Batman and Robin (1949) ch09 – The Wizard Strikes Back!

There’s some family drama for Jane Adams this chapter of Batman and Robin, as George Offerman Jr. returns to provide the main story for The Wizard Strikes Back! Otherwise, it’s just Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan goofing off and being lousy superheroes.

Besides watching Lowery’s Batman cape flail as he tries to flag down a car (the mysterious Wizard has remotely disabled his car), the most amusing moment is when Lowery gets he and Duncan’s costumes from the file cabinet drawer. Duncan waits for Lowery to get his own out. Because they have to be together when they change, because Duncan–especially in this chapter–is just Lowery’s sidekick. There are a couple moments where Duncan gets to trouble first then just hangs back for Lowery to catch up. It really drags things down.

Still, the Wizard stuff is fine. Offerman’s better than the regular cast members.

Another dumb logic moment comes when police commissioner Lyle Talbot visits Lowery for crime-fighting advice. Not Lowery as Batman, but Lowery as Bruce Wayne. He and Adams are sitting around the suburban homestead, waiting for their lunch. Why Adams never wonders why layabout Lowery is always so involved… it gives her an impossible part.

Other cast members don’t get impossible roles, they just flub the ones they get. But the writing on Adams’s part is dreadful.

Batman and Robin itself isn’t dreadful. It’s just bad. And endlessly repetitive (but without a lot of repeat footage, it’s just the same serial set pieces, over and over, in different locations).

Batman and Robin (1949) ch08 – Robin Meets the Wizard!

Robin Meets the Wizard! does indeed feature Johnny Duncan’s Robin meeting the Wizard. The masked, unknown (undoubtedly until the last chapter) Wizard knocks Duncan out while Duncan’s on lookout. More like the boy blunder. Wokka wokka.

Other than the chapter title actually referring to an event in the chapter, there’s nothing distinctive about this one. Oh, except Robert Lowery’s Batman teasing and humiliating Jane Adams. Misogyny is cool in Gotham City.

The music, chosen by from existing material by Mischa Bakaleinikoff, is once again rather effective. Bakaleinikoff is about the only one on Batman and Robin doing good work.

For whatever reason, maybe because it’s the “more than halfway” point, Wizard repeats a long sequence with a remote controlled submarine going to the Wizard’s lair. It was all right the first time. It’s still sort of all right here, but it’s clearly a time waster. Batman and Robin is already enough of a waste of time. When it wastes time wasting time it’s excruciating.

The cliffhanger resolution at the open is lifted from the previous Batman serial (without the production values) and the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter’s rather tepid.

Batman and Robin is an unrewarding chore.

Batman and Robin (1949) ch07 – The Fatal Blast

Shockingly, there is actually a blast in The Fatal Blast. Sadly it seems unlikely to be fatal enough, as there are eight more chapters to go. Not even halfway through Batman and Robin.

After the cliffhanger resolution, which is yet another boring one, everyone thinks–as always–Batman and Robin are dead. Even butler Alfred (Eric Wilton), which gives Robert Lowery the chance to tease him.

Then Lowery and Johnny Duncan, out of costume, go visit police commissioner Lyle Talbot–apparently as concerned citizens (again, why doesn’t Jane Adams ever wonder why Lowery cares so much about law enforcement when he’s just a layabout blue blood). That meeting with Talbot just leads to everyone again suspecting Rick Vallin of being the masked villain, the Wizard, but the serial makes sure to throw some suspicion William Fawcett’s way.

Adams does finally ask Lowery–in costume as Batman–why he’s driving Bruce Wayne’s car. Lowery doesn’t have a good answer, so he steals Adams’s keys. But she outsmarts him. She’s got a spare.

There’s more bumping into one another–but not bumbling–thugs, some Batman climbing around outdoors (his only apparent skill in the serial), and then the cliffhanger. With that (sadly non-fatal) blast.

It’s beyond tedious.

Batman and Robin (1949) ch06 – Target – Robin!

