Batman: The Movie: Special Edition Blu-ray Disc Review

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Title: Batman: The Movie: Special Edition

Media: Blu-ray Disc

Region: A

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, Commentary By Screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr., Isolated Score Track In DTS-HD MA, Batman: A Dynamic Legacy Featurette, Caped Crusaders: A Heroes Tribute Featurette, Gotham City’s Most Wanted Featurette, 2001 Featurette Interactive Tour Of The Batmobile, Batman On Location: Mapping The Movie, Trivia Track, Still Galleries, Trailers, Blu-ray Previews

Languages: English DTS Digital HD 5.1 Master Audio Lossless Theatrical Surround Sound and English and French Language Monaural Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin Language Subtitles

Packaging: Elite Blue BD Case

Chapter Stops: 32

Sound: DTS Digital HD 5.1 Master Audio Lossless Theatrical Surround Sound and Monaural Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1966/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera AKA The Brooklyn Critic

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 worldwide.

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 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 widescreen (1.85:1) 1080p high definition transfer and a brand new English DTS Digital HD 5.1 Master Audio Lossless Theatrical Surround Sound Soundtrack that is surprisingly full considering the age of the film. It is coupled with the original English Monaural Soundtrack as well as a French Monaural Soundtrack with English Subtitles For The Deaf Ad Hearing Impaired and Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin Language Subtitles encoded on to the 50 gigabyte dual layered Blu-ray Disc.

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 Blu-ray Disc along with a commentary track by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. who pretty much discusses how he delivered on the page the essence of not only what the producers wanted for the film, but stayed true to what the comic had become at that time. They really have a great sense of nostalgic humor while watching the film that is truly infectious. Adam West and Burt Ward also participate in a 16-minute featurette. Also included in high definition are the excellent featurettes Batman: A Dynamic Legacy (28:09), Gotham City’s Most Wanted (15:57), and 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 (5:47). While not quite as fluid as the interactive tour of the Enterprise found on and I am presuming will be carried over the eventual Blu-ray Disc release of Star Trek: The Original Series Remastered: Season One, the tour of the Batmobile does give Blu-ray users the ability to examine the various components up close and read data as well as study the photographic details. The car presented here as the Batmobile is a Ford car. What you can’t do here that you can on the Enterprise is move from section to section without zooming out first. Thus despite the fantastic 180 degree interactive presentation, the zooming in and out over and over again while music from the film is heard becomes a bit tedious after awhile. Still though, this is an excellent bonus feature and as a whole I think of all the Blu-ray Discs released this summer to coincide with the release of The Dark Knight, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s Batman: The Movie: Special Edition is the best of them thus far.

In addition there are still galleries of mostly black and white photos such as “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. The interactive press book, poster and production still galleries are also presented along with a behind-the-scenes still gallery as well along with a full framed (1.33:1) theatrical trailer (3:06) along with a (1.85:1) teaser trailer (1.38) and a (1.85:1) Spanish Subtitled theatrical trailer (3:06). Other viewing options include a map feature detailing the locations in the film with information on their fictional Gotham City location. There is also a trivia track and an isolated score track in DTS-HD MA.

A reel of Blu-ray Disc previews (6:38) that precede the main menu for titles available from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment include Jumper, The Day After Tomorrow, and Independence Day wrap up the extra value features on this Blu-ray Disc release.

Batman: The Movie: Special Edition is available on Blu-ray Disc now from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

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