This is a 15 episode serial based on the Bob Kane comic. It wasn't the first version of Batman brought to the big screen. In 1943, there was another serial that had Japanese villains. This one is pretty innocuous, and also pretty forgettable. I am almost completely ignorant of the medium of serials. The only other one I've seen is Feuillade's Les Vampires, which is strikingly similar in form, even though made much earlier and in France. American serials are generally known for their cheesiness, their quick pacing and their cliffhangers. If I've gotten that stereotype correctly, Batman and Robin is a perfect example of the form. Some of the cheapness is a lot of fun. Like you notice the one bat that is perpetually flying around in circles in the bat cave. You think he'd die of exhaustion after a while. Vicki Vale appears. While she was in the comic books before this, Bob Kane only incorporated her as a main character after this serial (though he based his design on Marilyn Monroe). Vale here feels a lot like Superman's Lois Lane (I can't say which character in this form was first; I don't know enough about their relative histories to say for sure). It's fun how difficult a time Batman and Robin have at keeping their identities. Half the time Batman is visiting Commissioner Gordon as Bruce Wayne, and he keeps having to tell people that Batman wants him to convey certain information. The best moment in the series comes when Vicki Vale pulls up behind Bruce Wayne's car (the Batmobile does not exist in this version) and Batman and Robin pop out. "Does Bruce Wayne know you're driving his car?" Vicki asks. Without a pause, Batman replies: "Of course he does." Their capes and costumes always get in the way when they're fighting. One time Batman's cape almost pulls him down, and he's often shifting his mask so he can see better. I wish the villain had been one of the familiar faces from the Rogues Gallery (which literally appears in the serial as a filing cabinet). Instead we have "the Wizard", a dull guy in a black hood and cloak. The serial as a whole is amusing, but hardly worth spending four and a half hours watching.
Review of Batman and Robin
