Saturday Serials: “The Executioner Strikes” (Batman 1943, Chapter 14)
And so we’ve arrived at the penultimate chapter of the 1943 Columbia Pictures Batman serial film. In the last chapter, the lovely Linda Page — Bruce Wayne’s fiancée — was turned into one of Dr. Daka’s mindless zombie slaves, and Batman found himself in a classic Looney Tunes trap: the wall of spikes. Boy, if I had a nickel for every time that happened to me!
Only the fortuitous arrival of Robin saves the Caped Crusader from becoming a shish kebat. But will the duo finally be able to thwart Daka once and for all? My guess is no, since there’s still one more chapter left, but I’ve been wrong before. Maybe the last part is just 15 minutes of Bruce and Dick Grayson gloating over Daka’s corpse or something.