Few modern characters have captivated audiences and storytellers alike quite like Batman. Ever since writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane debuted the character in a 1939 issue of Detective Comics, the Dark Knight has demanded interest, first in comics, but soon also in TV, games and of course, movies. Because, goodness, there sure are a lot of Batman movies.
It didn’t take long for The Caped Crusader to arrive on film, making his theatrical debut all the way back in 1943 with a pair of Columbia Pictures serial films, and since then, the character’s cultural imprint has grown exponentially, with more than nine actors taking on the role in film – in fact, we’re about to have three live-action Batmen at the same time with the arrival of “The Flash.”
If that sounds like the Batman timeline is a confusing one, it can be, especially once the DC Multiverse opens up.
It didn’t take long for The Caped Crusader to arrive on film, making his theatrical debut all the way back in 1943 with a pair of Columbia Pictures serial films, and since then, the character’s cultural imprint has grown exponentially, with more than nine actors taking on the role in film – in fact, we’re about to have three live-action Batmen at the same time with the arrival of “The Flash.”
If that sounds like the Batman timeline is a confusing one, it can be, especially once the DC Multiverse opens up.
- 3/12/2022
- by Haleigh Foutch
- The Wrap
"Batman" is a 1943 black-and-white 15-chapter theatrical serial from Columbia Pictures, directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Lewis Wilson as 'Batman' and 'Douglas Croft' as 'Robin', based on the DC Comics character, with J. Carrol Naish as 'Dr. Daka', Shirley Patterson as 'Linda Page' and William Austin as 'Alfred':
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Batman"...
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Batman"...
- 1/12/2018
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you're watching TCM in the U.S. and Canada, there's the following: Peter H. Hunt's 1776 (1972), a largely forgotten film musical based on the Broadway hit with music by Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, who was recently on TCM talking about 1776 and a couple of other movies (A Thousand Clowns, Dodsworth), has one of the key roles as John Adams. Howard Da Silva, blacklisted for over a decade after being named a communist during the House Un-American Committee hearings of the early 1950s (Robert Taylor was one who mentioned him in his testimony), plays Benjamin Franklin. Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, a role he would reprise in John Huston's 1976 short Independence. (In the short, Pat Hingle was cast as John Adams; Eli Wallach was Benjamin Franklin.) Warner...
- 7/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
From SneakPeekTV.Com, take a look @ the first film appearance of 'Batman', from "Batman" (1943) directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Lewis Wilson as 'Batman', Douglas Croft as 'Robin', J. Carrol Naish as 'Dr. Daka', Shirley Patterson as 'Linda Page' and William Austin as 'Alfred":
"...'Batman', a secret U S government agent, attempts to defeat the sabotage schemes of enemy agent 'Dr. Daka'...
"...operating in 'Gotham City' at the height of World War II..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Batman"...
"...'Batman', a secret U S government agent, attempts to defeat the sabotage schemes of enemy agent 'Dr. Daka'...
"...operating in 'Gotham City' at the height of World War II..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Batman"...
- 5/23/2016
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Photos Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/ Tm & © DC Comics
Warner Bros. Pictures’ screen pairing of the world’s most iconic super heroes has at last answered the question “Who Will Win?” by winning over movie audiences and setting box office records around the world this weekend with an estimated worldwide box office total of $424.1 million.
Batman and Superman. Gotham and Metropolis. Lex Luthor, Doomsday and—for the first time ever on the big screen—Wonder Woman. With its stellar lineup of heroes and villains and bigger and better battles with even more at stake than the destruction of the Earth, Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is an epic Super Hero journey like no other.
Pit the two greatest heroes in the world against each other and the unthinkable becomes inevitable in the form of a truly seismic clash: Batman, the underground vigilante, a knight in the darkness,...
Warner Bros. Pictures’ screen pairing of the world’s most iconic super heroes has at last answered the question “Who Will Win?” by winning over movie audiences and setting box office records around the world this weekend with an estimated worldwide box office total of $424.1 million.
Batman and Superman. Gotham and Metropolis. Lex Luthor, Doomsday and—for the first time ever on the big screen—Wonder Woman. With its stellar lineup of heroes and villains and bigger and better battles with even more at stake than the destruction of the Earth, Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is an epic Super Hero journey like no other.
Pit the two greatest heroes in the world against each other and the unthinkable becomes inevitable in the form of a truly seismic clash: Batman, the underground vigilante, a knight in the darkness,...
- 3/28/2016
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Happy Batman Day, everyone! Around the world, May 1st may mark a spring holiday, but here, it marks the first appearance of the Dark Knight, in Detective Comics No. 27, in 1939.
