Batman 1946 by Orson Welles - What if?

According to a widely-believed internet rumor, master filmmaker Orson Welles himself once planned to make a dark, film noirish big screen adaptation of the Caped Crusader more than a decade before Tim Burton was even born. Though this speculation has since been proven to be a hoax, it remains an enormously fascinating idea.

Meshing the coming attractions of Citizen Kane with the 1943 Batman serial, I have endeavored to produce an example of what the trailer for such a film might have looked like.

Music by Bernard Herrmann

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[Daniel Head]

orson welles could have made a great batman

[Skull10]

Without a doubt.

[Hudsucker94]

Rumour was, They were gonna get James Cagney to play the Joker. The more I think about it, the more I think how awesome that would have been....

[Skull10]

The Batman footage wasn't taken from a television show. It was taken from the theatrical serial.

[JustJokingYou]

I would have loved to see Joseph Cotten as two face

[Skull10]

The old Captain Marvel makes Rorschach look merciful!

[ThePinkMan]

They did make a Batman movie (A serial of fifteen chapters) in 1943. That's where the clips in this video were taken from. It doesn't necessarily hold up today, but it didn't have the intentional campiness of the 1960's series.

Old doesn't necessarily mean cheesy. The Adam West Batman was humorous ON PURPOSE. The first superhero movie ever made (Captain Marvel) has more violence than a lot of superhero movies do today. At one point he threatens to bodyslam someone on a bed of nails.

[Skull10]

Oooh, I think Yul Brynner would have made an excellent Lex Luthor!

[hydrolito]

Other actors from the 30's-60's that might have worked for later roles. Steve Reeves or Johnny Weismueller as Conan the Barbarian. Shirley Temple and Judy Garland in Mickey Mouse Club instead of Britney and Christina. How about Uhel Brynner as Lex Luthor or Prof. X. George Reeves of Course was equilent of Christopher Reeves as they both played Superman. Actor who played Flash Gordon would be similar to Han Solo in Star Wars. Vampires and werewolves then and now and Frankenstein like Terminator.

[hydrolito]

World War 2 ended in 1945 so why would they do anti-japanese propaganda in 1949 maybe antichinese or antinorth korean.

[tryarunm]

The question of equivalents doesn't arise because Welles today would make Kane for the first time! maybe Kane the man would be of Hispanic, African or Asian origin. Instead of Rosebud he might have said Kilimanjaro or Anarkali. I can imagine a night-long after-dinner fireside discussion over these never-to-be possibilities: Heston as Indiana Jones, Bogey as Ethan Hunt, Mickey Rooney as Forrest Gump, Cagney as Rambo... we could go on and on! Thank you, you geniuses of premakes!

[Jimmy Gay]

If I remember right, Agnes Moorehead, (Endora, also Twilight Zone) played "Margo" to Welles "The Shadow" on radio.