This is going to be fun, looking through all those Universal Horror Stars.
BATMAN/ BRUCE WAYNE: Let's start with the big one. One of the most iconic characters ever. The man who plays billionaire Bruce Wayne and his night time alias Batman, would have to appear sophisticated with a hint of darkness. I'm going to go with Joseph Cotten whose credits go to The Third Man (1949), Citizen Kane (1941) and my favourite Hitchcock film (and Hitchcock's) Shadow of a Doubt (1943. The man has played the "hero" in a few films, often hardboiled, and a villain in Shadow of a Doubt, and Batman is known as the Dark Knight.
ALFRED PENNYWORTH: We're going to totally screw up time here, (it's alright I've done it before!) because Batman's faithful butler wasn't introduced until after Dick Grayson came onto the scene and then he was a bumbling amateur Detective. However we're going to go with the modern interpretation of Alfred, the father like figure for Bruce growing up. This is because it suits those Film-Noir qualities we want for this film. Batman is forever on the edge of darkness and he needs someone to pull him into the light. Therefore we need the Alfred of today. Now who is going to play someone like that. I'm going to choose Alec Guinness, a man who was probably younger than Alfred is supposed to be, but always had the comedic touch that Alfred possesses.
JIM GORDON: Jim Gordon is another important character, being the figure that prevents the masked crime fighter from being incarcerated. Jim Gordon is an honest cop and the man who gives Batman his information, for this we are going to cast Edward Van Sloan as Commissioner Gordon, who played Professor Van Helsing in Dracula (1931) and Dr Waldman in Frankenstein the same year. He was often the wise old man.
THE VILLAINS
THE JOKER: The maniacal Clown Prince of Crime was based on German actor Conrad Veidt's role in The Man Who Laughs (1928))(below), so it seems only natural to have him star in this. He would have been near 50, but he was a great actor with a great face. 
CATWOMAN/ SELINA KYLE: The character who every fan wants Batman to be with, but she is just too far into the darkness for him. It is tragic. Every crime film in the 40s had their own Femme Fatale, a character often played by Lana Turner, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, the list goes on. This was the case of a Dame with a past and a hero without a future. So who should play the infamous Cat burglar... I am going to go with Ava Gardner, who often played the Femme Fatale in films such as The Killers (1946).
TWO-FACE/ HARVEY KENT: Yes you read that right. When first introduced, in Detective Comics #66 (1942), the District Attorney turned Janus faced Gangster was originally called Harvey Kent. Since it is the 1940s we need to have a gangster villain and who better than Gothams' own tragic hero. I had originally wanted Colin Clive (Dr. Frankenstein) because he could often play men teetering on the edge of madness. However he passed away in 1937, too early for my film. I am going to cast Burt Lancaster, who made his debut alongside Gardner in The Killers. I think he has the face for Harvey D--Kent and its my feature so I can do what I want!
Also we're going to have Rondo "The Creeper" Hatton as a goon, because you can't have a 1940s crime film without The Creeper.
THE BATMOBILE: The Batmobile is as much a character as any other in the Batman mythos. Although only introduced in the 1943 serial (not the comics) we are going to have our own Batmobile. In the films they are usually based on real cars so this is going to be
a 1947 Cadillac. Hey we've screwed around with time already, what's one more. They of course have to have the giant Bat-head because that's just awesome.
CREW
DIRECTED BY: The Master of light and dark, director of The Third Man (1949), Carrol Reed. You go watch the film and you want him to make a Batman film. The shadows and silhouettes play perfectly with the story and acting. Plus the sewer scene at the end, tell me you don't want Batman chasing down Harry Lime.
THE SCORE: Yeah, I can't believe I have never mentioned this before, but the score of a film is an important element. Imagine The Lord of the Rings without Howard Shore's triumphant theme, or The Good, The Bad and the Ugly without Ennio Morricone's awesome track. Batman needs a good soundtrack for him to zip-line down to (something I missed in Nolan's films). So, who should I hire to write the theme for my Batman film. Well, it would have to be Frank Skinner (no, not that one) and Hans J. Salter. These two wrote the music for the Universal Horror films, including The Wolf Man (1941), which has a score called Desperation, which sounds so much like the Danny Elfman theme for the Tim Burton Batman films.
So that's it for this week. Batman in the 1940s, we only wish it were real. Next week we're stepping back or/and forth through time and space with...
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN DUN DA DUN
DUN
WEEEEOOOOOOOO
WEE-EEOOOOO
No comments:
Post a Comment