User Reviews

According to TVGuide magazine this was the highest rated episode of the entire series, perhaps Liberace's role as villain has aroused extra interest. The chapter tells of the extortionate relationship between two twin brothers, Harry is a nefarious criminal who blackmails his brother, the famous pianist Chandell, by revealing that he used a player piano tape at the concert that made him famous in exchange for large sums of money. Money. To avoid these threats, the pianist devises a plan that consists of conquering Aunt Harriet, marrying her and then eliminating Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson to seize the fortune. Madge Blake has an important role in this chapter, even trying to stop the villain Harry herself once she discovers the plan.

"The Dead Ringers" opens with the Dynamic Duo escaping a dire fate by singing off key in horrendous fashion (a sound not unlike someone strangling a cat), which Harry (Liberace) attributes to 'death squeals of a brace of bats!' Interrogated under hot lights, Harry blames everything on a mysterious 'Fingers,' out to gain control of the entire fortune of Bruce Wayne. Batman easily deduces that Chandell is 'Fingers,' and hypothesizes what would happen to his wealth if he were to accidentally perish, an inheritance that would go to Dick Grayson, unless he too were to die, the lot going to Aunt Harriet! (Robin's exclamation of "Holy Bluebeard!" is the perfect punctuation). Batman hatches a scheme to fake the deaths of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson to trap Chandell, unaware that Harry has taken his place in wooing Aunt Harriet into a public performance. The one thing that Harry has failed to take into account is her female intuition, his kiss not the same as Chandell's. James Millhollin gets in a few jabs as an expensive criminal attorney named Alfred Slye who gets Harry off fairly quickly, at a cost of $100,000! The good natured Liberace was a consummate professional, who ended each shooting day with impromptu recitals on the piano, but the silliness behind this 'criminal symphony' remains a chore to watch.