Batman Returns: Scene by Scene

[Two-Face]

The Underground one shot that came out during Battle for the Cowl last year also has the DeVito Penguin sans flippers

That's

 

[returntovoid]

I'd like to. My disc drive is not working at the moment so I'm currently unable to take screencaps, but as soon as it's up and working I will add my own pics. I must say though that Homer always does a brilliant job of finding exactly the right screencap to represent a particular scene.

There's a website for screencaps of every Batman film.

Here's the link:

http://www.batmanunmasked.com/

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

There's a website for screencaps of every Batman film.

Here's the link:

http://www.batmanunmasked.com/

Thanks. There is another decent site:
http://fan.daffodil-lament.net/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=168 that also offers some really good screencaps, but I was hoping in making my own if I was going to pinpoint the exact moment from the film(s) I wanted to illustrate each scene with.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

The Underground one shot that came out during Battle for the Cowl last year also has the DeVito Penguin sans flippers

That is a dead ringer. Is the characterization at all like DeVito's version or is it purely a visual thing?

 

[ALP]

Have not read it but I'd say it's only a visual thing due to how daper he appears, and the fact that he has normal fingers.

 

[Cobblepot]

That is a dead ringer. Is the characterization at all like DeVito's version or is it purely a visual thing?

It's only visual, in the rest of the story he looks a little less DeVito.

 

[Cobblepot]

I never noticed the skyline in BR.
Image Batman swooping off from those babies...
Just another statement is made that Keaton's Batman is more badass then Bale's...

 

[Homer J. Fong]

There would definitely be some overlap with these next two, as they are so linked, so I'll post both 5 and 6.



5. Pandemonium in a Bow

(Running time: 0:09:21 – 0:12:45)

The Rundown
After Max Shreck makes a statement to his adoring public, the Red Triangle Circus Gang burst out from a massive gift box, wreaking havoc around Gotham Square.

The Review
In this scene more than any other, Max Shreck is portrayed as Gotham’s Golden Boy – or “very own Santa Claus,” as the Mayor refers to him (in a bit of sarcasm that successfully goes over the heads of the cheering crowd). Shreck knows how to manipulate that crowd and play that Santa Claus, heaving presents into the audience and, when he sees that he left his speech in the office, improvising one that’s nothing if not sympathetic. Devil in disguise indeed. One of the reasons I’ve never understood the criticism of some that Shreck is an unnecessary character is that, in a movie that is about nothing if not duality, a figure who presents the image of a humble, benevolent Friend of Gotham while actually being a selfish, ruthless monster, not only fits right in but is truly important. Without Max Shreck, this film would not have nearly as much weight and resonance. He is the most human character on a literal level and the least human character on an emotional level.

Having just wrapped up my Scene-by-Scene thread for Batman, I can’t help but compare this sequence of total chaos to the last, which featured the crowd surrounding The Joker’s parade float fleeing once he made the presence of Smilex gas known. This is, of course, a different kind of sequence, though; the henchmen in this film being a circus gang provides the opportunity for a looser, more manic energy that Burton exploits to the fullest. (He’s aided greatly by a vibrant Danny Elfman score – he’s compared his work to Carl Stalling compositions in classic Warner cartoons.) In that Batman Scene-by-Scene thread, I said that, while you don’t exactly sympathize with The Joker, you sometimes get so lost in the fun that he’s having that you sometimes lose sight of the hero/villain perspective. That’s basically how it is here with the Red Triangle gang. Burton will take this joyful villainous mayhem and play it to the hilt in Mars Attacks! – a movie I’ve always loved, and a large part of the entertainment value comes from the fact that, while the Lukas Haas and Natalie Portman characters are sort of likeable, and Sylvia Sidney’s grandmother character definitely is, Burton’s having so much fun putting the aliens and their path of destruction front and center, and sympathizing with them.

The Rest
-Stage 2 of the four-stage Penguin reveal: His shadow is cast on the wall as he waddles through the sewer tunnel.

-Batman Returns may be the most effective a Batman movie has been at bringing you into the minds of the leads, from sets that often serve as extensions of their psyches to a push-in shot like the one that occurs when Selina realizes her boss left his speech behind. You feel her anxiety there.

