headset receiver which has a wire connected to their spine so he can control them. Sure - that makes sense. This is the best example of serial logic and science I've ever seen. Its the perfect thing to describe to people in order to explain how things work in serials.

Of course Daka's scientific devices are powered by radium! Is it just me or do a lot of super scientific devices in serials run on radium? Saying its powered by radium somehow makes it all make sense.

Daka and Emperor Ming are the two ultimate serial villains. Sure there are some others that were really cool, but no one really even come close to them.

Nuff said!

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