HOME | DD

Description

This is a photomontage I made of what a serious 1950s crime noir mystery thriller Rouben Mamoulian directed Batman film series cast could have been, if Rouben Mamoulian directed Batman in 1940s, which never happened (DC were frankly just mainly focused on Superman in the 1940s with the Fleischer Superman cartoons and Adventures of Superman radio show, and left Batman to languish) but should have happened, based mainly on the original early 1939-1941 dark noir Batman comic books by creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane/Jerry Robinson where Batman was a brutal vigilante outlaw fugitive and Detective McGonigle, Commissioner Gordon, and patrol cops were trying to arrest Batman. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Gregory Peck), Robin/Richard Grayson (Bobby Driscoll), butler Alfred (William Austin), Police Detective McGonigle (J. Scott Smart), Police Commissioner James Gordon (Charles Ruggles), photojournalist Vicki Vale (Tuesday Weld) and jewel thief Catwoman/Selina Kyle (Brigitte Bardot).

Rouben Mamoulian, one of the most underrated of film directors, had directed the early horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) with a serious dark shadowy atmosphere and horror movie elements, Rouben Mamoulian had directed The Mark of Zorro (1940).

Gregory Peck as a rough intimidating vigilante. Gregory Peck had the handsomeness, charm and cockiness of Bruce Wayne and the intimidation and ruggedness of Batman.

1950s teenager Bobby Driscoll looked like Robin and as a young kid/teen he displayed his ability to use a lasso and rope things and people, fight, even drive, etc.

British William Austin was Alfred on the 1943 Batman movie serial and was even whom the look of Alfred in the comic books was based on and William Austin captured the subtle humor of the Alfred character.

J. Scott Smart looked like Detective McGonigle and played a tough talking cop on The Fat Man radio show (1946-1951) and The Fat Man movie (1951).

Charles Ruggles looked just like classic Commissioner Gordon. The Batman series could have shown Gordon's gradually growing admiration for Batman's crimefighting but opposed to the fact that Batman is breaking the law and "making the police department look ridiculous", as the original Bill Finger's Batman stories showed.

Some people are not aware of the 1943 Batman movie serial and that the original early Batman comics were serious with noir atmosphere and just some brief moments of character driven humor, not at all a light campy comedy farce like the Adam West Batusi Batman 1960s movie and show (the Adam West Batusi Batman comedy satire could have also still existed in the 1960s and it would have just been much more obvious to people that it was a Batman satire if a popular noir thriller Lambert Hillyer/Lewis Wilson Batman film series and TV series had existed in the 1940s and 1950s, as the popular spy thriller Terence Young/Sean Connery James Bond movies existed in the 1960s and the Bond comedy satires Casino Royale and Get Smart existed in the 1960s, and the popular Gothic horror James Whale/Boris Karloff Frankenstein films existed in the 1930s and the Frankenstein comedy satires The Munsters and Young Frankenstein existed in the 1960s and 1970s).

Robin didn't even make Burt Ward "holy" puns in the early comics stories or in the 1943 Batman movie serial. Bob Kane explained in his book Batman & Me, "In the early stories Robin was not the punster he later became. Later writers made him into too much of a buffoon. The punning got out of hand."

Batman and Robin were only lightened in the comics because of an editorial mandate. In the early Batman stories by Bill Finger and Gardner Fox Batman broke criminals arms, punched cops, used guns and killed villains in 12 stories by creator/writer Bill Finger and early Batman writer Gardner Fox from 1939 to 1940. Robin killed villains, too, and Batman and Robin would fight and avoid the police. Until Bill Finger was told by editor Whitney Ellsworth to "Never let us have Batman carry a gun again." And Whitney Ellsworth created a Editorial Advisory Board Code of Conduct in 1941 that every writer and artist had to follow which included the rule, "Heroes should act within the law, and for the law." And "Heroes should never kill a villain, regardless of the depth of the villainy."

Batman becoming part of the establishment in Batman # 7 (1941) "The People vs. The Batman" wasn't really Bill Finger's decision. Bob Kane explained in his autobiography Batman & Me, "The editors placed increasing limitations on what Bill and I could do. The new editorial policy was to get away from Batman's vigilantism and to bring him over to the side of the law. The whole moral climate changed after the 1940-1941 period. DC prepared it's own comics code which every writer and artist had to follow. It forbade any whippings or hangings, knifings, or sexual references. Even the word 'flick' was forbidden because the lettering (all in block capitals) might run together."

