Rise of the Black Bat a.k.a The Black Bat Rises
Tomcat Films, Brett Kelly Entertainment, Dudez Productions, Canada, 2012.
Tony Quinn (Jody Haucke who also appeared in "Jurassic Shark") was a district attorney before crime boss Oliver Snate (Leo Frost) blinded him with acid just before the trial. (Justice is blind, get it?) His friend, reformed rogue named Silk Kirby (Richard Groen), told him not to lose hope. Daughter of one of Snate's victims, Carol Baldwin (Dixie Collins), arranged him experimental treatment that gave him an ability to see in dark. He is an excellent shooter (although you wouldn't believe it when you see the action scenes) and he can also vanish instantly when the bad guys look the other way.
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| Tony Quinn and assistant Roberta (Celine Filion) |
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| Carol Baldwin |
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| Oliver Snate |
Tony puts on a rubber mask and becomes the vigilante superhero Black Bat. First thing to do is to visit a bikini contest. Because why not? As we know from "Jurassic Shark" the guys at Brett Kelly Entertainment love random bikini scenes! At least it takes the focus away from the generic plot for almost 10 minutes. The Black Bat then brings down Snate's crime organization and becomes the hero of the city.
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| The Black Bat |
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| Sandy, Brandy, Mandy and Candy |
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| Fierce action. |
"Rise of the Black Bat" is a Z-grade Batman mockbuster with dose of Daredevil and Punisher. Surprisingly it is based on a real 1930s comic character created by Norman A. Daniels. It is an amateurish zero budget production with bad lighting, sound and cinematography. It looks as if some guys bought some video cameras and started filming in the school (or a gym) and someone's home. The acting is generally bad but at least some of the actors have survived to appear in more serious productions. In addition to terrible production quality, unintentional humour comes from the dead serious main character. Kudos for amusingly dramatic voice over and soundtrack that is not great but could be worse. There is a lot of padding as same scenes are recycled. The gunfights have guys shooting and missing when the distance is about one metre. It is the kind of film that was probably fun little project for their friends and families to see but for others it more fun for MST3K style watching purposes. However the makers of the film are still in the business making movies of dubious quality. Maybe they eventually become The Asylum of Canada but it is a long way to go (sic).
Something has to be said about the original comic. The story seems to quite faithful to the origin of the comic character. Black Bat appeared first in 1933-1934 as character in by Murray Leinster's pulp stories. Norman A. Daniels (using nom de plume G. Wayman Jones) created the comic character in 1939 and wrote the origin story about D.A. who is blinded by acid. The publishers of Black Bat and Batman both accused each other for plagiarism, but both of the characters were allowed to continue their adventures. And possibly both of the characters were inspired by comic character The Shadow and the killer using a bat-suit in "The Bat." Bill Finger and Bob Kane seemed to copy the Black Bat's origin story: district attorney Harvey Dent gets acid thrown on his face and becomes Two-Face. Also Daredevil is another blind lawyer with superpowers. And the Joker... inspired by The Man Who Laughs! The Black Bat comic was published in 1939-1953 and the character still appears in German pulp novels (as Schwarze Fledermaus).
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| Nice teeth, Bats. |
Rating: 
Very bad or 
So bad it is good
Very bad or So bad it is good
Starring: Jody Haucke, Richard Groen, Dixie Collins, Leo Frost, John E. McLenachan, Dan Demarbre, Celine Filion, Paul Finnigan, Anik Rompré, Anthony Quinn, Edmay Tasse, Chris Urquhart, Brett Kelly (as Mile Long), Anne-Marie Frigon (as Teresa Pike), Ian Quick, Darren Stevens, Angela Zakos, Bianca Jasmine Gray, Stefanie Moore, Rebecca Kennedy, Andy Keyworth, Jeff Hynes, Cory Tibbits, Chad, Cory's Buddy, Jordan Richer, Mac Dale, Cynthia Sanoy, Allen Roulston, Frank Rothery, David A. Lloyd, Dario Sciola, Vicki Mavraganis, Glen Albert, Karl Sauve
Director: Scott Patrick
Director: Scott Patrick
No tämähän täytyy katsoa ensitilassa pois kuleksimasta, jos vaan jostakin sen käsiini saan :D
ReplyDeleteOmalla vastuulla, kuten aina :D
DeleteBut of course, heh.
