Among the many details that Columbia's Batman serial from 1943 added to the mythos of the Caped Crusader was the Batcave and the physical depiction of super-valet Alfred Pennyworth, both of which were incorporated by creator Bob Kane into the comic book and daily newspaper strips. The structure of the 15-part chapter play was later carried forward for the purposes of the hit ABC-TV series starring Adam West, with each episode ending in a cliffhanger asking viewers to speculate on the chances of the Dynamic Duo to beat whatever sticky situation the 30-minute mark found them locked into. Helmed by western specialist Lambert Hillyer (who also directed the 1936 Dracula sequel Dracula's Daughter), Batman stamps much of the same terra as the standard shoot-em-up, rife as it is with slugfests, kidnappings, gunplay, and the occasional road chase; the auto pursuit that caps the serial's fourth chapter, "Slaves of the Rising Sun," plays out like a pencil sketch for Indiana Jones' painful pursuit of the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), with Batman (Lewis Wilson) clambering over the top of a speeding truck to drop into the cab for a mano a mano with the getaway driver. Produced during World War II, Batman is unsurprisingly xenophobic, reveling in the exotic tendencies of its Japanese arch-villain (Irish-American actor J. Carroll Naish) even as it demonizes all suggestions of foreignness. For the thick-skinned, Columbia's low budget (but undeniably influential) Batman serial is a fascinating, flawed glimpse into the mechanics of myth-making.

By Richard Harland Smith