Dark Knight Rises?: The amazing exploits of Pinoy Batmen

MANILA, Philippines - Victor Wood once played Batman. No, this isn’t in some weird time warp where an alternative history of cinema exists; it actually happened: our country’s “Plaka King,” whose voice you hear booming in stereos during early Sunday mornings, donned the caped crusader’s spandex in Fight Batman Fight! (Romeo N. Galang, 1973). He fought goons with Robin (Roderick Paulate) and Batgirl (the starlet aptly named Pinky Montilla) on his side. It was a smorgasbord of the DC Comics’ iconic superhero, all whittled down to rowdy Pinoy sensibilities. And although these were unauthorized adaptations, Fight Batman Fight! was just one of the many Batman films that were released during the boom of the parody and superhero film era.

“Yung time na yun nauso yung fantasy films, lalo na nung ‘70s. ‘60s lumabas yung first Captain Barbel films and yung mga Darna films. Eto rin kasi yung kasikatan ng Batman TV series ni Adam West,” recounts Simon Santos on his blog Video 48.

Batwoman and Robin: Jun Aristorenas directed a trilogy of Batwoman and Robin films that starred the 70s queen of Pinoy action, Virginia and her son Robin “child wonder” Aristorenas.

Santos’ Video 48 blog and video store has been the cinephile’s haven for movies and their respective ads during the early years of Philippine cinema. It’s at Video 48 where curiosities such as Fight Batman Fight come to light.

Prior to Wood’s vehicle, other actors such as Jing Abalos, Bob Soler and even Dolphy have tried on the Batman role. It was Bob Soler who first played Batman in the 1965 film Alyas Batman at Robin produced by Fernando Poe Jr.’s D’lanor Productions. Lou Salvador played Soler’s sidekick Robin, and Nova Villa as the probable damsel in distress. The film was also based on Romy Espiritu and Marcelo Isidro’s horror komiks serial. Its poster reeks of B-movie formula: a mad doctor carries an unconscious woman in his arms while a giant spider lurks in the background and just below them is a sinister-looking Chinese guy. Soler and Salvador even had their own Batmobile, which was displayed in several theater lobbies during the screenings.

Fight Batman Fight: Victor Wood starred as Batman in Fight Batman Fight!

The same year also saw Dolphy’s James Batman, a film in which he played both James Bond and Batman at the same time. A criminal organization called CLAW (led by another sinister-looking Chinese guy) threaten to detonate an atom bomb and both James Bond and Batman are summoned to overthrow this evil plot. What follows is the trademark of any Dolphy comedy: boobs, slapstick humor, bouts of fighting here and there (set to Carding Cruz’s magnificent albeit stolen score), and more slapstick humor, all wrapped up in Dolphy’s wry mix of parody and uptempo relevance. James Batman has delighted and astounded critics and film scholars all over the world. Right now, it only exists in YouTube clips and a bad VCD copy.

Of all the Batman films released in this period, it’s Jing Abalos’s Batman Fights Dracula (1967) that seems to be lusted over by film fans around the world. Abalos plays Batman while Dante Rivero plays Dracula. This film has inspired several film scholars to try to rescue it from obscurity, but no success yet. In the IMDB page of the film, a lone review exists, written by “junkmail-5” of Chicago. Dubious in every way, junkmail-5 gives Batman Fights Dracula a 10/10 rating saying “The pure, undeniable genius of the simplicity of this film is staggering; The concept of a city’s greatest superhero, Batman, combating a universal and eternal villain, Dracula, seems simple to the observer but, in fact, makes for a spectacular mind-altering experience.” It’s all strange, given the premise of the film and the reviewer’s glowing words but many people and enthusiasts of the film doubt whether junkmail-5 has truly seen it.

James Batman: Dolphy’s James Batman is one of the most popular Pinoy Batman films. He plays both James Bond and Batman in this movie.

From 1972 to 1973, Jun Aristorenas released a trilogy of Batman films: Batwoman and Robin (1972), Batwoman and Robin Meet the Queen of the Vampires, and Johnny Joker (1973). The films star Robin Aristorenas as Robin and ‘70s queen of action movies, Virgina, as Batwoman. Jun Aristorenas played the Joker in the third film. Born out of the success of the Darna films, Batwoman’s lady figurehead has launched two sequels, which can only mean that the first film was successful. That, or Aristorenas was just too persistent about making stars out of the mother-and-son tandem.

Like Batman Fights Dracula, these films are nowhere to be found. However ridiculous these films may sound, they’re still an important artifact of our cinematic heritage. “Sayang lang na karamihan ng mga pelikulang ito eh nawala na. Hindi natin ma-judge kung anong klaseng pelikula yung mga ito. Kung meron man mga kopya ng mga films na ito hindi alam kung nasaan,” says Santos.

Tailing these ragtag bunch of Batman films is the Joey De Leon starrer Alyas Batman en Robin. With De Leon as Bruce Wayne and Kimpee De Leon as Robin (his “R” logo in his costume is Regal Films’ “R” emblem. Nice one, Mother Lily), the film is an explosion of action scenes, musical sequences, and a whole lot of slapstick humor. It has some of the funkiest musical numbers to ever grace a superhero flick.

Here’s an example of the lyrics from one of the film’s Beach Boys-esque funk lowdowns:

Batman Fights Dracula: While it reeks of B movie proportions, Batman Fights Dracula is one of the most talked about and much lusted over Batman films.

Holy smoke, Batman and Robin

Oh my God! Batman and Robin

Praise the Lord, Batman and Robin

Shoot na shoot, Batman and Robin

Let’s do Bruce Wayne now and Dick Grayson now

They are all a part of me…

Tony Reyes’ Alyas Batman en Robin approximates the whole populist take of Pinoy Batmen. These films, with varying degrees of parodies, B-horror shtick and purely Pinoy humor, may have catered to the general viewing public’s lowbrow tastes, but they showcase the Filipino ingenuity when it comes to having an insanely good time at the movies.

“Form of outlet natin yung mga pelikulang tulad nito. Minsan gumagawa talaga sila ng mga fantasy films para malimutan ng mga manonood yung mga problema nila. Konsiderasyon talaga ng mga producers sa paggawa ng mga pelikula kung ano yung patok sa mga masa. Hindi mo rin talaga masasabi na talagang basura yung mga pelikulang ganito. Pinapakita nila kung ano tayo as Pinoys,” says Santos.

Alyas Batman at Robin: Alyas Batman at Robin is perhaps the first Filipino Batman film.