True or False Face (9 Mar. 1966)

False Face traps Batman and Robin, and binding them to a subway track just minutes before a train is scheduled to come by.

Director:

William A. Graham

Writers:

Stephen Kandel, Bob Kane (characters)

Stars:

Adam West, Burt Ward, Alan Napier

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Adam West	...	Batman / Bruce Wayne
Burt Ward	...	Robin / Dick Grayson
Alan Napier	...	Alfred
Neil Hamilton	...	Commissioner Gordon
Stafford Repp	...	Chief O'Hara
Madge Blake	...	Aunt Harriet Cooper
Malachi Throne	...	False Face / Armord Truck Guard #2 (as ?)
Myrna Fahey	...	Blaze
Billy Curtis	...	Midget
Joe Brooks	...	Fat Man
Chuck Fox	...	Thin Man
S. John Launer	...	Mr. Ladd
Patrick Whyte	...	Curator

Storyline

False Face traps Batman and Robin, and binding them to a subway track just minutes before a train is scheduled to come by.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to houdini | character name in episode title

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Family | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 March 1966 (USA)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Greenway Productions, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Blaze was originally intended for 'Angie Dickenson'. For unspecified reasons, she was unable to appear.

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Quotes

Robin: This time it'll cost you a big penalty, False Face. We're going to withdraw you from circulation and deposit you in jail!

User Reviews

Fighting a Faceless Foe in Merry, Olde Gotham.

BREAKING onto the Dolldrum-bound Mid 1960's Entertainment scene like an exploding Super Nova. The BATMAN TV Series (Greenway/20th Century-Fox/ABC TV Network, 1966-68) rose right to the top of the heap and had a spectacular, if somewhat abbreviated joy ride as America's most unique weekly show. The playing of the episodes as being so serious as to evoke laughter, as well as the application of what they referred to as "Camp" Humor made for a hybrid of series types which introduced a large portion of the nation to a character who they weren't familiar with. Others, in their Teens and about up to the age of about Forty, were reunited with an old friend; albeit in a somewhat variant form.

OF the two above-mentioned groups, our family fit neatly into the second group; even going to the head of the class, for we had been reading Comics featuring Batman and other Super Hero types for nearly a decade. (That was a lot of time in a short life!) The Ryan Kids needed no reintroduction to some feature that we were still loyally following. Once we got what past the initial shock of the "Camp" aspect of the show and understood that, much like so many great literary works, the series was to be viewed and taken on two levels. The kids would see it as a straight forward sort of Costumed Crime-fighter saga; whereas the "Old Folks" would see it as amusing, if not hilarious.

DEVELOPING a series for Television would from a Comics Magazine Feature that was 27 years old (in 1966) would seem to have the need to adapt much of its stories, villains and situations prefabricated on the printed page. The Batman series surely did that. They stuck ever so closely to the costumes, main characters, recurring foes and the setting of mythical Gotham City.

THEIR efforts in bridging the gap between the Comics Page to the Video Tube were particularly well executed with their rendering of the bad-guys. In total, we had seven of the Bat-Foes who had their beginnings in the pages of BATMAN COMICS or DETECTIVE COMICS. They are Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze and False Face.

OUR last entry, False Face, was the least known character, having been featured in only one story, "The Menace of False Face", BATMAN Comics # 113, dated February, 1958. The story, much like the Broadcast version, introduced us to not the usual costumed foe, but a sort of human chameleon, who could show up anywhere as another person; the ability not the product of some special power, but rather an end product of make up and other impersonational skills. Much like the vast majority of the more well established Batman baddies; there are no super powers involved. (Much like old Cowl Head, himself).

NOW for the first half of the False Face Two Parter, which they called "True or False Face", which featured Special Guest Villain, Mr. Malachi Throne; we proudly present an actual, real live review. .

GOTHAM City is threatened by a new crime wave, which is much more of the unusual than previous lawless rampages; for this time, no face could be put to the mastermind thug, at least no one face. Much like our modern Fighting Forces, including Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara and the Lawmen of Gotham City were in a struggle with unknown foes, who operated much in the same way as a modern terrorist. Making use of the lack of any uniform strike from anywhere, but if caught expect civil Geneva Convention treatment. There is an interesting comparison to be made.

FOLLOWING the usual first crime that alerts the Police that they need the extracurricular heap of helpfulness of the Dynamic Duo, False Face starts his reign of terror. Eluding capture using his make up skills and proficiency in rapidly executing the change, the super "fast change artist" quickly piles up a string of successful robberies.

IN support of the master crook is a gang of quite varied henchmen. The gang members are skilled in giving proper support to the boss by means of an eerie and perverse application of the psychological ploy of Role Playing. In effect, False Face had a sort of traveling Stock Company of Actor-Crooks.

AT the conclusion of this episode, the Batman & Robin Team was trapped by False Face, who had them rendered helpless, being tied to the rail of a Gotham Subway train. The usual fade out spoken by Producer William Dozier asked "Will this be the End of Batman & Robin? Etc., etc., …..Tune in Tomorrow, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel! And remember, THE WORST IS YET TO COME!" AND We (Schultz and Meself) say. "Be Sure You Read Our Next Review, HOLY RAT RACE which follows (or at least it will when we finish this and write and submit it).

POODLE SCHNITZ!!