Sadly, Johnny Duncan’s Robin is not actually a target in Target – Robin!. The chapter wouldn’t be any more compelling if he were, but it get Batman and Robin moving in a new direction. Instead, it’s more of the same. Tepid cliffhanger resolution, bad acting from Robert Lowery and Duncan, some more costumed adventuring, a quick appearance from Jane Adams, Don C. Harvey giving the only thing approaching an adequate performance.

This chapter has the added stupidity of Lowery disguising himself as a thug (who is in police custody). None of the bad guys notice Lowery isn’t their pal. At first it seems like it’s because he’s got on a head bandage. Then the head bandage comes off and they still aren’t sure he’s not their pal. Maybe there was a missing page in the script where Lowery puts on some makeup?

The serial’s not exactly trying, it’s just mindnumbing. Lowery’s such a bad lead. Duncan’s such a bad sidekick. Adams is so pointless. At least when the bad guys are all bumping into each other running around Batman and Robin amuses.

It’s not even half over and there’s nothing to suggest it’s ever going to get any better. Or even more amusing.

Though, once again, Ira H. Morgan’s day-for-night photography is perfectly good… just so long as it’s not an action shot.

Batman and Robin (1949) ch05 – Robin Rescues Batman!

Once again, the chapter title doesn’t have much to do with the chapter. Robin Rescues Batman. Okay, sure. If you count Robin (Johnny Duncan) hiding until the bad guys leave with the stolen formula then going in and checking on an unconscious Batman (Robert Lowery). The bad guys have this extended escape sequence–Batman and Robin’s secret to serial mediocrity, even with the bad acting from the leads and the goofy costumes, is how well director Bennet paces the action.

It goes on and on. But it’s always active. There’s always something. Except when it’s Lowery and Duncan trying to figure things out. Then it just hangs; Lowery’s a fun kind of bad in costume and an intolerable kind of it as Bruce Wayne.

Anyway. Eventually Lowery and Duncan figure out what’s going on with the bad guys, thanks to Jane Adams. She shows up looking to take pictures and spots the bad guys. Including her brother (George Offerman Jr.).

There’s then this subplot about Adams trying to figure out what to do with Offerman while lead thug Don C. Harvey–who really does keep the serial afloat with his professionalism–fighting with the masked, mysterious Wizard to save Offerman’s life.

There’s a fight scene finishing the chapter. On the docks. Batman versus like five bad guys. He holds his own, which is weird since three of them kick his butt in the opening.

Ira H. Morgan’s day-for-night photography is almost good, but he can’t do the action with it. It’d be nice for something in the serial to actually succeed. Maybe someday.

Batman and Robin (1949) ch04 – Batman Trapped!

Most of this chapter, Batman Trapped, is a resolution of the previous chapter’s cliffhanger. There’s no trapped Batman in this chapter. There’s kidnapped Robin; more on that development in a bit.

After the immediate resolution of the cliffhanger–thanks to Batman (Robert Lowery) having a lot of tree climbing skill–the bad guys decided they’re going to go beat up Robin (Johnny Duncan). Duncan and the goons do a little slapstick chase thing, with the dramatic music sapping away the humor potential, before one of the bad guys slaps Duncan and knocks him out. Not much fighting winning going on for Batman and Robin anymore.

Well, eventually Duncan escapes; he too is an expert tree climber. The goons aren’t expert tree climbers. He goes back to spy on the goons–Lowery is taking his sweet time rescuing Duncan, spending most of the first ten minutes driving. Or climbing trees. The goons are interrogating Marshall Bradford with a lot of expository dialogue. The chapter has almost all expository dialogue, except when Jane Adams complains she never gets to take photographs.

After the goons escape, because Duncan–running around in his tights without his shoes–can’t stop them, Lowery and Duncan go visit Bradford in the hospital. Commissioner Gordon (Lyle Tablot) is cool with private citizen Lowery hanging out. Adams doesn’t question why lazy playboy Lowery wants to lounge around Bradford’s hospital room.

