Batman Movies Part I

In 1939, Robert "Bob" Kane was a young man. He was getting into the comics medium, and was hired to make a new colorful character for a small comics comapny who attained the rights to Superman. (This company would evolve into DC comics, one of the two biggest comics companies ever.) He researched former pulp heroes like The Phantom, The Shadow, and Zorro. (Shadow and Phantom would later be turned into DC comics.) He also researched a DaVinci sketch for a flight machine, desinged like a bat. He watched several horror films: Nosferatu, Dracula, and The Bat. The Bat was his biggest inspiration: the "Bat" is a serial killer who wear the mask of a bat, and a winged cape, and uses a bat-signal to warn his future victims. He came up with the dark avenger the "Batman". A rich kid whose parents were killed in a mugging when he was a child, he disappeared for years, training, becoming a science and fighting expert. He took a cape and cowl similar to the "Bat" and became a crime-fighter, killing numerous enemies in Gotham City. He was pretty cheap in the early comics, not even having the Batcave or Batmobile, just a red car and a closet. But, he proved incredibly popular. He has grown out of the hugely successful comics and into numerous media: TV shows, cartoons (including the incredibly good Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League), video games (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City), and even novels (adaptations of Knightfall and No Man's Land). Batman has  large "Bat-family", including Robins I, II, and III, Bat-Girls I and II, Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Jim Gordon, Ace the Bat-Hound, and Bat-Woman. He also has collected numerous allies such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Officer Renee Montoya, Detective Harvey Bullock, DA Harvey Dent (later the villain Two-Face), and Lieutenant Stan Kitch. He also has (in my opinion) the best villains in any comic book. The psychotic clown Joker, the brutal gangster The Penguin, the scarred and schizophrenic Two-Face, the genius Riddler, the fear-obsessed doctor Scarecrow, the mad doctor Hugo Strange, the love interest/burglar Catwoman, the immortal Ra's Al Ghul, the shape-shifting Clayface, the sexy and deadly Poison Ivy, the undead monster Solomon Grundy, the brutal and intelligent Bane, the mind-contorlling freak Mad Hatter, serial killer Victor Zsasz, the mobsters Carmine Falcone and Salvatore Maroni, the corrupt former commissioner Gillian Loeb, corrupt cop Flass, the animalistic reptilian monster-man Killer Croc, the super-strong Amygdala, the multiple-personality puppeter The Ventriloquist, the psychotic gangster Black Mask, the insane billionair with a god complex Maxie Zuess, the pyromaniac Firefly, the assassins Deadshot and Deathstroke, and the psychotic arsonist Killer Moth. Batman's first real silver screen adventures took place in the 1940's...

Batman and Batman and Robin (1940's):
These films are cheaply made, campy fun. They're about 4 hours long each, broken ino several parts. The first follows Batman and Robin taking down a half-assed, non-comics villain Dr. Daka, a Japanese mad scientist who wats to take over the world. This during WWII, which is why there is such a biasedness towards the Japanese. But, this film actually introduced the Bat Cave (a desk with bats flying around), the entrance behind the grandfather clock, and Alfred's appearance. In the comics he was clean-trimmed and fat, in the movie and comics afterwards, Alfred has a thin moustahce and is lean. The film isn't the best production of Batman, but it's fun and nostalgic. The sequel, Batman and Robin, had another half-assed villain called "The Wizard", and it's just campy fun. I give these 3/5 stars for camp vlaue, but if you're looking for a real Batman movie, don't look here.

Batman 1966 series and movie:
This series is actually intentionally campy. It's hilarious The over-acting and bad dialogue is reminiscent of a B-movie. Adam West is so remembered in the role that he voiced The Grey Ghost in the Batman: TAS episode "Beware the Grey Ghost", the Grey Ghost being Bruce's childhood idol on TV. The villains are hilarious: Cesar Romero as the over-zealous Joker, Lee Meriwther and Julie Newmar as Catwoman, Frank Gorshin as the over-excited Riddler, and Burgess Merideth as the squaking Penguin. The fight scenes re over-the-top and hilarious, with the nonsensical sound-effects. (Bam! Pow! Zocko! Sploosh!) I love the episode where Joker and Batman go surfing and have a beach party. This definitely doesn't take itself seriously. It give it 3/5 stars for camp value.

Next time on the Batmovies marathon, we'll look at Burton's Batman, and the Schumacher Batman.