"True or False Face" features the one time only appearance of False Face, not seen in comic book form since his 1958 debut, and though rumors were rampant that some truly big name star would be playing the role, what we get is the least known 'Special Guest Villain' of the entire three year run, the underrated Malachi Throne. A multitalented performer whose face and (especially) voice remained a familiar one for decades, few would have recalled his name and because of the immobile mask he was forced to wear as False Face, rather than the elaborate makeup first called for, he asked that his name not be used, reluctant to take credit for a part that he felt required no real acting and never revealing the face behind the mask. Most viewers would know his face as the Commodore from STAR TREK's "The Menagerie," or LOST IN SPACE and other Irwin Allen shows, but on BATMAN he used his entire body to display the character's zest in outwitting the authorities at every turn, leaping in the air and escaping each time he appeared cornered, with another surprise being Malachi Throne's own features utilized in his disguise as the armored car driver, wearing little makeup. Batman of course sees through the ruse because of his parking in front of a fire hydrant ("always the little things!"), his sexy female accomplice Blaze played by Myrna Fahey, who helps him catch the Dynamic Duo, leaving them to die on the tracks of an oncoming subway train.
4 Reviews
When False is False
DKosty12316 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
False Face is one of the more agile people Batman chases during this first season. His fast changes and impersonations make him a very dangerous criminal. His plot is a twisted trail of mayhem. Yes, False Face is quite a criminal.
This first installment has many little traps and introduces us to his shapely assistant Blaze who drives the Crusaders into a trap. It does not help that False Face has disguised himself as police chief O'Hara and watches Blaze operate on the Duo at Headquarters.
Blaze takes the Duo to an abandoned subway station. Then, the duo gets tied to the railway tracks and a train is on the way. It looks like curtains, but stayed tuned until tomorrow, same bat time, same
bat channel. How will they get out of this one? It appears Blaze and False Face has the duo out of the way.
This first installment has many little traps and introduces us to his shapely assistant Blaze who drives the Crusaders into a trap. It does not help that False Face has disguised himself as police chief O'Hara and watches Blaze operate on the Duo at Headquarters.
Blaze takes the Duo to an abandoned subway station. Then, the duo gets tied to the railway tracks and a train is on the way. It looks like curtains, but stayed tuned until tomorrow, same bat time, same
bat channel. How will they get out of this one? It appears Blaze and False Face has the duo out of the way.
Fighting a Faceless Foe in Merry, Olde Gotham.
redryan645 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
BREAKING onto the Dolldrum-bound Mid 1960's Entertainment scene like an exploding Super Nova, the BATMAN TV Series (Greenway/20th Century-Fox/ABC TV Network, 1966-68) rose right to the top of the heap and had a spectacular, if somewhat abbreviated joy ride as America's most unique weekly show. The playing of the episodes as being so serious as to evoke laughter, as well as the application of what they referred to as "Camp" Humor made for a hybrid of series types which introduced a large portion of the nation to a character who they weren't familiar with. Others, in their Teens and about up to the age of about Forty, were reunited with an old friend; albeit in a somewhat variant form.
OF the two above-mentioned groups, our family fit neatly into the second group; even going to the head of the class, for we had been reading Comics featuring Batman and other Super Hero types for nearly a decade. (That was a lot of time in a short life!) The Ryan Kids needed no reintroduction to some feature that we were still loyally following. Once we got what past the initial shock of the "Camp" aspect of the show and understood that, much like so many great literary works, the series was to be viewed and taken on two levels. The kids would see it as a straight forward sort of Costumed Crime-fighter saga; whereas the "Old Folks" would see it as amusing, if not hilarious.
DEVELOPING a series for Television would from a Comics Magazine Feature that was 27 years old (in 1966) would seem to have the need to adapt much of its stories, villains and situations prefabricated on the printed page. The Batman series surely did that. They stuck ever so closely to the costumes, main characters, recurring foes and the setting of mythical Gotham City.