6. Batman Saves the Day

(Running time: 0:12:46 – 0:17:09)

The Rundown
Batman answers the call and charges in to stop the circus gang’s attack. This culminates in his first encounter with Selina Kyle, saving her from the clutches of a mad clown, plus the disappearance of Gotham’s “mover and shaker,” Max Shreck.

The Review
The exterior of Wayne Manor makes its first appearance since the first half of the previous film, but it looks very different. It’s a more impressive structure, less like a mansion and more like a castle. It feels much more closed off from the city, a secluded hideaway, an untouchable fortress. The comparison to Citizen Kane’s Xanadu is apt – although there was a size, a larger-than-life quality about Kane that there is obviously not to Bruce Wayne, Wayne Manor needs to have this scale 1) to enforce the parallel between the Waynes and the Cobblepots and the status of both families in their time, and 2) to enforce how removed Bruce is from the wealth that’s been passed down to him and also from Gotham. Later in the film, we will see Bruce Wayne the businessman, something we certainly did not see in the first movie, but beyond his upcoming relationship with Selina, Bruce Wayne is a non-entity. Our first image of him in this second installment in the series is more reclusive than ever, sitting in the middle of his cavernous library brooding, lost in his own despair in a way that is sad but compelling. That’s a moment that could paint him almost as a martyr, if we didn’t have moments that did exemplify the Batman that is always out there, on patrol. When that Signal beams in, Batman comes to life: a soul reemerges behind those eyes. It’s a moment of iconography that works in the same way the last shot of Batman works: as a wonderful visual summation of this hero who will use the pain and darkness inside of him to protect his city, a war that will never truly end.

There was some discussion early in this thread about whether Batman actually kills anyone in this sequence. The answer seems clear: no, or at least not necessarily. None of the injuries he inflicts are grievous enough to kill, unless the entire Red Triangle gang are as inept as the Star Wars battle droids. The violence in the first movie was cartoonish, but the violence in this movie is a little more so. Batman and Batman Returns don’t feel to me like especially violent films. When I think of Michael Keaton’s Batman, I don’t think “brutal killer,” but the menace and ruthlessness he could convey can play with your memory a bit. This interpretation of the character does not have that “one rule.” On the matter of the violence/violent potential of Batman, Burton’s approach is more casual, while Nolan’s is more intense and introspective, and it’s great to have such significant and differing visions.

The Rest
-Stage 3 of the four-stage Penguin reveal: A similar shot of him purposely walking through the sewer, this time in profile (more than a silhouette, but still not a good look).

-Vincent Schiavelli is one of those people I’m surprised Burton didn’t use more often. He had a certain weird quality that I can’t quite put my finger on, and he would seem to have fit right into Burton’s sensibilities, so it’s surprising that they only worked together once. I think Schiavelli’s best role was Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies; his one scene is probably the single funniest in any Bond film.

-While I do like this Batsuit a lot – it’s a great design, sleeker and more sculptural without losing the core idea that its purpose is to make the wearer look like a bat, and it clearly allows Keaton a little more movement – I prefer the one in the 1989 film, for its rougher, fiercer quality.

-This is Pat Hingle’s entrance into the film, and this is the point in the series where Gordon becomes basically useless as a character. He is not completely reliant on Batman, but it says a lot that his first two lines are, “What are you waiting for? The signal!” and, “Thanks for saving the day, Batman.” Their dynamic has changed a lot, and it’s not even that they’re allies now, it’s that Gordon has come to put a great deal of trust in Batman. I am aware that the Batman/Gordon relationship was not at this time what it was by the time Batman Begins went into production, but it’s also a shame that Pat Hingle, a fine actor, was given nothing to do after the first film.

-Both of the actors I’ve mentioned in this section are no longer with us, so R.I.P. to both Vincent Schiavelli and Pat Hingle.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

4. Not Properly Housebroken
(Running time: 0:07:08 – 0:09:20)​

Following a vertiginous ascent to the top of Gotham's skyline and yet another glimpse of Shreck's corporate logo, the giant cat head and its unnervingly self-satisfied smile (somewhat reminiscent of The Cheshire Cat, featured in another, recent Burton movie), we finally enter the headquarters of Gotham's own 'mover and shaker', Max Shreck. I say 'headquarters', as opposed to office for since this art-deco inspired room with its immense disc-shaped table and cushion-padded walls seem more akin to a Bond-villain’s lair than a typical CEO’s conference room; likewise, the machinations of the Machiavellian boss at the head of the table are worthy of a Bond-villain in both scope and improbability.

