BATMAN AND ROBIN

The dynamic duo!

BATMAN AND ROBIN (15 chapter Columbia serial/1949). Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet. Colorized. 

Commissioner Gordon (Lyle Talbot) calls in Batman and Robin to help him with a sinister foe called the Wizard who uses a remote control device and can even turn himself invisible at times. Also investigating is reporter Vicki Vale (Jane Adams), who hangs out at the estate of always-tired Bruce Wayne (Robert Lowery) and his ward Dick (Johnny Duncan), and whose brother Jimmy (George Offerman Jr.) is a member of the Wizard's gang. Suspects as to the true identity of the Wizard include dyspeptic Professor Hammil (William Fawcett); radio announcer Barry Brown (Rick Vallin); private eye Dunne (Michael Whalen); and Hammil's valet, Carter (Leonard Penn). 

WHO is The Wizard? 

Batman and Robin is one of the best of Columbia's chapterplays, building up real suspense in the final chapters, and featuring exciting fight scenes, chases, and cliffhangers. Lowery and Duncan make a good pair of stalwart heroes, Adams is plucky and pretty, and even Lyle Talbot scores as the commissioner, with Offerman also effective as the ill-fated Jimmy. The Wizard is voiced quite well by Gerald Mohr (of Angry Red Planet). 

Verdict: Despite its obvious absurdities, this chapterplay really plays. ***1/4. 

THE MONSTER AND THE APE

The robot "monster"

THE MONSTER AND THE APE (15 chapter Columbia serial/1945. Director: Howard Bretherton. Colorized.

Professor Arnold (Ralph Morgan) has invented a robot which he calls the Metalogen Man after a material used in its construction. A colleague, Professor Ernst (George Macready of Steve Canyon), covets the robot for himself and uses his trained gorilla, Thor (Ray Corrigan), to get it, and thus begins a battle of wills and counter-strategies between opposing factions to get the robot back,  keep it out of Ernst's hands, and stay away from the paws of the mighty Thor and Ernst's nasty henchmen. Working on the side of justice along with Prof. Arnold are Ken Morgan (Robert Lowery of Sensation Hunters), Arnold's daughter, Babs (Carole Mathews of Assignment Redhead), and the lovably bumbling assistant Flash (Willie Best).  

George Macready consults with gunsels 

The Monster and the Ape is a fair-to-middling Columbia serial with a few interesting elements, such as the fact that the bad guys have an extra entrance to Ernst's HQ via a tunnel in the back of Thor's cage in the Municipal Zoo (yes, when he's not out killing people Thor stays in the zoo!). There are some more than decent cliffhangers, such as the bit with a conveyer belt that leads into an incinerator, and an even better sequence with walls closing in on our hero. Although he's as professional in this claptrap as he is in almost everything, Macready is an odd choice for this material, certainly not a career highpoint such as Paths of Glory. It's amusing that when Ernest disguises himself he doesn't disguise his voice -- surely even ten-year-olds would have wondered about that! Willie Best is forced to play the cowardly fool, as usual, but he is quite adept as Flash. 

Verdict: If you can't get enough apes and robots! **1/4. 

LURE OF THE ISLANDS

Robert Lowery and Margie Hart

LURE OF THE ISLANDS (1942). Director: Jean Yarbrough.  

During WW2 two American agents -- Wally (Robert Lowery of Sensation Hunters) and Jinx (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) -- are told by the skipper (Tristram Coffin) to swim to a Tropical island paradise that may be a nest of Axis agents. There the boys encounter two women: Brooklyn-born Tana (Margie Hart), who hopes Wally will marry her and take her back to the U.S.; and Maui (Gale Storm of Nearly Eighteen), who is only interested in Jinx when Tana fibs that he's a pig millionaire. In this not terribly serious "war" film with song numbers, the foursome have to deal with a Nazi commandant (Ivan Lebedeff) and some Japanese who hope to turn the island into their base. 

