Batman (1966)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1966
Running Times: 105 mins
Format: colour
Ratio:
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Twentieth Century Fox / Greenlawn Productions / William Dozier Productions
Producer: William Dozier
Associate Producer: Charles B. Fitzsimons

SCRIPT
Screenplay: Lorenzo Semple Jr
TV Series: ABC TV
Characters: Bob Kane, Bill Fingers

DIRECTION
Director: Leslie H. Martinson

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Howard Schwartz
2nd Unit Director of Photography: Jack A. Marta
Aerial Photography: Nelson Tyler
Gaffer: Bill Neff (uncredited)
Colour: Deluxe Laboratories

EDITING
Editor: Harry W. Gerstad

MUSIC
Music: Nelson Riddle
Orchestrator: Gil Grau

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: L.B. Abbott

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Directors: Jack Martin Smith, Serge Krizman
Main Title Designer: Richard Kuhn
Main Titles: National Screen Service

OTHER CREW
Batboat: Glastron

LOCATIONS
Locations: Santa Barbara, California, USA

CAST
Adam West (Batman / Bruce Wayne)
Burt Ward (Robin / Dick Grayson
Lee Meriwether (The Catwoman / Kitka)
Cesar Romero (The Joker)
Burgess Meredith (The Penguin)
Frank Gorshin (The Riddler)
Alan Napier (Alfred)
Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon)
Stafford Repp (Chief O'Hara)
Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet Cooper)
Reginald Denny (Commodore Schmidlapp)
Milton Frome (Vice Admiral Fangschliester)
Gil Perkins (Bluebeard)
Dick Crockett (Morgan)
George Sawaya (Quetch)
Sterling Holloway (Colonel Terry - uncredited)
Teru Shimada (Japanese delegate - uncredited)
Ivan Triesault (uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

Batman's arch-enemies, The Catwoman, The Joker, The Riddler and The Penguin join forces to form The United Underworld, a criminal conspiracy dedicated to disposing of Batman and Robin. With a stolen dehydrator device which can drain all moisture from the human body, the gang attack the offices of the United Nations Security Council and reduce all nine members to dust. Can Batman and Robin save the day?

CAPSULE REVIEW

A gloriously silly big-screen spin-off from the ever-popular TV series, this pits the show's most popular villains against the Dynamic Duo in a ludicrous plot to take over the world. A fabulous product of its time this has it all - daft jokes, garrish colours and some of the slyest homo-erotic references ever. It's a damn sight better than the tawdry Joel Schumacher Batmans of the 1990s which seemed hell-bent on recreating the madness of this outing on a bigger budget. They failed but this remains a triumph.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Video / Laserdisc Distributor: Fox Video

Finland
Rating: K-8

France
Rating: U

Sweden
Rating: 11

UK
Rating: U

1966
July
30: USA - world premiere in Austin, Texas

December
9: Finland - theatrical release
24: Sweden - theatrical release

For the first time on the motion picture screen in color! Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin together with all their fantastic derring-do and their dastardly villains, too!

Batman hält die Welt in Atem - German title
Batman: The Movie - US video advertising title
Lynvingen - Norwegian title

SEE ALSO
The Batman (1943)
Batman (1966 - 1968)
Batman and Robin (1949)
Batman and Robin (1964)
Batman Fights Dracula (1967)
James Batman (1967)
The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988)
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns (1992)

MAGAZINES

Bild & Bubbla no.147 (December 1999) pp.36-42
article (Batman pĺ film by David Haglund)

Diário de Notícias 22 May 1999 p.55
review

FilmMagasinet August / September 1995 p.75
review (by Dag Tufte)

BOOKS

Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Science Fiction p. 248
review, credits

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.34
credits, review

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.26
credits

superheroes; batman; dc comics; comics into film; submarines; united nations; mansions; missiles; cars; boats; cats; secret headquarters; helicopters; kidnapping; oceans; yachts; motorcycles; batman