At the conclusion of Batman and Robin's third chapter, "Robin's Wild Ride," the Caped Crusader (Robert Lowery) is electrocuted long distance by The Wizard, as he attempts to stop the supervillain from acquiring the formula for an industrial energy source that would give him unprecedented power. With Batman incapacitated, much of Chapter 4, "Batman Trapped!" belongs to Robin (Johnny Duncan), who allows himself to be taken by the Wizard's thugs to a remote hiding place. To stand for the sticks beyond Gotham City, Columbia relied on the Iverson Ranch near Chatsworth, California. Opened for business in 1912, the 500-acre property provided a backdrop for movie westerns major (John Ford's Stagecoach, Raoul Walsh's They Died with their Boots On) and minor (many a matinee shoot-em-up starring Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, and Roy Rogers) for decades, while also standing in for northern Africa in Sahara (1942), China in The Good Earth (1937), and the Holy Land in such silent era Biblical epics as Ben Hur: A tale of the Christ (1925), King of Kings (1927), and Noah's Ark (1928). Playing the minor part of Wizard henchman Evans is Greg McClure, a Hollywood bit player more famous for his off-camera life. A bodybuilder, Hollywood gym owner, and nudist, McClure had won the role of boxing legend John L. Sullivan in United Artists biopic The Great John L. (1945), costarring Linda Darnell, but further film roles (and a chance to inherit the mantle of Tarzan from Johnny Weissmuller) were hampered by military service in World War II and admitted Communist sympathies, which forced his retirement in 1951.

By Richard Harland Smith