Williams and Storm

Margie Hart was a burlesque stripper -- a competitor of Gypsy Rose Lee's -- who tried to kickstart a movie career by starring in this Monogram cheapie, which throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Unfortunately, Hart proved to be barely adequate as an actress. Although she later took acting lessons and did some theater, Lure of the Islands was her first and last movie. However, this is the kind of schlock that Lowery, Williams and Storm could probably do in their sleep, and they make a better impression. Hart warbles the pretty title tune (although she may have been dubbed) and Gale does a very cute number entitled "My Tahiti Sweetie" that boasts some clever and amusing lyrics. Kahala and Odetta Bray are the pretty native dancers and singers. 

Verdict: Another weird low-budget melange from Monogram. **1/2. 

SENSATION HUNTERS (1945)

Doris Merrick and Robert Lowery

SENSATION HUNTERS (aka Club Paradise/1945). Director: Christy Cabanne.

Julie Rogers (Doris Merrick) has an unpleasant home situation with a grumpy father (Byron Foulger), drunk brother, pregnant sister-in-law and so on, but she does have a sympathetic boyfriend in aspiring musician Ray (Eddie Quillan). But things go awry when Ray takes her gambling and the joint is raided, resulting in Julie being thrown out of the house. She goes to work as a dancer at a dumpy gin mill called the Paradise Club. As Ray rises in the world and gets his own band, Julie becomes hung up on a good-for-nothing heel and gambler named Danny Burke (Robert Lowery), but this relationship may only lead to tragedy. 

Constance Worth and Lowery

Sensation Hunters could easily be sub-titled "When Good Girls Go Bad Due to Bad Guys." At 62 minutes the film certainly moves fast, but it could have used a lot more character development. Lowery is okay in the thankless and generic role of the good-looking creep who essentially lives off of women and has little back story. Doris Merrick's part is also under-written, but she does get across the confusion and desperation of her character. Constance Worth of G-Men vs the Black Dragon is excellent as Irene, the lady who runs the Paradise Club and is also carrying a torch for Danny. Wanda McKay of Roaring City scores as Helen, Julie's alleged friend who romances Ray and then goes after Danny herself. Isabel Jewell plays a singer at the Paradise who has seen better days, and Nestor Paiva is a loan shark who is after Danny for money. This is the second of two films that Monogram Studios released with the title of Sensation Hunters. Robert Lowery was the second screen Batman. 

Verdict: Not as sensational as you might hope. **. 

BATMAN AND ROBIN (1943)

Talbot, Lowery and Duncan

BATMAN AND ROBIN (15 chapter Columbia serial/1943). Director: Spencer Bennet. 

An unknown enemy called the Wizard (voice of Gerald Mohr, I believe)  employs a device that can take over control of any moving vehicle from afar. Later he develops the ability to turn invisible and can really get up to mischief! The Batman (Robert Lowery) and Robin (Johnny Duncan) find there are a number of suspects who could be the nefarious Wizard: Professor Hammil (William Fawcett), who may not be stuck in a wheelchair as he pretends; his houseman Carter (Leonard Penn); the inventor Morton (Marshall Bradford); radio announcer Barry Brown (Rick Vallin), who seems to know a lot more about the Wizard's activities than he should; and others.

The Wizard plots

Suspenseful, exciting, and quite well-done in all departments, Batman and Robin is one of the best-ever Columbia serials, and one of the best cliffhangers ever made period. Lowery and Duncan impersonate the Dark Knight and his ward to near-perfection; Jane Adams and George Offerman Jr. are notable as reporter Vicki Vale and her ill-fated brother, Jimmy; and even Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon is better than usual. There is no batmobile in this serial, but we do have the batcave and its entrance through a grandfather clock. Cliffhanger sequences include Batman being forced to shoot Robin; a room that rapidly fills with a deadly gas, trapping our heroes; and Batman falling off of a cliff after being electrofried. The serial also has terrific theme music, although the composer is uncredited. 

Verdict: Far superior to and a lot more fun than the sixties TV show and many of the movies that followed. ***1/2.