ReplyDeletehttp://aminoapps.com/page/comics/684006/the-black-bat-the-original-batman-left-forgotten
ReplyDeleteGet your facts straight. Black Bat is the original Batman and Daredevil
I would say that the original Batman was the villain in the 1926 silent film "The Bat."
DeleteAs I mentioned in the end of the post the first Black Bat pulp novels appeared in 1933. The first Batman comic was published in May 1939 (I forgot to mention that year in the post) and Bill Finger and Bob Kane took influences from contemporary pulp novels and movies.
Harvey Dent's and Daredevil's origins were obviously inspired by the Black Bat.
I'm sorry. I was a bit bothered when you wrote, "Rise of the Black Bat" is a Z-grade Batman mockbuster with dose of Daredevil and Punisher", that I stopped reading your article. Little did I pay attention that the next phrase that you wrote was "it is based on a real 1930s comic character created by Norman A. Daniels." LOL!
DeleteTo be honest, I discovered this truth a few days ago when I saw that this film is available on YTS.ag and the comments are devastating, likewise your review of the film; but I don't blaim the character, but the quality of the film. It kind of looks like a cheap porno film. But what bothered me more were the comments of ignorants who knew no idea that Black Bat was orignally made before Batman. It amazed me.
I read a while ago that the Doc Savage film is being produced with Dwayne Johnson as Doc Savage or "The Man of Bronze". Sounds familiar to you? Doc Savage a.k.a. Clark Savage Jr. gave inspiration to Superman. But I was shocked to realize that they had to copy Doc Savage's alias to name Superman's alter ego? Seriously, I think I've lost respect towards Jerry Siegel :/
No problem.
DeleteDoc Savage is pretty unknown to me, it is nice that they are resurrecting the character. It seems that in 1930-1950s most new superhero comics were tributing, refining or just copying everything cool in adventure fiction.
Although there was a short-lived BLACK BAT comic book, it was not the medium in which the character was introduced. The Black Bat was the cover feature in the pulp magazine BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE, the first issue of which appeared within weeks, literally, of DETECTIVE COMICS #27. Apparently one of those BEN CASEY/DR. KILDARE - THE ADDAMS FAMILY/THE MUNSTERS - THE TOWER/THE GLASS INFERNO coincidences.
ReplyDeleteThe BLACK BAT comic was, as I say, comparatively short-lived, but the pulp magazine survived into the 1950's, and reprints of the pulp novels continued to be popular in the UK and Europe.
It seems that there have been some reprints of the stories, but now the first stories are out of print and cost an arm and a leg. And I can see that in recent years they have continued the series with new Black Bat stories and comics.
DeleteOf the other Pulp-characters popular in Europe I remembered also FBI-agent Jerry Cotton. JC stories were also published in Finland and he enjoys a cult reputation although the magazine is not published here anymore.
If you're actually interested in reading the original pulp magazine stories, you can go here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.altuspress.com/shop/the-black-bat-omnibus-volume-1/
to buy that first volume of reprints at a more reasonable price in hardback, or for a comparatively low price, less than $5, if you get it as an e-book.
Since the character has fallen into public domain (which is probably why a low-rent outfit like TomCat decided to adapt this character to film rather than make up one of their own), there have been two comic book companies, Moonstone and Dynamite Entertainment, have published new comics series about the character, and Airship 27, a small publishing company specializing in "New Pulp" has published new prose stories about the character.
Thanks, that is useful to know. It is nice that there are publishers who make these pulp adventures available.
Delete