During the 1960s, aside from the 007 craze which was in the movies, Batman was the in thing in televisions. A Filipino movie was released by Sampaguita Pictures as spoof of the said two characters. It was “James Batman” which starred Dolphy, The Comedy King. He played a dual role which is of the Filipino comedy version of“Batman” and “James Sibat”, a parody of James Bond.
The film begins with a meeting of the representatives of the nations of the world raising their concerns about the threat of chaos of the “Claw Organization” if they will not surrender to a nation called “Pulahan” (a reference to the Communism then). A representative from the said organization gate crashed the said meeting reiterating the said threat to the attendees. He showed a video presentation of the various natural disasters and threat of nuclear annihilation of the organization to the nations of the world. He left the meeting with the information that his organization should not be taken lightly.
The Chairman (Ven Medina), with the consensus of the representatives of the world’s nations, decided to seek help from Batman (wtih sidekick Rubin played by Boy Alano) and James Sibat to deal with the organization. The two appeared later with the said people each boasting that he can deal with any trouble. When the Chairman told them that their mission is to stop the Claw Organization, both of them are pointing at each other on who will take the assignment. When the former said that both of them will do the job, they stopped their bickering finally.
However, word reached the organization that the two will handle the assigned case against them. The Dr. Doom type leader of Claw told his key leaders and followers (men and women who wears black masks) that they will be ready against the two. His key leaders include a Penguin type of character, a clone to Catwoman, who happens to be the eldest daughter of the Chairman, (Bella Flores) and a man who is a cross between Joker for his laughter and Dr. No for his iron hand (Jose Morelos). On various separate occasions, our two lead characters clashed with the key leaders and its members (with action and comedy situations) with the former prevailing at all times. On the other hand, the two of them were shown to the audience their romantic sides. James Sibat, although a womanizer, has his eyes on a lady agent colleague while Batman whose alter ego is Dolpho has his on Shirley (Shirley Moreno), the Chairman’s youngest daughter.
But the Claw Organization wants the domination of the world’s nations very much so that its people captured Batman and Rubin and James Sibat in separate places. The first two was captured at the Chairman’s residence when information reached them that the latter is in danger. James was seized in the hospital who was recuperating from a centipede bite in a sensitive part of his body. His lady agent colleague who was visiting him was included also. The Chairman and the eldest daughter were also captured. Shirley was left and tied at her room. However, she managed to set herself free and rode secretly in the Batmobile taken by the Claw personnel leading her to the hideout of the organization.
The captives were segregated into two groups upon arrival at the hideout. The Chairman and the eldest daughter in the first while the second group was composed of Batman, Rubin, James Sibat and his lady colleague. The latter group faced the key leaders of the organization which showed them the execution of a Claw lady member by laser emanating from the large version of a claw which disintegrated the lady. This is one of the ways they deal with traitors within their ranks who told their operations to the authorities. Another is activating the lethal poison injected in their bodies when they are about to squeal. Shirley was able to saw and listen to this in the hiding place she found in the hideout, but she was not alone, for a male agent colleague (Johnny Ysmael) of James infiltrated the hideout. The two, together with the captives, were shocked to learn that the Chairman is with the organization. The latter explained that the democratic countries did not give attention to his intelligence because he is poor while the organization recognize it which gave him wealth and power. It was heavier feeling on Shirley’s part because she learned that her elder sister was also one of the Claw’s leaders. The leader of the organization gave the Chairman the opportunity to switch a doomsday device that will destroy the democratic nations of the world. But it did not happen because the male agent throw some grenades at them which gave the opportunity to the captives to set themselves free and fight and defeat the leader and the members of Claw. However, the Chairman almost switch the device but with Shirley’s plead that many innocent people will die if he did it, he had a change of heart. He told Shirley and the others to leave the hideout immediately. They did even if Shirley protested. The Chairman reversed the switch of the device which destroyed the hideout of the organization. She was crying with the death of his father but the others said that the Chairman sacrificed his life to save the lives of the people living in the targetted nations.
Since this movie is of Dolphy’s, the closing comedy scenes are expected. Seeing his lady colleague is in love with his male colleague, James Sibat feels rejected. But, he saw a lady in a Batwoman costume, who he thought was his prospective partner. Alas, when he took off the mask, it was not the type of lady he likes. He was chased by this lady while the end title of the movie was being shown.
This week’s post is dedicated to the birthday of the comedy king on July 25, 2011. Happy Birthday, Dolphy!
The images used for this post as updated were taken from online sources as references.
That’s all for now.
Until the next post.
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