For the past 76 years, the Caped Crusader has been fighting Gotham City evildoers in comic books, movies, TV shows, and pretty much anywhere else you can shine a Bat-signal. Throughout the years, Bruce Wayne's alter ego has gone through many incarnations, not just in actors (from Adam West to Michael Keaton to Christian Bale to Ben Affleck, among the many), but also in character, from haunted avenger to squeaky-clean do-gooder to campy clown to kinky prowler to world-weary fighter. He's due for yet another change this week, with the releases of DC's Batman No. 40 -- in which Bruce Wayne and the Joker finally kill each other (or do they?) and a special issue of DC's Divergence, where an undisclosed character...
For the past 76 years, the Caped Crusader has been fighting Gotham City evildoers in comic books, movies, TV shows, and pretty much anywhere else you can shine a Bat-signal. Throughout the years, Bruce Wayne's alter ego has gone through many incarnations, not just in actors (from Adam West to Michael Keaton to Christian Bale to Ben Affleck, among the many), but also in character, from haunted avenger to squeaky-clean do-gooder to campy clown to kinky prowler to world-weary fighter. He's due for yet another change this week, with the releases of DC's Batman No. 40 -- in which Bruce Wayne and the Joker finally kill each other (or do they?) and a special issue of DC's Divergence, where an undisclosed character...
- 5/1/2015
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
When it comes to the world of heroic fantasy, there have been a hell of a lot of really great butlers. We’ve got such luminaries as Ram Singh (The Spider), Bernardo (Zorro), Cadbury (Richie Rich), Ianto Jones (Torchwood), Lurch (The Addams Family), Max von Mayerling (Sunset Boulevard), two different Smitherses (Veronica Lodge and the Simpsons), Fritz Brenner (Nero Wolfe), Birmingham Brown (Charlie Chan) and of course Edwin Jarvis (The Avengers or Agent Carter – take your pick). There were the Green Hornet’s Kato, but that dude was more of a partner/sidekick than a butler, and Jack Benny’s pal Rochester was only technically a butler. He was actually Benny’s arch-enemy.
But head and shoulders above all other butlers, the king of the mountain of butlers is Bruce Wayne’s own Alfred Pennyworth. You can tell from the actors who played him on film and television – Michael Caine,...
But head and shoulders above all other butlers, the king of the mountain of butlers is Bruce Wayne’s own Alfred Pennyworth. You can tell from the actors who played him on film and television – Michael Caine,...
- 4/8/2015
- by Mike Gold
- Comicmix.com
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in ‘Gone with the Wind’: TCM schedule on August 20, 2013 (photo: Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in ‘Gone with the Wind’) See previous post: “Hattie McDaniel: Oscar Winner Makes History.” 3:00 Am Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). Director: David Butler. Cast: Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Eddie Cantor, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel, Ruth Donnelly, Don Wilson, Spike Jones, Henry Armetta, Leah Baird, Willie Best, Monte Blue, James Burke, David Butler, Stanley Clements, William Desmond, Ralph Dunn, Frank Faylen, James Flavin, Creighton Hale, Sam Harris, Paul Harvey, Mark Hellinger, Brandon Hurst, Charles Irwin, Noble Johnson, Mike Mazurki, Fred Kelsey, Frank Mayo, Joyce Reynolds, Mary Treen, Doodles Weaver. Bw-127 mins. 5:15 Am Janie (1944). Director: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joyce Reynolds, Robert Hutton,...
- 8/21/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Superman's tights. Spiderman's mask. Batman's nipples.
When making a movie based on a superhero comic, there’s probably no aspect of production that will invite greater scrutiny than that pinnacle of all things superhero: the costume. And not to stereotype, but let's face it, gay and bisexual guys probably have a special interest in superhero costumes. We certainly have a definite appreciation for the often, um, revealing outfits sported by the male superheroes, while many of us can also appreciate the aesthetic styles worn by the women.
Which means that costume designers have to create a look that will somehow both be true to the source material, but is updated while also looking good on flesh-and-blood actors who have to actually move around in the real world.
One thing that designers have learned over the years is that while many comic book heroes look like their costumes were simply sprayed onto their bodybuilder physiques,...
When making a movie based on a superhero comic, there’s probably no aspect of production that will invite greater scrutiny than that pinnacle of all things superhero: the costume. And not to stereotype, but let's face it, gay and bisexual guys probably have a special interest in superhero costumes. We certainly have a definite appreciation for the often, um, revealing outfits sported by the male superheroes, while many of us can also appreciate the aesthetic styles worn by the women.
Which means that costume designers have to create a look that will somehow both be true to the source material, but is updated while also looking good on flesh-and-blood actors who have to actually move around in the real world.
One thing that designers have learned over the years is that while many comic book heroes look like their costumes were simply sprayed onto their bodybuilder physiques,...
- 8/10/2011
- by Tim OLeary
- The Backlot
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