Shreck, an unholy amalgamation of Donald Trump and Nosferatu (a 1980s-style capitalist sucking dry Gotham’s utilities) is essentially the real villain of the piece; he neither possesses Catwoman’s sympathetic traits, nor elicits the pathos aroused by The Penguin even at his most heinous. Far from being a literal freak, Shreck, a self-made industrialist and the embodiment of financial and social success, apparently represents everything Western society reveres and seeks to emulate. Whilst Walken’s gaunt, spectral features and shock of bright white hair allude towards Shreck’s vampiric qualities, the bold and brash yet beautifully tailored pin-striped suits designed by Mary Vogt suggest the confident, cocky personality of a businessman who has made it and is not afraid of letting everyone else know, not least a “trust-fund goody-goody” like Bruce Wayne.

Over the years I have read several rumours suggesting that Billy Dee Williams’ Harvey Dent was initially intended to assume Shreck’s function and plotline in the film. This seems unlikely for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is no evidence that anyone else had been hired to work on the screenplay for a Batman sequel between Sam Hamm’s proposed ‘Batman 2’, and Daniel Waters’ first draft for Batman Returns, neither of which featured Harvey Dent/Two-Face as one of its canonical villains. More significantly, Dent like Oswald Cobblepot and Selina Kyle, is a tragic antagonist, and Dee Williams’ crusading and decent, if occasionally agitated D.A. would have made for the unlikely mastermind of a plan to suck and stockpile Gotham’s energy by means of a giant capacitor. Unlike most interpretations of Dent/Two-Face, Shreck is much more in the vein of Batman’s ever-so respectable ‘plain-clothes’ enemies, for instance, Rupert Thorne, who often serve as ancillary foes to the central action, despite being more-often-than-not the source of the overall thread; this is a tradition that carried through to Batman: The Animated Series’ Roland Daggett, a character allegedly inspired by Shreck.

Of course we instantly know Shreck is evil by the manner he treats Michelle Pfeiffer’s lovely but meek personal assistant Selina Kyle. A radical departure from all the previous incarnations of Catwoman (ranging from streetwise prostitute to elegant socialite to most bizarrely of all, an amnesiac flight attendant), this interpretation nevertheless does share a similar function to its antecedents; like previous versions of Catwoman, this character is defined by her gender and all the attendant trials and tribulations that come with being a woman in a male-dominated society. In this scene, Selina, the victim of corporate sexism is cruelly cut down in the middle of Shreck’s conference for daring to contribute on any level beyond ensuring that Max and his guests’ coffee–cups are regularly refilled; even the apparently ‘nice-guy’ Mayor, whose support for a new power-plant Max is egregiously trying to solicit, joins in with the chauvinist mocking that follows Max’s dismissive put-down, “...in the plus column though, she makes a hell of a cup of coffee.” Thus, the die is cast for Selina’s inevitable transformation from submissive and dowdily dressed, albeit beautiful, nonentity to no-nonsense whip-wielding feminist avenger.

Additional Comments:

- Having already made reference to Shreck’s eye-catching pin-stripes, it’s worth highlighting how crucial Mary Vogt and Bob Ringwood’s inspired costumes are to not only establishing an overall aesthetic (Vogt and Ringwood apparently took the post-rationing boom years of the late 1940s as their reference point), but in encapsulating each of the characters’ respective personalities, from the purposefully plain and unprepossessing skirt suits Selina wears at the start of the film to the confidently stylish and elegant ensembles she sports post-transformation, to Max and son, Chip’s expensive, authority-exuding Brooks Brothers suits, to the Ice Princess’ luxurious and ultra-feminine fur-trimmed costumes, and the sinister Dickensian plutocrat’s top hat and tails worn by Oswald Cobblepot.

- In addition to Max and Selina this scene also introduces us to two key supporting characters. Since the events of the first film, Gotham has (perhaps unsurprisingly) elected itself a new Mayor. Michael Murphy’s WASPy official is less obviously based on any real-life politician (in contrast to Lee Wallace’s Ed Koch-channelling predecessor), and it’s less clear what his political affiliation is. However, his initial scenes with Shreck suggest a once mutually-beneficial relationship betrayed by the Mayor’s reluctance to unequivocally endorse Max’s proposed power-plant. We also meet the Teutonic Charles ‘Chip’ Shreck, Max’s beloved son and heir. Although clearly nowhere near as shrewd as his father (which partially explains the tenacious lengths to which Max goes to ensure his legacy), the original screenplay did contain some extra scenes which demonstrated that Chip was just as much of a chauvinist bully to Selina. Incidentally, a flawless portrait of Shreck senior and junior that can be glimpsed in the background is a very nice touch.

