Batman (serial)

> A hundred times more thrilling on the screen!
>
> Tagline

***Batman***, also advertised as ***The Batman***, is a 1943 15-chapter movie serial based on the DC Comics character Batman, directed by Lambert Hillyer and written by Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker, and Harry L. Fraser. It stars Lewis Wilson as Batman, Douglas Croft as Robin, J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Tito Daka, Shirley Patterson as Linda Page, and William Austin as Alfred. Set during the height of World War II, the serial sees Batman and Robin, secret agents of the U.S. government, defending Gotham City from the schemes of Imperial Japanese agent Dr. Tito Daka.

The serial was produced by Rudolph C. Flothow and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Notable for being the first live action adaptation of Batman, the first of its 15 chapters was released on July 16, 1943.

*Batman* was Columbia's largest serial production to date, and received a marketing campaign equivalent to a feature film. Despite this, it still had a low budget. Many changes from the comics were implemented into the serial, but at the same time some elements from the serial were later adapted into the comics. Rather than adapt the storylines of the comics, the serial has Batman and Robin as agents of the American government who battle Axis Powers agents in Gotham City, specifically the original character Dr. Tito Daka.

*Batman* was commercially successful, receiving multiple re-releases in the following decades. In 1949, it received a sequel serial, *Batman and Robin*, though it featured an entirely different cast. The success of *Batman* was also responsible for inspiring the classic 1966 *Batman* television series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, with a successful 1965 screening of the serial specifically convincing 20th Century Fox to approve production of *Batman: The Movie*.

## Plot

### The Electrical Brain

After arresting two gang members, Batman and Robin are informed that a Dr. Daka will make them pay. Meanwhile, members of a Japanese sabotage ring abduct Martin Warren, the uncle of Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Linda Page. Bruce, Dick, and Linda pursue the abductors' vehicle in a car chauffered by Alfred, but lose them. Warren is taken to the ring's secret base in Gotham City's Little Tokyo district and introduced to its leader, Dr. Tito Daka. He reveals that he has assembled numerous disgraced citizens of Gotham City to help him overthrow the American government and establish the Japanese Empire's new world order. He says he wants Warren to help them, and if he agrees, he will be entitled to the rewards they reap in their conquest. Warren refuses, so Daka injects him with truth serum and forces him to reveal the location of the Gotham City Foundation's radium supply. Daka explains to his henchmen that he needs the radium to power a larger version of his invention, a handheld ray gun that can dissolve anything it hits. Daka sends his henchmen, along with a zombie controlled by an electronic brain implant, to recover the radium.

The henchmen arrive at the Gotham City Foundation, but are witnessed entering the building by Bruce and Dick, who suit up as Batman and Robin and pursue them. Inside the building, the henchmen capture Linda and blow open the safe containing the radium with Daka's ray gun. Batman and Robin arrive and fight the henchmen, who try to shoot them with the ray gun. Batman manages to knock the gun away and he and Robin engage in a protracted fistfight with the henchmen. Batman fights two of the henchmen on the balcony and defeats them, but the zombie strangles him. Watching from his headquarters, Daka orders the zombie to jump off the balcony to his death after incapacitating Batman. The two henchmen Batman defeated earlier then push him off the balcony, while one of the henchmen escapes in a van with the radium.

### The Bat's Cave

Batman falls onto a scaffolding and climbs back up to the balcony while the henchmen try to escape. Robin sneaks up behind the men and attacks them, managing to get the ray gun away from them. Batman and Robin capture one of the henchmen and take him back to the Bat's Cave to interrogate him. The man gives the Dynamic Duo the information they want, revealing he was to drop off the radium to a man with a scar on his wrist at the Open Door hotel. Batman and Robin blindfold and handcuff the man and drop him off in front of police headquarters. With the ray gun lost, Daka tells his henchmen that their first priority is to get it back. He tells them to interrogate Linda Page, as she will know where it is. The henchmen call Linda, pretending to be her uncle, and convince her to meet them at a dance club. Linda calls Bruce and tells him the news, but informs him she was told to come alone. Bruce and Dick, suspicious of this, head to the club as well in secret. Linda is told by a waiter that there is a phone call for her, and while in the phone booth she is knocked out by gas and captured by the henchmen. Dick reports to Bruce that Linda is gone, and the two head to the Open Door. Dick poses as a paper boy outside the hotel while Bruce goes inside. Dick reports to Bruce over a radio transmitter that the man with the scar on his wrist just went into the hotel. Bruce watches the man go into a room on the third floor, then goes back outside and meets Dick. The two change into their costumes and use a rope to climb to the third floor of the hotel. They break into a secret room where Linda is being held and fight the henchmen. In the scuffle, bottles of acidic chemicals are knocked over and shatter, causing the room to fill with smoke. The henchmen escape while Batman and Robin take Linda through the window. Seeing the three escaping by walking across a wire, one of the henchmen lights the wire on fire. Robin climbs down, but the wire explodes as Batman and Linda are crossing it, causing them to fall directly onto Robin.