Lowery and Duncan let the goons bug the room and then have to get into costume to try to stop them from stealing a secret formula. They both get beat up again. Really, lead goon Don C. Harvey is so much more likable than Lowery or Duncan, it’s hard to root for the heroes. They’re somewhere between incompetent and stupid.

There’s nothing good about Batman Trapped, other than it moving briskly–director Bennet never lets it drag–although some of the silliness is distracting

Batman and Robin (1949) ch03 – Robin’s Wild Ride

I actually can’t figure out why this chapter is called Robin’s Wild Ride. Robin (Johnny Duncan) does not have a wild ride. Unless they mean when he gets to drive the car for a bit at the beginning. The chapter’s cliffhanger resolution is pretty tepid, but Batman and Robin clearly isn’t trying for thrilling cliffhangers, just something to stop a chapter. Batman (Robert Lowery) takes on three thugs and gets beat up. Duncan gets in a fight with another. He gets beat up.

Towards the end, Lowery fights another three thugs–probably the same three, actually–and does a little better. He still ends up losing because it’s cliffhanger time and the mysterious Wizard is able to zap him through a tire iron with a remote control ray. It’s pretty silly stuff.

In between, the Wizard terrorizes scientist Marshall Bradford with a hologram-type thing. Bradford gets temporarily zonked by the Wizard’s newly revealed superpower–he can mind control thanks to flashing eyes.

Lowery and Duncan are still suspicious of radio announcer Rick Vallin, who once again tips off the bad guys on his broadcast. The one he does from his living room. Jane Adams shows up looking for Bradford only to get locked up in a broom closet by the bad guys. It’s kind of a lackluster response from the villains, as Adams has seen all their faces, but the bad guys don’t appear to carry guns in Batman and Robin. They don’t need to since Lowery and Duncan are losing the fistfights.

Duncan’s got a lot of exposition and, wow, he’s bad. And Lowery looks like he’s sleepwalking as Bruce Wayne. He’s at least amusing as Batman, because it’s silly. All Batman and Robin has going for it, three chapters in, is the silly.

Batman and Robin (1949) ch02 – Tunnel of Terror

Even with Robert Lowery’s exceptionally questionable performance as Batman and Bruce Wayne, Tunnel of Terror is a relatively fine serial chapter. The cliffhanger resolution at the beginning is pretty weak, but then it turns out Lowery and Johnny Duncan have an almost superpower–they can sneak around really, really quietly. And not just indoors. They can also sneak around outdoors.

They let the bad guys get away though, ending up at soon to be prime suspect William Fawcett’s mansion. There they find leading Jane Adams with her foot stuck in the ground. She’s nonplussed by Lowery and Duncan in their costumes, which makes the scene play rather amusingly. Lowery chastises Fawcett for setting traps, regardless of bad guys wanting to spy on him. Then Adams is gone, as is Fawcett, and Lowery and Duncan are after someone else.

There’s a chase scene in a train yard–Tunnel has a lot of exterior shooting, lots of Batman and Robin running around in the daytime–and then a fight scene on top of the train.

Lowery’s not good. Duncan’s not good. Adams doesn’t seem to be very good either. But Fawcett’s all right and henchman Don C. Harvey gives the production a sense of sturdiness. It’d be nice if that reassurance came from the leads, but whatever. Tunnel’s okay.

And some of the music choices (all sourced from other places) are strong. Some aren’t, of course. But some work out beautifully.

Batman and Robin (1949) ch01 – Batman Takes Over

Batman and Robin gets off to a surprisingly reasonable start, even after a spectacularly absurd opening montage sequence. Gotham City is facing an unexplained crime wave; the footage they start with is a dairy hold-up. Then there are some clips from the previous Batman serial, which might be why the chapter, Batman Takes Over, impresses so much (within reason).