 

[Smalley]

More, plz!

 

[Homer J. Fong]

7. Meeting of Monsters

(Running time: 0:17:10 – 0:23:07)

The Rundown
Under what was once Gotham Zoo, Max Shreck encounters the infamous “Penguin man of the sewers” himself. Under the threat of severe blackmail, Shreck agrees to help The Penguin return to the surface, ostensibly in the interest of (re)claiming his human identity.

The Review
The vast majority of establishing shots in film are…well, merely that: shots used to establish a location of some significance. After Tim Burton, I can’t think of another director who so frequently – and so well – uses an establishing shot as a money shot, but the beginning of this scene features a fine example with that fantastic little tour of the completely abandoned Gotham Zoo. It reminds me quite strongly of the main titles of Edward Scissorhands, but that’s no surprise, because 1) that sequence is also a tour of a location, and 2) Stefan Czapsky was also the DP for that film. I believe that “looks like it was shot in an inkwell” quote was referred to earlier in this thread, and again, I don’t think that’s unfair – but I don’t think it should be taken as a negative, either. I think it’s fair not because the film looks tacky or overly dark, but because there’s a kind of depth, richness, and, sure, inkiness to the images in it that really works.

This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. I’ll probably say that many times, so if you want to make that into a drinking game, you go right ahead. The purpose is very simple, the staging is even simpler – The Penguin is properly introduced, his manipulative, cunning, yet maybe sympathetic nature is established, with Shreck trying to counter his points in his slippery, cocky Max Shreck way, but ultimately realizing the wisest move is to make a deal (so that he can actually use The Penguin for his own gain later on). The entire scene is so masterfully executed, from the macabre-dinner-party ambiance when Shreck realizes where he is, to the “you flush it, I flaunt it” angle that starts off the Penguin/Shreck relationship. That’s a great notion, because it makes The Penguin an equal to Shreck: he’s not just a monster, he’s not just a misunderstood monster, but he is smart. He makes it absolutely clear to Shreck that he is not only ready and willing to blackmail Gotham’s very own Santa Claus, but he more than has the means to do it. I have mentions of four stages of The Penguin’s “reveal,” and I’m not doing that just to be overly detailed; the character gets such a strong buildup, but it’s not merely a visual one. By this point, you’ve come to expect a figure with a certain weight, not just in physique but in power or presence, and this sequence lives up to that. Danny DeVito is obviously no slouch as an actor, and he makes an incredible first impression. It’s kind of odd that it’s not until the next movie (and then the one after that) that we see actors playing villains who are apparently eager, first and foremost, to live up to/top the impact of Jack Nicholson’s star turn as The Joker. There are three villains in Batman Returns, and each is of a different mode. The Penguin is the big one, the scenery-chewer, but DeVito’s performance is not a repeat, it’s a totally fresh creation. For one thing, Nicholson never demonstrated pathos – he never had to – but when The Penguin tells Max (and it’s still, to this day, debatable how much of this sort of thing is sincere) that he came from the same world that Max did, and wants nothing more than the right to discover his humanity like everyone else, that’s a moment that truly registers. And as this discussion goes on, I’ll note which of these moments I believe are genuine and which are not, but this? I believe it.

The Rest
Stage 4 of the four-stage Penguin reveal: The actual reveal.

 

[Team Andino]

Only recently discovered this hidden gem in the Batman forums. I'll (like many) be watching closely, keep up the good work guys!

 

[The Englishman]

Only recently discovered this hidden gem in the Batman forums. I'll (like many) be watching closely, keep up the good work guys!

Have you checked out the Batman 89 one as well?, thats just as good

 

[Team Andino]

Have you checked out the Batman 89 one as well?, thats just as good

I saw when it got started but shortly after I took a break from coming on here and only recently have I jumped back into the posting thing. I'll definitely have to go back and check out that thread. Thanks for the reminder

 

[Smalley]

I'm writing about Batman Returns from a different perspective on another forum: http://corrierino.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=366915#p366915

My friend was gonna write about it, but lost interest in the thread, and I just didn't wanna see it go to waste, so...

