Early on in "Batman's Last Chance," tenth installment of Columbia Pictures' 15-part Batman and Robin (1949) serial, supervillain The Wizard informs his henchmen that "Batman has been taken care of...for good!" Of course, everyone knows Batman (Robert Lowery) and Robin (Johnny Duncan) cheated death at the last minute by bailing out of their speeding vehicle just as the Wizard, manipulating a stolen remote control device, sent it careening over the side of a cliff-but therein lies the charm of serial storytelling during Hollywood's Golden Age, where certain death always came with an escape clause. A follow-up to Columbia's Batman (1943) chapter play, this continuation of the adventures of characters created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger was long in coming, and given the green light only after the success of the studio's Superman serial the previous year. Entrusted to penny-pinching producer Sam Katzman--who later oversaw such matinee favorites as It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) and The Giant Claw (1957)--Batman and Robin did little for Columbia's bottom line and the characters would be remaindered afterwards to the comic book page before being resurrected in the 1966-68 ABC-TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Appearing as one of the Wizard's henchman in "Batman's Last Chance" is Hollywood character actor John Doucette, later a familiar face in several John Wayne westerns, as well as in such costume epics as The Robe (1953) and Cleopatra (1963).

By Richard Harland Smith