james_oblivion I've sat through this serial a number of times, trying to understand its appeal, even among hardcore serial fans. It's just very poorly done. Robin seems to be on tranquilizers, and looks more like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer than the Boy Wonder. Wayne Manor is a middle class home and the Batmobile is a Mercury. It's not even black. All of which could be forgiven were the writing remotely coherent. But alas. Take Professor Hamill...a scientist and "wheelchair invalid" (with a nicer house than Bruce Wayne) who frequently, albeit temporarily, regains the use of his legs through the use of a hidden "electric chair" device. We see this process time and again, and Hamill is clearly keeping both the device, and whatever the hell her does whilst mobile, completely secret, even from his servant, Carter. He maintains at all times the illusion of being permanently disabled, for whatever reasons, and would, I guess, prefer to dance the cha-cha by himself (or whatever one secretly does with their legs) than benefit mankind, win a Nobel prize, and make an inestimable fortune with his incredible machine. All of which is incredibly goofy, but nothing compared to the fact that Hamill spends the penultimate chapter openly walking around...in full view of not only Carter, but also Commissioner Gordon, Batman, and Robin. And not one of them notices that he isn't in a wheelchair. Nor, in the final chapter, when he returns to his wheelchair, is it ever remarked upon that, hey, that guy can sometimes walk. Not only does Batman - the world's greatest detective! - fail to notice a wheelchair-bound man, walking...he and Robin also spend a lot of time out of costume, basically doing the same routine as when they're in costume. Including consulting with Commissioner Gordon as Bruce and Dick, in a manner indistinguishable from their consultations as Batman and Robin, except that they spend a lot of time saying things like "Batman asked us to give you this, " rather than just wearing the damn costumes. Considering the fact that Batman also drives Bruce Wayne's car, the guy seems pretty cavalier about the whole secret identity thing.Sure, the action is poorly staged and the acting variously hammy/anemic, but I cannot overstress the degree to which virtually nothing about the plot or character actions makes a lick of sense. In one early scene, the fact that diamonds are stolen, and that diamonds power the "remote control machine" that is the villainous Wizard's primary weapon (see, don't I sound like I'm having a stroke at this point?), is taken as instant and conclusive proof that the robbery was committed by the Wizard's gang, for the sake of powering the machine in question. It never even occurs to Batman - or indeed, to anyone - that diamonds might be stolen for any other purpose.But most of all, above and beyond all else, never let it be forgotten...BATMAN DIDN'T NOTICE A DISABLED MAN WALKING.

thehappysmoker When I was a kid, back in the dark ages, I used to go to the cinema every Saturday morning. There were sing-a-longs, cartoons, news stories, feature films and, best of all as far as I was concerned, serials. They ALWAYS ended with a cliff-hanger, which was slightly changed at the start of the next episode, but no-one cared about that. This one had some interesting bits. Not much was known about radioactivity back then, so when Batman had the ransom money sprayed, so that he can track it, it didn't seem wrong that it burst into flames when it fell on the floor. The crippled Wizard suddenly being able to walk was a bit of a puzzler, too. Now, I am over 70, and have a small collection of the old serials. This is one of the best of the genre.

flapdoodle64 The worst things are about this serial are Batman and Robin's masks, which are indeed atrocious. My experience watching it, however, was that by the end of the 2nd chapter I had gotten used to them, as well as Robert Lowry's gut, and they no longer distracted me from enjoying this better-than-average-late-period Columbia serial.Overall, Robert Lowry and Johnny Duncan make pretty good heroes. Lowry has a good voice, and is handsome when he is Bruce Wayne, and is convincing when he gets tough. There is a neat part where Batman is standing right up straight to a thug and lets the thug punch him in the face, but Batman doesn't even flinch, simply saying, 'that hurt,' and then slugging and knocking out the thug.Johnny Duncan has a receding hairline and looks about 30, but he has a build like a college wrestler and is credible as Robin, despite some ridiculous fight choreography for the character: Robin does a lot of really goofy stuff in fight scenes, like riding a thug's back, and getting on all fours to trip a running thug. I guess the idea was that was a how a kid would fight, but with a 30 year old it's just embarrassing. I just hope Burt Ward appreciated the fight choreographers 20th Century Fox provided him for the TV series.Fortunately, Batman fares much better in the fight scenes, and there are no special Bat-weapons here, just good-old-fashioned fisticuffs, which is appropriate for a serial. (Although it would have been cool if at least our heroes had done some rope climbing or swinging, as there is no such action in this serial).This serial is faithful to the source material (as it existed in 1949), as there is a Bat-Signal, Alfred the Butler, Commissioner Gordon, and a Bat-Cave. Crooks refer to our hero as 'The Batman,' and generally refer to Robin as 'Batman's pal' as though they are too polite to state what they suspect the true nature of the relationship to be.This serial introduced the character Vicki Vale, who is probably the most annoying female character ever to appear in Batman comics. The hapless actress who plays her does not fare well, being far less appealing than Jean Rogers, Noel Niell, or Louise Currie on their worst days. Nonetheless, Miss Vale does play an important role in the story, and so we can tolerate her presence.The villain, the Wizard, is a better-than-average serial villain, but not as good as Ming the Merciless or Lyle Talbot's Lex Luthor. The action is mostly very good, with a nice fight scene staged atop an actual moving freight train at one point (although in an early chapter, our heroes surrender to armed thugs w/o a fight in one scene: this mistake is never made again, thankfully).The cliffhangers are average to good, with a few of the usual 'cheat' escapes. The plot moves along and there is some fun business as Batman employs some low tech deception to protect his secret identity, and other nifty stuff.Overall, the plausibility factor here is average to good for serials, and certainly much better than it would be by early 1950's. 1949 and 1950 featured this serial, King of the Rocketmen, and Atom Man Vs. Superman, which were all very good serials, but by 1952 the average serial was too silly even for a serial fan to enjoy much. So I tend to look at this period as kind of the last hurrah of the serial genre. Also, 1949 was the year that Captain Video and the Lone Ranger premiered on TV, direct competition for the serial's prime audience. This serial is played straight, as opposed the Adam West and Joel Schumacher versions of Batman, yet does not take it self over-seriously like the last 2 Batman movies have done. It moves along at a nice pace yet is not hyperactive.I would recommend this to fans of serials, old movies, B-Movies, and fans of golden age comic books. Modern viewers, used to CGI, ultra-violence, and Batmen wearing fake rubber muscles and nipples will probably not enjoy this, and they can keep their sadistic, nihilistic, self-pitying hero. This serial is more enjoyable to me than any of the last 5 Batman feature length films.

thirteenthfloorelevator there is no suspense in this serial! When one episode ends the acting is so shoddy, the effects are so poor and the script is so awful that the last thing on your mind is how Batman and Robin will save the day. No, in fact, the last thing on your mind is watching the next episode! This show is so boring that I can't see how it ever got made, let alone released on DVD! Obviously the effects are not up to par with contemporary Batman films, but even the script is awful. An incoherent babbling mess about some evil professor and a ray gun or something like that, I am not quite sure, because it is too awful to follow. Watch the 60s version, or the 90's versions, or even Batman Begins, just anything over this version!