### The Mark of the Zombies

Batman manages to catch the rope Robin used to climb down, and escapes successfully with Linda and Robin. Meanwhile, when Warren still refuses to join the League of the New Order, Daka converts him into a zombie. Daka plans to have his men rob a train carrying a supply of radium, and in the absence of the ray gun, intends to derail the train with a bomb. One of Daka's men shows him a newspaper ad saying that the ray gun has been found at the Gotham City Foundation and that the owner should call and schedule an appointment to pick it up. Daka knows that it is Batman setting a trap, so he tells his men to show up at the Foundation an hour early before their appointment at 10:00 pm, after which they will rob the train. Alfred dons a fake beard to disguise himself while Batman waits outside the window. Robin sees one of the henchmen approaching outside and attacks him, but is knocked out. The henchman enters the building and meets with Alfred, then holds him at gunpoint, demanding that he hand over the gun. He is joined by two more henchmen who help him search the room. Robin chases one of the henchmen to the roof and stops him before he can shoot Batman. He knocks away the man's gun and tackles him through the skylight into the room below. Batman bursts through the window and joins Robin in fighting the henchmen. When the Dynamic Duo are overwhelmed, Alfred pulls out a handgun and fires blindly into the room, forcing the henchmen to flee. Batman and Robin then pursue them to a bridge where they plan to attack the train. The henchmen plant the bomb but are immediately set upon by Batman and Robin. They defeat most of the henchmen, after which Batman tries to defuse the bomb. However, one henchman knocks Batman out, leaving him lying helpless as the train approaches rapidly.

### Slaves of the Rising Sun

Robin saves the unconscious Batman just before the train hits him by pushing him off of the bridge into the water below, then jumps after him. Assuming that Batman has perished, the henchmen decide to return to Daka with news of their failure. At his headquarters, Daka is feeding his pet alligators and prepares to push one of his zombies into their pit, but is interrupted by the arrival of several of his co-conspirators. He celebrates with them, believing his men were successful in derailing the train and stealing its radium supply. One of his men arrives and informs Daka that they failed in their mission, much to the latter's anger. Daka says he will send someone else to do the job, but the man declares he is done working for Daka because he knows he will lose in the end. Daka calls in two zombies to deal with the man, but he shoots one and holds Daka at gunpoint, demanding that he let him leave. Daka complies by opening the door leading out of his lair. As the man exits, Daka activates a trap door, sending the man plummeting into the alligator pit. Daka warns the others that a similar fate awaits them all if they dare to betray him. Bruce receives a call from Linda, who explains that she received a phone call instructing her to visit a fortune teller for information about her uncle's whereabouts. Bruce warns her not to go to such a dangerous neighborhood, but Linda becomes frustrated and says she will go by herself. Well aware that this is likely a trap, Bruce and Dick head to the fortune teller's shop ahead of Linda. Bruce confronts and knocks out the fortune teller, and finds that he is wearing a hidden microphone and earpieces. Bruce speaks over the microphone, pretending to be the fortune teller, and is told by Daka to prepare to spring the trap when Linda arrives. Bruce instructs Dick to wait outside while he disguises himself as the fortune teller. Linda arrives, and the disguised Bruce warns her that she is in great danger and tells her to leave. As Linda exits the building, she is grabbed from behind by one of Daka's henchmen. Bruce lets the police know to arrrest the unconscious fortune teller, then leaves and meets with Dick and Alfred, who inform him that Linda never left the building. The three run back inside and find Linda unconscious, with the contents of her purse stolen. They see an armored car leaving, so Bruce tells Alfred to take Linda to the hospital while he and Dick chase after the car. The two don their costumes and drive after the armored car. Daka's henchmen boast that the documents they stole from Linda will lead them right to the radium supply, but they soon see Batman and Robin pursuing them and open fire on them. Batman jumps out of his car and onto the armored car, then uses the radium gun to blast a hole through the car's roof. He tries to overpower the driver and take control of the vehicle, but the struggle causes the car to drive off of the road and tumble down a cliffside.