Batman and Robin: Episode 1- Batman Takes Over

"I always have a plan!"

This is the first time I'm blogging a movie serial, and let us be clear about what they are; pure pulp melodrama. Trust me, there's no depth or subtext which we shall be discussing here. This is cheaply written, cheaply made, disposable entertainment. And that's precisely why it can be so much fun.

This is, of course, the second movie serial featuring Batman. The first, made a few years earlier during the Second World War, featured a startlingly racist Japanese villain and, I recall from seeing it on telly back in 1990 when terrestrial telly would show this sort of thing, crocodiles. But I'm blogging this one first for the very important reason that it's on Amazon Prime in the UK and, while Amazon are generally appalling in such matters, actually has subtitles.

This is 1949. The character of Batman is only ten years old but the darkness of the very early months is long forgotten; by 1949 the Batman of the comics is all square jawed and stentorian, for this is the Dick Sprang era. Nonetheless, the crude exposition at the start shows us that all the trappings are in place. We have the costumes for Batman and Robin, cheap and awful though they are. We have the Batsignal, the Batcave, Bruce and Dick, Vicki Vale, Alfred (perhaps the worst here of a number of bad actors) and Commissioner Gordon. And yes, if you ignore the total lack of personality displayed by all concerned in this very functional script, it's a fairly faithful depiction of said trappings.

But the plot... well, some bloke called the Wizard has nicked a "remote control machine" which can control any vehicle within a 50 metre radius. Said machine was invented by a grumpy professor who is distinctly dodgy because a) he's in a wheelchair, this is 1949, and physical imperfection means "baddie" and b) we blatantly see him sit in a chair with funny lights and suddenly be able to walk again. Er, he's the Wizard, isn't he? It's quite obvious, ad they've pretty much given it away already. Anyway, the Wizard has zero charisma, and a submarine for some reason.

Anyway, this machine, for reasons of plot convenience, runs on diamonds, meaning the Wizard has to keep sending his behatted goons to rob all sorts of places where diamonds will be found. I suspect we shall be seeing a lot of this. Weirdly, though, the episode ends with out heroes’ plane controlled by the Wizard and... landing safely, with no real cliffhanger. That was unexpected.

Fourteen short episodes to go...