This is from the transcript of the 1954 Senate hearings showing the editorial policy restrictions that every DC comic book writer and artist had to follow from 1941 to 1954:

EDITORIAL POLICY FOR SUPERMAN DC PUBLICATIONS

1. Sex. ─ The inclusion of females in stories is specifically discouraged. Women, when used in plot structure, should be secondary in importance, and should be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of feminine physical qualities.
2. Language. ─ Expressions having reference to the Deity are forbidden. Heroes and other "good” persons must use basically good English, through some slang and other colloquialism may be judiciously employed. Poor grammar is used only by crooks and villains ─ and not always by them.
3. Bloodshed. ─ Characters ─ even villains ─ should never be shown bleeding. No character should be shown being stabbed or shot or otherwise assaulted so that the sanguinary result is visible. Acts of mayhem are specifically forbidden. The picturization of dead bodies is forbidden.
4. Torture. ─ The use of chains, whips, or other such devices is forbidden. Anything having a sexual or sadistic implication is forbidden.
5. Kidnapping. ─ The kidnapping of children is specifically forbidden. The kidnapping of women is discouraged, and must never have any sexual implication.
6. Killing. ─ Heroes should never kill a villain, regardless of the depth of the villainy. The villain, If he is to die, should do so as the result of his own evil machinations. A specific exception may be made in the case of duly constituted officers of the law. The use of lethal weapons by women ─ even villainous women ─ is discouraged.
7. Crime. ─ Crime should be depicted in all cases as sordid and unpleasant. Crime and criminals must never be glamorized. All stories must be written and depicted from the angle of the law ─ never the reverse. Justice must triumph in every case.
In general, the policy of Superman DC Publications is to provide interesting, dramatic, and reasonably exciting entertainment without having recourse to such artificial devices as the use of exaggerated physical manifestations of sex, sexual situations, or situations in which violence is emphasized sadistically. Good people should be good, and bad people bad, without middle ground shading. Good people need not be "stuffy" to be good, but bad people should not be excused. Heroes should act within the law, and for the law.
www.thecomicbooks.com/dybwad.h…
Those restrictions obviously limited story possibilities and castrated the DC characters in the comics into very bland and generic comics in the rest of the 1940s and the 1950s. DC's Editorial Board was replaced with the creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954. The silliness producer William Dozier adapted and mocked for the Adam West show was in the Silver Age censored Batman comics. But going back to the original version in the early Golden Age would have been a radically different noir TV show.

Description

This is a photomontage I made of what a serious 1950s crime noir mystery thriller Rouben Mamoulian directed Batman film series cast could have been, if Rouben Mamoulian directed Batman in 1940s, which never happened (DC were frankly just mainly focused on Superman in the 1940s with the Fleischer Superman cartoons and Adventures of Superman radio show, and left Batman to languish) but should have happened, based mainly on the original early 1939-1941 dark noir Batman comic books by creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane/Jerry Robinson where Batman was a brutal vigilante outlaw fugitive and Detective McGonigle, Commissioner Gordon, and patrol cops were trying to arrest Batman. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Gregory Peck), Robin/Richard Grayson (Bobby Driscoll), butler Alfred (William Austin), Police Detective McGonigle (J. Scott Smart), Police Commissioner James Gordon (Charles Ruggles), photojournalist Vicki Vale (Tuesday Weld) and jewel thief Catwoman/Selina Kyle (Brigitte Bardot).

Rouben Mamoulian, one of the most underrated of film directors, had directed the early horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) with a serious dark shadowy atmosphere and horror movie elements, Rouben Mamoulian had directed The Mark of Zorro (1940).

Gregory Peck as a rough intimidating vigilante. Gregory Peck had the handsomeness, charm and cockiness of Bruce Wayne and the intimidation and ruggedness of Batman.

1950s teenager Bobby Driscoll looked like Robin and as a young kid/teen he displayed his ability to use a lasso and rope things and people, fight, even drive, etc.

British William Austin was Alfred on the 1943 Batman movie serial and was even whom the look of Alfred in the comic books was based on and William Austin captured the subtle humor of the Alfred character.

J. Scott Smart looked like Detective McGonigle and played a tough talking cop on The Fat Man radio show (1946-1951) and The Fat Man movie (1951).

Charles Ruggles looked just like classic Commissioner Gordon. The Batman series could have shown Gordon's gradually growing admiration for Batman's crimefighting but opposed to the fact that Batman is breaking the law and "making the police department look ridiculous", as the original Bill Finger's Batman stories showed.