The chapter starts with an introduction to the good guys–Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan play Batman and Robin. Both their performances are utterly lacking, but Lowery’s so much better in costume and not trying to emote, the costumed scenes uptick the quality. Then there’s photojournalist Vicki Vale (Jane Adams). She hangs out around Lowery for some reason, even though all he does is yawn at her. Lyle Talbot plays Commissioner Gordon. In this chapter he manages to be too late to save the day but does get to turn on the “Batman signal.” An uncredited Eric Wilton plays Alfred.

George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland, and Royal K. Cole’s script is procedural with all the introductions, which keeps up after the good guy introductions. There’s an action sequence interrupting Lowery yawning at Adams–Adams’s performance seems affable but thin; it’s mostly a car chase, with Ira H. Morgan’s day-for-night photography bringing some charm. After that sequence, which has Lowery and Duncan hanging out in costume with Talbot (this scene is where it’s clear how much better Lowery’s going to be without visible expression), mad scientist William Fawcett gets introduced. He’s wheelchair-bound, but it turns out he’s got some machine to give him back use of his legs and make him into an all-around superman.

Is he the mysterious, masked villain, The Wizard (who gets introduced right after Fawcett reveals he can walk)? Or maybe the Wizard is radio announcer Rick Vallin, who runs his news show from his living room. Actually Takes Over doesn’t hint at Vallin, it just suggestively cuts to him.

The serial’s locations are somewhat amusing. Lowery, Duncan, and Wilton live in suburban home. They go down under to the Batcave, but when they need to get in the car, it’s parked in the driveway. They use the same car crimefighting as they do out of costume. Apparently photog Adams doesn’t pay close attention to visual hints.

Fawcett gets to live in a mansion, however, and the Wizard has his own underground liar filled with electronic equipment.

Lowery and Duncan don’t get much to do on their own. They listen to exposition, they get into a fistfight (winning this one, unlike the previous serial’s caped crusaders), they hang out with Adams. Duncan probably gets six lines. It’s all action, which director Bennet handles okay, usually involving the Wizard’s henchmen. Don C. Harvey plays one of the main ones; he’s good.

The cliffhanger’s okay too.

And the serial has a lot of fun with the Wizard’s remote control device; he can control any vehicle, no matter what size, and maybe even people. If they steal enough diamonds. Because the remote control runs on diamonds.

It’s nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.

House of Dracula (1945, Erle C. Kenton)

House of Dracula is immediately disappointing. The film opens on man of science Onslow Stevens as Dracula (played by a boring John Carradine) comes visiting, hoping for some cure to vampirism. Will Carradine try to seduce Martha O’Driscoll’s fetching nurse? Will something go wrong with Stevens’s cure for Carradine? Unfortunately, yes to both. Director Kenton and screenwriter Edmund T. Lowe Jr. don’t so much have foreshadowing in Dracula as much as they immediately follow tangents.

The film feels relatively tame; I wonder if it was meant for a more child-aged audience than usual. George Robinson’s photography is boring, though somewhat competent–the shadows don’t tell stories or hide monsters, they’re just contrasted well against the lights. There’s no nuance to Dracula. Kenton’s particularly disappointing.

Lon Chaney Jr. escapes mostly unscathed. He has a lousy part but he does try. Same goes for the rest of the cast, with the exception of Carradine. Once Stevens starts to feel the effects of the vampirism, he plays an excellent Mr. Hyde. But Lowe’s script is still lame. Kenton’s direction is still disinterested.

Some of the problem is how uncomfortable the film gets with Jane Adams’s nurse. She’s the hunchbacked assistant this picture, only Lowe doesn’t give her anything to do. Kenton gives her a little more–mostly because O’Driscoll’s just around for the nurse’s outfit’s skirts–but not enough. The film’s in desperate need of a protagonist. It’s not Stevens, it’s not Chaney, it’s not Adams.

In Dracula’s smallest significant role–inciting, wrong villager–Skelton Knaggs does some good work. It’s a shame there’s not a good film here for him to be doing that work in.

House of Dracula barely runs sixty-five minutes. It’s boring from the first three minutes. Nothing so short, so full of monsters and effects and Universal contract players should ever be boring.