BATMAN AND ROBIN SERIAL(1949)
This is surprisingly good! The acting really isn't too
bad and the story is good! Special affects are a little
lacking, but that's to be expected from a 1949 serial!!
And yes, Batman is a tad rotund, but certainly no more
than Adam West was in the famous TV Series!! No
Batmobile, Batarang, Batcopter ect, but still worth
watching! And it's soooooo much better than the
movie of the same name from 1997!!! B+
From Amazon.com:
There's no Batmobile, and Robert Lowery looks a bit,
ahem, well-fed as the Caped Crusader, but Columbia
Pictures' 1949 black-and-white serial Batman and Robin
is up to its cape and cowl in cliffhangers, crime capers,
and good old-fashioned rock-em-sock-em action. Directed
at a breakneck pace by serial vet Spencer Gordon Bennett,
the Complete 1949 Movie Serial Collection's 15 episodes
pits Lowery's Batman and Johnny Duncan as the Boy Wonder
against arch-villain The Wizard, who has designs on a
remote-control device that doubles as a death ray. Jane
Adams's Vicki Vale is on hand to fall into peril at least once
per episode, while Ed Wood regular Lyle Talbot looks on
sternly as Commissioner Gordon. Viewers weaned on
Tim Burton's dark, sleek interpretation of the Batman
mythos will undoubtedly groan over the creaky dialogue
and performances (creator Bob Kane was no fan, either),
but fans with designs on absorbing every bit of Bat-trivia
possible will probably get a kick out of this well-intentioned
attempt at bringing the Dark Knight's adventures to screen.
The episodes are divided onto two DVDs, which offer no
extras. --Paul Gaita