{"id":54778,"date":"2026-09-04T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=54778"},"modified":"2026-09-02T20:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:16:44","slug":"the-bootleg-files-batman-meets-mr-fizz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/04\/the-bootleg-files-batman-meets-mr-fizz\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Batman Meets Mr. Fizz"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 947:<\/strong> \u201cBatman Meets Mr. Fizz\u201d (1965 student film directed by Richard Blackburn). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Unauthorized use of the DC Comics characters.
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\nCHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely, at least for now.<\/p>\n

Hey, you never know what you can find on YouTube. An hour before I sat down to write this, I was not expecting to stumble over \u201cBatman Meets Mr. Fizz,\u201d a 1965 student film short that went online earlier this week courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. This short romp would probably not be given new attention had it not borrowed (without permission) the DC Comics characters of Batman and Robin for its no-budget shenanigans. And it would also not be recalled had its creator not progressed to being the force behind two of the most beloved cult movies of all time.
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\u201cBatman Meets Mr. Fizz\u201d was made one year before the campy \u201cBatman\u201d television series premiered, but it had an eerie prescience that the material was ripe for an unapologetic camp treatment. Fred Stuthman\u2019s Batman carries the stiff pomposity of Adam West\u2019s Caped Crusader, although Marshall Efron\u2019s Robin is considerably shorter, older, and fatter than Burt Ward\u2019s Robin \u2013 plus, this Boy Wonder smokes cigarettes.<\/p>\n

In this flick, Batman and Robin are summoned by \u201cThe Chief\u201d (a young man with thick sideburns who is dressed like a race track denizen) to go after the archcriminal Mr. Fizz. This villain (who wears swimming goggles, a top hat and a cape) has a plan to bring the American economy into wreckage by damaging the soda pop industry. He is assisted by a gang of young thugs dressed like they stepped out a community theater production of \u201cGuys and Dolls\u201d plus a hot babe who has nothing to do but look decorative \u2013 and she does that job perfectly.<\/p>\n

The crimefighters drive around in a Batmobile that is a normal car with a giant plaster bat attached to its hood. Batman gains his strength for his battle against Mr. Fizz by drinking a Campbell\u2019s Soup brand of bat guano.<\/p>\n

Batman and Robin quickly find Mr. Fizz and his gang in a soda bottling factory. After a chase that could charitably be described as enervated, Mr. Fizz tries to subdue Batman with a giant bubble wand. When that fails, the miscreant\u2019s gang engage the Dynamic Duo in a fist fight, only to lose badly. Mr. Fizz tries to escape, but winds up being carbonated to death and is reduced to slime that can be packed in an empty soda bottle.<\/p>\n

The film ends with a closing credit sequence obviously inspired by Orson Welles\u2019 films \u2013 the credits are read aloud while photos of the cast are displayed in correspondence with their credits. The film\u2019s creator saves himself for the end and is identified as Richard Comstock Blackburn.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a few years and this student filmmaker went into the film industry without his middle name. As Richard Blackburn, he gained prominence as the writer-director of the 1973 horror classic \u201cLemora: A Child\u2019s Tale of the Supernatural\u201d and as a co-writer of the 1982 comedy gem \u201cEating Raoul.\u201d In a 2018 interview with the blog Room 207, Blackburn recalled that he intentionally sought to make \u201cBatman Meets Mr. Fizz\u201d as a cheap but silly escapade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a success with the faculty,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only person who didn\u2019t like it, the only faculty person, was Josef von Sternberg, who was teaching there at the time, and it was to him a kind of attack on his aesthetic. It upset him. Some of the students didn\u2019t like it, because they thought it was frivolous. They were doing cinema verit\u00e9, they were doing things about their burgeoning relationships. My pursuits of various women were at that point hardly dramatic enough to be recorded on film.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackburn added his work was part of a student film festival that included an important audience member.<\/p>\n

\u201cPauline Kael turned up, with two German Shepherds and a hip flask,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, she liked it at least.\u201d <\/p>\n

Blackburn then sent a print to William Dozier, the producer of the \u201cBatman\u201d television series.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually told me he thought it was un-American!\u201d he stated. \u201cHe was just appalled at the film, he really was upset, and you know, because he was a year away from his project, \u2018Batman\u2019 on TV. He said Batman was too old, and I said, \u2018Well, he is old, if you count when he was first drawn,\u2019 and he didn\u2019t like that at all, and then he said \u2018Robin looks gay,\u2019 and I said, \u2018Naturally!\u2019 He got all upset. It was my first encounter with Hollywood, and I thought they were gonna accept me with open arms, and it was quite the reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether \u201cBatman Meets Mr. Fizz\u201d ever turns up on a DVD or Blu-ray release remains to be seen. For now, here\u2019s your chance to enjoy this highly unlikely but highly delightful swing through Gotham City: <\/p>\n