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

I'm writing about Batman Returns from a different perspective on another forum: http://corrierino.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=366915#p366915

My friend was gonna write about it, but lost interest in the thread, and I just didn't wanna see it go to waste, so...

Excellent stuff Smalley. You touch upon a lot of the themes within Batman Returns I find interesting.

Any chance you could start a new thread in the Misc. Batman Films section of Superhero Hype so that we could comment on and discuss your analysis in the same way people have done with Homer and my own comments?

 

[Smalley]

Excellent stuff Smalley. You touch upon a lot of the themes within Batman Returns I find interesting.

Any chance you could start a new thread in the Misc. Batman Films section of Superhero Hype so that we could comment on and discuss your analysis in the same way people have done with Homer and my own comments?

Will do

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

5. Pandemonium in a Bow
(Running time: 0:09:21 – 0:12:45)​

No theme resonates as prominently in Batman’s mythos, and in particular this film, as ‘duality’, and the often immense disconnect between a character’s public and private personas. Of the films, Batman Returns is unique since these dualistic character traits are not simply confined to its costumed heroes and villains (or whatever position Catwoman best occupies on the good-bad spectrum); the most sinister discord between a character’s popular image and ulterior identity belongs to the most ‘normal’ of the film’s leads, Max Shreck.

The celebrity adulation Shreck receives from the Gotham public as he steps into the assembled tree-lighting crowd far overshadows the reverence afforded to the Mayor; yet as he casually threatens the city’s leading public official with bully-boy tactics in furtherance of his malign power-plant scheme, it is clear that he is not the charming ‘man-of-the-people’ he hoodwinks the ‘pin-head puppets’ of Gotham into believing he is via his intentionally unctuous and self-effacing speech only moments later.

Of course, Batman Returns' not-so-veiled indictment of rampant capitalism as exemplified by Max Shreck and his machinations is not the only seditious aspect of this atypical summer blockbuster. The events that follow Shreck's pandering address to the crowd allow for Burton's full-scale assault on modern mainstream conservative values.

The giant red Christmas package that rolls into the centre of town is like many of the film's most malign sources, seemingly innocuous and even a little cute, until to the accompaniment of the most comical of sound effects its contents spring open, and full-scale hell is unleashed on the Gotham for the first time since Jack Napier's demise. The over-sized skull-helmeted motorcyclists, flame-throwing stilt-walkers and gun-toting unicyclists who emerge from the box and proceed to chase festive shoppers up and down Gotham Plaza's concourse, appear to represent the director's subversive id and his apparent pleasure in laying waste to the festive season's commercial excesses, a theme that expands upon Edward Scissorhands' yuletide milieu, and is taken to the next logical stage in Burton's follow-up film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's also no coincidence that the bedraggled members of the Red Triangle Circus Gang who wreak havoc upon Gotham's nauseating celebration of All-American commerce and conservatism have a European, almost Romany flavour about their appearance that asserts their 'outsider' status. Not least, the group's ghoulish organ-grinder/gatling gun operator and de facto lieutenant, played by the strikingly unconventional-looking Vincent Schiavelli, a now sadly deceased regular throughout the films of Milos Forman, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, where he shared screen-time with a very youthful-looking Danny DeVito.

Additional Comments:

- As ALP has noted, during the sequence where we cut back to Max's office and a frantic Selina realising that her boss has forgotten his hand-written speech, it is possible to make out various celebrities posing alongside Shreck in the numerous photos that adorn his office wall, including a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whether one chooses to link the admittedly execrable Batman and Robin with this superior comic-book movie's universe or not, it is nevertheless tempting to think that this picture of the 'governator' represents a pre-transformation Victor Fries standing alongside one of his early benefactors (ala the nefarious Ferris Boyle from the animated series, a callous industrialist with similar traits to Shreck).

- Although it's not clear whether this sequence existed on the cutting room floor, the Batman Returns screenplay describes The Ice Princess as shoving an old lady to the ground whilst she runs away during the Red Triangle Circus Gang's assault on the tree-lighting crowd. In view of the princess's later fate it's a pity that this unambiguously self-centred and unsympathetic aspect of her characterisation was omitted from the final film.

