Batman: The Movie: 35TH Anniversary Special Edition DVD Review

Title: Batman: The Movie: 35Th Anniversary Special Edition

Region: One

Genre: Campy Comic Book Super Hero Action

Stars: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, and Reginald Denny

Writer: Lorenzo Semple, Jr.

Director: Leslie H. Martinson

Feature length: 105 minutes

Extras: Feature Length Audio Commentary By Adam West and Burt Ward, Tour Of The Batmobile, Featurette, Still Galleries, Trailers, and TV Spots

Languages: English Stereo and English and French Monaural

Subtitles: English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles

Packaging: Amaray Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 32

Sound: Stereo Sound and Monaural Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1966/DVD Release: 2001

Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

The dynamic duo faces the United Underworld in this camp feature film spin-off from the cult TV series “Batman.” Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), The Joker (Cesar Romero), The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), and The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) have kidnapped the Commodore Schidlapp (Reginald Denny) in order to use his secret invention as a weapon to kidnap the ambassadors of the United World for ransom over the entire globe from a pre-nuclear power submarine.

With more “Bat Gadgets” and vehicles than any episode of the TV series, “Batman: The Movie” was originally intended to sell the TV series to the networks, but with the success of the series after the first season, the film was shot during the summer hiatus and then premiered theatrically in 1966 and helped to launch the series world wide.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents “Batman: The Movie” in a transfer that simply is so clear that I doubt the feature film looked so good back when it first premiered on the big screen. The transfer is so clear that it betrays the cheapness of some of the props and other campy feature film production value elements like Cesar Romero’s mustache underneath the white make-up or Batman’s sticker Batman Logo across his chest, or the very textures of the costumes like Penguin’s hat and one of my favorite’s the ever so shaky cardboard still framed closed circuit television in Commissioner Gordon’s office.

The transfer is truly the best presentation of “Batman: The Movie” I have ever seen with a brand new anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and a brand new English Stereo Soundtrack coupled with the original English Monaural Soundtrack as well as a French Monaural Soundtrack with English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles encoded on to the dual layered DVD.

Series stars Adam West and Burt Ward sound like they are having a blast discussing the “theater of the absurd” as West puts it in the Feature Length Audio Commentary Track that is also included on this DVD. They really have a great sense of nostalgic humor while watching the film that is truly infectious. They also add voice bytes in character for the DVD interactive menus, which feature full motion scenes of the film and are easy to navigate. Adam West and Burt Ward also participate in a brand new 16-minute featurette with new-videotaped interviews with Adam West and Burt Ward. The Batmobile’s designer gives viewers a tour of the experimental Lincoln Futura that was the basis for the most popular car in television history. The videotaped featurette runs just over 5-minutes.

In addition there is still gallery of mostly black and white photos “From The Vault Of Adam West”, which is a panic just to see West donning a robe on the set and studio back lot in between shots. There is also a behind-the-scenes still gallery as well along with a full framed (1.33:1) theatrical trailer along with a (1.85:1) teaser trailer and a (1.85:1) Spanish Theatrical Trailer along with a “Planet Of The Apes Cross Trailer” advertising the DVD box set of the classic theatrical quintology.

This DVD is just too groovy to pass up. “Batman: The Movie: 35Th Anniversary Special Edition” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, August 21, 2001 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

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