Found this *wonderful* blog that documents newspaper ads for Filipino movies from the 60s and 70s. It seems the Turks weren't the only ones remaking popular comic book heroes in their own image.

Video 48

I've been looking for evidence of the infamous "lost" movie BATMAN FIGHTS DRACULA for ages. Here's proof that it once existed.



Check out some of the other mouth-watering ads. Where, oh where, did these films disappear to?

D.

Leche!

Good god, what a selection of films. This has got to be the the greatest shopping list Mondo Macabro ever got!

Hint hint, Sir Pete of Tombs ;)

Yes! I'm both excited and frustrated by all those ads and titles. Surely if so many of the Turkish films from the same period can be unearthed, then the Filipino films can as well. Take a look at the ads for FIGHT BATMAN FIGHT. Unlike BATMAN FIGHTS DRACULA, it actually looks more true to the comic books. One of the ads even emulates (or steals) some Denny O'Neil art circa 1970.

D.

Denny O'Neil was/is actually a writer, not an artist. I don't see many actual swipes in that ad, except for perhaps the woman, who looks like a Neal Adams drawing, and the Batman logo, which appears to be partially relettered. I'd love to see FIGHT BATMAN FIGHT and I have little doubt it's more entertaining than THE DARK KNIGHT will turn out to be.

Now if we can only find George Weiss' poster from the never-made BATMAN FIGHTS DR. ACULA...!

SO embarrassed. Let the record show that I meant Neal Adams, not Denny O'Neil.

There's an ad for FIGHT BATMAN FIGHT somewhere on that site that has a very Neal Adamsish drawing of Batman.

D.

The second any company announced this release, it would be hit with cease-and-desists faster than you could imagine. I mean, they jumped all over the WILD, WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN back in the day, so these which steal the BATMAN character name, the look of his costume and the poster art look of noteworthy Batman artists is the easiest legal target on the map for lawsuit-happy legal departments. Not that they'd be unjustified in protecting their assets and trademarks.

Now, if they did not use the Batman character in the artwork, and used an alternate title or the philippino title, it might help, depending on the content, but I wouldn't touch this one with a ten foot pole, if it was my company...

That said, I'd buy these or see a screening of them in a heartbeat. ;)

That blog is fascinating - seems I won't be getting any work done tonight. :ph43r: I remember some of those Darna posters from trips to Baguio as a kid. It's so surreal to see them again. If Mr. Santos digs up a picture of Captain Klim, bricks will be shat.

Wow.

One look at that blog, and I would buy any and all of these films sight-unseen should they come out on DVD. Amazing stuff, like some crazy dream you'd have after reading too many 60s DC Comics while home with the flu.

I want them!

Eventually, I'll sit down, jot down all the titles and see if any of them turn up here. This is where I found JAMES BATMAN several years ago. At least one of the older Darna movies from this era (DARNA ET DING) is available on VCD.

D.

The Philippines was host to some of the most brilliant draftsmen in 70's comics, including Alfredo Alcala, whose art appears in a few of those movie ads.

I printed out a 9 page compilation of the posters fitting 3 or 4 per page and showed it to a Filipino female colleague who could identify most of the films and the stars from her youthful memory (she happily kept the print outs). It was great to hear about the stars, one of the actors playing Batman (I can't remember which one) was a popular Elvis type star singer, and one of the female stars is now a Governor - just like Arnie (and her daughter is famous as well).

I hope to now see some of these (some now, some more after an August trip) as apparently they are on VCD/DVD somehow, if not legit.

(Gov) Vilma Santos as Darna

Darna fighting off a Planet Woman almost Bruce Lee stylee taunting

Darna beating up some thugs to Bond/similar music and fight audio fx from (pre-dating) Rolling Thunder!

FIGHT BATMAN FIGHT was broadcast on something called "Sky Cable" as recently as 2001 (see link). Anyone know how to pursue this further?

http://www.skycable.com/cinema1_sked1.html

D.

Perhaps not, as this unabashed ripoff of a rather well-known superhero character got a legitimate DVD release, and is still available:

Above-mentioned unabashed ripoff on DVD