 

[Smalley]

Good stuff.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

This is the best and most detailed Batman analysis I have ever read. Good job.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

6. Batman Saves the Day
(Running time: 0:12:46 – 0:17:09)​

Each of the Batman movies has at least one iconic moment (unfortunately, Batman and Robin's is the 'butt shot') and just as that shot of the Batwing cast against a full moon stands as the 1989 Batman movie's most indelible image, this scene arguably contains Returns' most striking shot; Bruce Wayne in the midst of sombre contemplation instantly springs to life from his armchair as the Bat-symbol casts its silhouette against the vast study he has seemingly self-exiled himself to.

It is almost as if Wayne has inhabited a semi-catatonic stupor since the events of the first film, and that despite having confronted and yes, killed the man who murdered his parents, he has been able to find no solace from their vengeance. As both Burton and Nolan's respective franchises assert, the besuited 'Batman' represents their protagonist's true personality, but whereas Bale's Bruce Wayne adopts an egregious playboy persona completely at odds with his deeper, albeit twisted private identity, Keaton's melancholic and virtually hermitic Wayne is almost devoid of personality, an empty husk of a man who can only express himself by donning a black mask and cape. Far from representing a criticism of either Keaton's performance or Burton's rendering of the character, Wayne's essential emptiness here demonstrates the psychological complexity of their interpretation that makes for a much richer, more ambiguously sympathetic comic-book hero than the decent, upstanding All-American likes of say Captain America or even Christopher Reeve's otherwise exemplary take on Superman. This is a Batman who has habitually fought crime throughout his entire adult life as a means of attaining personal catharsis as much as from any truly altruistic concern for the people he 'protects'.

In fact this Batman is not really a hero in the true sense of the word and it is implied that his effect on the society he watches over is certainly as tyrannical, and almost as malign as the very villains he seeks to protect it from. If the once redoubtable Commissioner Gordon's response to the Red Triangle Circus Gang's terrorisation of Gotham Plaza tells us anything it is that the Gotham City Police Department has practically deferred the ultimate responsibility for its policing policy to a remote masked vigilante who is not above using extreme violence as a means of tackling the city's criminal element. Take that due process!

As to the issue of whether Batman kills, this is one of those rare instances where I take a contrary view to Homer. It seems clear to me that Batman did directly precipitate The Joker's death, and whilst it is arguable that he was simply acting in defence whilst dispatching the bell-tower goons, the same justification can't really be made for the similar treatment he metes out to their 'colleagues' at the obliterated Axis Chemicals, or the henchmen he machine guns at The Joker's deadly balloon parade. Likewise, the Red Triangle Circus clowns he gleefully steers into a blazing storefront before casually setting the very 'pyromaniac' fire-eater responsible for the said conflagration alight. As with the way Batman later (controversially) dispenses of a bomb-strapped 'Strong Man', we see no bloodshed or body, and certainly in the case of the former felons, Batman's punishment does not necessarily entail death, yet there can be little doubt that this is a Dark Knight who is not above serving the ultimate form of justice to his enemies with little evident angst; and whilst some purists may blanch at the conceit, is 'Batman the killer' really at odds with Burton's expressionistic, psychologically complex, and intentionally ambiguous reading of this deeply disturbed character?

Just as GCPD has become increasingly marginalised, it is a pity that the late Pat Hingle's role in the series had already begun to be reduced to a mere cameo (just as his character, Gordon had already started to gain greater prominence in the Batman comic-books). An accomplished screen presence, Hingle unfortunately gets barely more than a handful of lines throughout the film including the embarrassingly ineffectual "thanks for saving the day Batman", and there is really no sense of the co-reliant relationship with Batman promised by the resolution of Burton's first Batman film; but at least his character here is spared the later debasement heaped upon him by the Schumacher travesties, including the particularly cringing moment when he professes his (admittedly spell-bound) infatuation to Poison Ivy who thereby fleeces his keys to the Bat-signal...tsk!

Additional Comments:

- As Homer has already noted, Wayne Manor is a very different structure to Knebworth House, the building used in the first film. The remote, foreboding manor we first glimpse in a wintry shot brings to mind the haunted ancestral home at the centre of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher', and it is presumably no accident that it resembles the contents of a snow-globe (or the fish-tank that comes in handy later in the film), hermetically sealed and thereby isolated from any outside interference.