Some people are not aware of the 1943 Batman movie serial and that the original early Batman comics were serious with noir atmosphere and just some brief moments of character driven humor, not at all a light campy comedy farce like the Adam West Batusi Batman 1960s movie and show (the Adam West Batusi Batman comedy satire could have also still existed in the 1960s and it would have just been much more obvious to people that it was a Batman satire if a popular noir thriller Lambert Hillyer/Lewis Wilson Batman film series and TV series had existed in the 1940s and 1950s, as the popular spy thriller Terence Young/Sean Connery James Bond movies existed in the 1960s and the Bond comedy satires Casino Royale and Get Smart existed in the 1960s, and the popular Gothic horror James Whale/Boris Karloff Frankenstein films existed in the 1930s and the Frankenstein comedy satires The Munsters and Young Frankenstein existed in the 1960s and 1970s).

Robin didn't even make Burt Ward "holy" puns in the early comics stories or in the 1943 Batman movie serial. Bob Kane explained in his book Batman & Me, "In the early stories Robin was not the punster he later became. Later writers made him into too much of a buffoon. The punning got out of hand."

Batman and Robin were only lightened in the comics because of an editorial mandate. In the early Batman stories by Bill Finger and Gardner Fox Batman broke criminals arms, punched cops, used guns and killed villains in 12 stories by creator/writer Bill Finger and early Batman writer Gardner Fox from 1939 to 1940. Robin killed villains, too, and Batman and Robin would fight and avoid the police. Until Bill Finger was told by editor Whitney Ellsworth to "Never let us have Batman carry a gun again." And Whitney Ellsworth created a Editorial Advisory Board Code of Conduct in 1941 that every writer and artist had to follow which included the rule, "Heroes should act within the law, and for the law." And "Heroes should never kill a villain, regardless of the depth of the villainy."

Batman becoming part of the establishment in Batman # 7 (1941) "The People vs. The Batman" wasn't really Bill Finger's decision. Bob Kane explained in his autobiography Batman & Me, "The editors placed increasing limitations on what Bill and I could do. The new editorial policy was to get away from Batman's vigilantism and to bring him over to the side of the law. The whole moral climate changed after the 1940-1941 period. DC prepared it's own comics code which every writer and artist had to follow. It forbade any whippings or hangings, knifings, or sexual references. Even the word 'flick' was forbidden because the lettering (all in block capitals) might run together."

This is from the transcript of the 1954 Senate hearings showing the editorial policy restrictions that every DC comic book writer and artist had to follow from 1941 to 1954:

EDITORIAL POLICY FOR SUPERMAN DC PUBLICATIONS

1. Sex. ─ The inclusion of females in stories is specifically discouraged. Women, when used in plot structure, should be secondary in importance, and should be drawn realistically, without exaggeration of feminine physical qualities.
2. Language. ─ Expressions having reference to the Deity are forbidden. Heroes and other "good” persons must use basically good English, through some slang and other colloquialism may be judiciously employed. Poor grammar is used only by crooks and villains ─ and not always by them.
3. Bloodshed. ─ Characters ─ even villains ─ should never be shown bleeding. No character should be shown being stabbed or shot or otherwise assaulted so that the sanguinary result is visible. Acts of mayhem are specifically forbidden. The picturization of dead bodies is forbidden.
4. Torture. ─ The use of chains, whips, or other such devices is forbidden. Anything having a sexual or sadistic implication is forbidden.
5. Kidnapping. ─ The kidnapping of children is specifically forbidden. The kidnapping of women is discouraged, and must never have any sexual implication.
6. Killing. ─ Heroes should never kill a villain, regardless of the depth of the villainy. The villain, If he is to die, should do so as the result of his own evil machinations. A specific exception may be made in the case of duly constituted officers of the law. The use of lethal weapons by women ─ even villainous women ─ is discouraged.
7. Crime. ─ Crime should be depicted in all cases as sordid and unpleasant. Crime and criminals must never be glamorized. All stories must be written and depicted from the angle of the law ─ never the reverse. Justice must triumph in every case.
In general, the policy of Superman DC Publications is to provide interesting, dramatic, and reasonably exciting entertainment without having recourse to such artificial devices as the use of exaggerated physical manifestations of sex, sexual situations, or situations in which violence is emphasized sadistically. Good people should be good, and bad people bad, without middle ground shading. Good people need not be "stuffy" to be good, but bad people should not be excused. Heroes should act within the law, and for the law.
www.thecomicbooks.com/dybwad.h…
Those restrictions obviously limited story possibilities and castrated the DC characters in the comics into very bland and generic comics in the rest of the 1940s and the 1950s. DC's Editorial Board was replaced with the creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954. The silliness producer William Dozier adapted and mocked for the Adam West show was in the Silver Age censored Batman comics. But going back to the original version in the early Golden Age would have been a radically different noir TV show.