An evil enterprise that calls itself CLAW has threatened to destroy the world unless its demands are met. At a meeting with representatives of each country, an emissary from CLAW interrupts the proceedings and tells the committee its demands: All East Asian and European countries will be under the rule of the Red Government, all arms and wealth shall be given to the Red Government and all citizens of these governments shall be taught to hate America. Any refusal will result in the total destruction of these countries. They have five days to comply with CLAW’s demands.
The committee calls in James Hika (Dolphy) as well as the dynamic duo, Batman (Dolphy) and Robin (Boy Alano). The superheroes are not keen on sharing the spotlight but the committee insists they work together. Eventually, for the sake of humanity, they concede.
CLAW decides that James, Batman and Robin have to go. The head of the CLAW operation is Drago. He has at his disposal a never ending supply of minions and henchmen. All armed with machine guns. His main lieutenants are the Joker, Penguin, and Black Rose. Drago assigns Penguin and the Joker to get rid of James. He then tells Black Rose to kidnap Batman and Robin and bring them to him.
Now working together Batman, Robin and James must stay out of CLAW’s clutches and stop the evil enterprise before it executes its threats against the East Asian and European countries. Unknown by the superheroes is that there is a traitor in their midst that, if not discovered and stopped, could bring about the end of the world.
“James Batman” was released in 1966 and was directed by Artemio Marquez. It is a Filipino science fiction action-hero spoof of the Batman and James Bond characters. The film is in Tagalog but there are English subtitles in some of the versions.
The movie was released after the Filipino movie “Alyas Batman and Robin” 1965 and before the American film “Batman: The Movie” 1966, which was spawned from the Batman T.V. series. It is a double dose of camp and cheese to outdo the camp and cheese already produced by the original Batman and 007 movies.
Most of the prints available are not a very good. The sound cuts in and out a lot and they are very scratchy and dusty. The editing is also a little choppy. For those that appreciate it, there is some stock footage snippets of a nuclear test blast and the aftermath of a typhoon to add excitement to the film. Evil villains include the Joker, the Penguin, Black Rose and the head of CLAW, Drago. Also included are plagiarized versions of the batman television theme and the James Bond theme.
The movie stars Rodolfo Vera Quizon AKA Dolphy as both Batman and James Bond. Dolphy was a well known and well loved Filipino comedian. Dolphy had 18 children from six different relationships but was never married. He was born in 1928 in Tondo, Manila, Philippines and died in 2012 in Makati City, Philippines.