- This sequence marks the first time Batman crosses paths with Selina, when he tackles a particularly malicious clown who takes the latter hostage. Michelle Pfeiffer somehow manages the remarkable feat of being both rather gauche yet playfully sexy in the same moment, and despite Batman's virtually poker-faced response to Selina's flustered gratitude the slightly too-long gaze he affixes upon her suggests that he may already see her as a kindred spirit. Selina's incipient dark-side is also on display early on as she allows herself an uncharacteristic loss of self-control by shocking her now inert assailant with his own Tazer.

- One question that always eludes me is what exactly happens to the members of The Red Triangle Circus Gang actually defeated by Batman during this sequence. Although their plan was evidently to cause as much mayhem as possible merely as a means of apprehending Gotham's 'mover and shaker', Max Shreck, it is clear that some of the number, including the aforementioned 'Terrifying Clown' who apprehends Selina, would have been rounded up by the police. Is the GCPD so inept that they are unable to elicit some type of confession from any of these goons as to what exactly they are up to, or are most of the rampaging gang merely 'hired hands' with little to no knowledge of their sewer-dwelling ring-leader's identity and his modus operandi?

 

[Homer J. Fong]

As to the issue of whether Batman kills, this is one of those rare instances where I take a contrary view to Homer. It seems clear to me that Batman did directly precipitate The Joker's death, and whilst it is arguable that he was simply acting in defence whilst dispatching the bell-tower goons, the same justification can't really be made for the similar treatment he metes out to their 'colleagues' at the obliterated Axis Chemicals, or the henchmen he machine guns at The Joker's deadly balloon parade. Likewise, the Red Triangle Circus clowns he gleefully steers into a blazing storefront before casually setting the very 'pyromaniac' fire-eater responsible for the said conflagration alight. As with the way Batman later (controversially) dispenses of a bomb-strapped 'Strong Man', we see no bloodshed or body, and certainly in the case of the former felons, Batman's punishment does not necessarily entail death, yet there can be little doubt that this is a Dark Knight who is not above serving the ultimate form of justice to his enemies with little evident angst; and whilst some purists may blanch at the conceit, is 'Batman the killer' really at odds with Burton's expressionistic, psychologically complex, and intentionally ambiguous reading of this deeply disturbed character?

We don't disagree all that much here, though. No, this Batman is certainly not above taking the ultimate move to dispense justice (and he definitely played a part in The Joker's death - Jack Napier's, not so much), I'm with you there. I don't think any of these circus members were killed, but that's left to some interpretation. Basically, my point has been that, although this Burton-Keaton Batman is a ruthless, menacing vigilante who does not draw that moral line, the fairly cartoonish tone of the violence in Batman and Batman Returns, but especially the latter, and, again, that lack of moralizing or deep consideration or even regard on the issue of "Should Batman Kill?" leaves me with the impression of this character not as a killer but as an anti-hero of a sort.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

We don't disagree all that much here, though.

No we don't, although I'm not sure what you're make of my summary of scene seven...

I hope to have that posted within the next two days.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

7. Meeting of Monsters
(Running time: 0:17:10 – 0:23:07)​

Having fled the scene of The Red Triangle Gang’s assault on the tree-lighting ceremony, leaving his spoiled and dense but admittedly dedicated son, Chip to take the heat, a petrified Max Shreck resembles a man whose sins have finally caught up with him. Unfortunately, any shred of relief he may feel at having evaded those demons, as represented by the hellish Organ-grinder and his minions, is cut short when he is literally dragged down into the ‘underworld’ via an open sewer grating.

Following a serpentine aerial tour of Gotham’s eerie and apparently long-abandoned zoo, which with its overhead-carriage transport system (in the incongruously cute form of bright yellow rubber ducks), and various dome-like architectural features, has something of a New York World’s Fair quality about it, we reach the ultimate destination of the captured Max Shreck, ‘Arctic World’, where the audience is given its first full introduction to Gotham’s legendary ‘aquatic bird-man’, the adult Oswald Cobblepot.

Now I must confess that my feelings towards Burton’s fairly radical take on The Penguin are somewhat ambivalent. It may not be a fashionable stance, but I am rather partial to Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s initial conception of this diminutive crime-boss as a dapper, pompous and often grandiloquent (pseudo) upper-class mob boss, a wonderfully incongruous conceit every bit as bizarre as, yet entirely distinct from, The Joker’s homicidal clown. Unfortunately, despite having served the comic-books well for nearly sixty-one years, this particular characterisation of The Penguin has been given somewhat short-shrift by film and television-makers, with the arguable exception of Burgess Meredith’s relatively faithful but (understandably) over-camp portrayal during the lightweight 1960s TV series. Ideally, in my opinion, The Penguin should be played as a slightly nastier version of the porcine Francis Buxton, the mean-spirited Machiavellian rich-kid from Burton’s own debut feature, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and should always be consummately attired in a top hat and tails, an ill-fitting tuxedo and cummerbund, and white spats, befitting a uniquely aristocratic Bat-villain. By contrast, Batman Returns’ Penguin, is in Alfred’s words a “ghastly grotesque”; a hideously deformed sewer-dwelling creep decked out in a permanently soiled boiler-suit, who speaks in a guttural rasp (when not spouting literal bile) whilst making copious crude references to bodily functions; to wit, “What you put in your toilet, I put on my mantle”, “You flush it, I flaunt it”, and later, the slightly less obvious, “I was their number one son, and they treated me like number two”. What’s more distressing is the suspicion that these are not merely expressions of the Penguin’s unsavoury sense of humour, but genuine statements of fact.

In fairness to the director, the concept of a literally animalistic ‘Penguin’ is particularly ‘Burtonesque’, much like, for instance, a man with scissors for hands, and thereby allows for another typically expressionistic take on one of his favourite themes, society’s ostracism of all that is different and unconventional; although with the exception of a few traits, including his aristocratic background and distinctly rotund yet squat physique, there is little to associate this monstrous mutant with The Penguin originally envisioned by Kane and Finger.

Of course my minor misgivings over this interpretation of the bird-themed rogue pale against the controversy that greeted the film’s summer 1992 release from some quarters. A New York Times article by Rebecca Roiphe and Daniel Cooper entitled ‘Batman and the Jewish Question’ sought to indict the film for presenting The Penguin with his ‘hooked nose, pale face and lust for herring’, decidedly Old Testament origins, and tendency to prey upon various pretty, fair-haired gentile women as an egregiously anti-Semitic stereotype akin to the imagery propagated by the Nazis. It’s a curious though clearly distressing analysis that fortunately holds little credibility. Wesley Strick, Daniel Waters’ co-writer on the final version of the screenplay is himself Jewish and was quite adamant in dispelling any such sinister motives on the part of his fellow Batman Returns’ filmmakers. Moreover, the film establishes the Cobblepots’ Christian identity early on in the film when we spy Oswald’s parents sharing a sombre Martini whilst framed against an elaborately decorated Christmas tree and festive decorations, and later, following investigation into his parentage, we see Oswald ‘mourn’ his mother and father at a tombstone adorned with a cross. On the other hand, the rejection The Penguin is subjected to by his own family and by extension mainstream society, together with the relative acceptance he experiences amongst the Red Triangle Circus Gang’s likeminded social outcasts, carries with it the symbolic implication of racial or class-based discrimination; like the oppressive chauvinism experienced by Selina and any other woman who dares to challenge the patriarchal social order, this is yet another facet of the reactionary and deeply conservative 1950s-style society represented by this version of Gotham City.

Irrespective of any issues I might have as to the way this Penguin is written, there is little doubt in my mind as to Danny DeVito’s performance. As tremendously enjoyable as Nicholson’s Joker is, ‘Jack’ was essentially expanding on his own larger-than-life ‘bad-boy’ persona; DeVito however, genuinely transforms into his malicious Richard the Third-channelling maladroit, both physically and in terms of his own impressive work, which successfully avoids being either a lazy regurgitation of his vast roster of movie-villains, or an extension of his own familiar real-life personality. Consequently, it beggars belief that far from earning him well-deserved universal acclaim, DeVito’s sinister and convincing against-all-odds portrayal of The Penguin was believed to merit the critical equivalent of a slap in the face, a Golden Raspberry Award nomination.

Additional Comments:

- Once the audience is introduced to Shreck's former business-partner, Fred Atkin's dismembered hand, and thereby the full extent of his evil nature is established Shreck's eventual treatment of his mere 'lowly secretary' Selina Kyle, is practically a foregone conclusion.

 

[dude stannis]

Keep up the amazing work fellas. I wonder, will you guys look at the Schufacher films too?