THEIR efforts in bridging the gap between the Comics Page to the Video Tube were particularly well executed with their rendering of the bad-guys. In total, we had seven of the Bat-Foes who had their beginnings in the pages of BATMAN COMICS or DETECTIVE COMICS. They are Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze and False Face.
OUR last entry, False Face, was the least known character, having been featured in only one story, "The Menace of False Face", BATMAN Comics # 113, dated February, 1958. The story, much like the Broadcast version, introduced us to not the usual costumed foe, but a sort of human chameleon, who could show up anywhere as another person; the ability not the product of some special power, but rather an end product of make up and other impersonational skills. Much like the vast majority of the more well established Batman baddies; there are no super powers involved. (Much like old Cowl Head, himself).
NOW for the first half of the False Face Two Parter, which they called "True or False Face", which featured Special Guest Villain, Mr. Malachi Throne; we proudly present an actual, real live review. .
GOTHAM City is threatened by a new crime wave, which is much more of the unusual than previous lawless rampages; for this time, no face could be put to the mastermind thug, at least no one face. Much like our modern Fighting Forces, including Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara and the Lawmen of Gotham City were in a struggle with unknown foes, who operated much in the same way as a modern terrorist. Making use of the lack of any uniform strike from anywhere, but if caught expect civil Geneva Convention treatment. There is an interesting comparison to be made.
FOLLOWING the usual first crime that alerts the Police that they need the extracurricular heap of helpfulness of the Dynamic Duo, False Face starts his reign of terror. Eluding capture using his make up skills and proficiency in rapidly executing the change, the super "fast change artist" quickly piles up a string of successful robberies.
IN support of the master crook is a gang of quite varied henchmen. The gang members are skilled in giving proper support to the boss by means of an eerie and perverse application of the psychological ploy of Role Playing. In effect, False Face had a sort of traveling Stock Company of Actor-Crooks.
AT the conclusion of this episode, the Batman & Robin Team was trapped by False Face, who had them rendered helpless, being tied to the rail of a Gotham Subway train. The usual fade out spoken by Producer William Dozier asked "Will this be the End of Batman & Robin? Etc., etc., ..Tune in Tomorrow, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel! And remember, THE WORST IS YET TO COME!" AND We (Schultz and Meself) say. "Be Sure You Read Our Next Review, HOLY RAT RACE which follows (or at least it will when we finish this and write and submit it).
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
OF the two above-mentioned groups, our family fit neatly into the second group; even going to the head of the class, for we had been reading Comics featuring Batman and other Super Hero types for nearly a decade. (That was a lot of time in a short life!) The Ryan Kids needed no reintroduction to some feature that we were still loyally following. Once we got what past the initial shock of the "Camp" aspect of the show and understood that, much like so many great literary works, the series was to be viewed and taken on two levels. The kids would see it as a straight forward sort of Costumed Crime-fighter saga; whereas the "Old Folks" would see it as amusing, if not hilarious.
DEVELOPING a series for Television would from a Comics Magazine Feature that was 27 years old (in 1966) would seem to have the need to adapt much of its stories, villains and situations prefabricated on the printed page. The Batman series surely did that. They stuck ever so closely to the costumes, main characters, recurring foes and the setting of mythical Gotham City.
THEIR efforts in bridging the gap between the Comics Page to the Video Tube were particularly well executed with their rendering of the bad-guys. In total, we had seven of the Bat-Foes who had their beginnings in the pages of BATMAN COMICS or DETECTIVE COMICS. They are Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Mad Hatter, Mr. Freeze and False Face.
OUR last entry, False Face, was the least known character, having been featured in only one story, "The Menace of False Face", BATMAN Comics # 113, dated February, 1958. The story, much like the Broadcast version, introduced us to not the usual costumed foe, but a sort of human chameleon, who could show up anywhere as another person; the ability not the product of some special power, but rather an end product of make up and other impersonational skills. Much like the vast majority of the more well established Batman baddies; there are no super powers involved. (Much like old Cowl Head, himself).
NOW for the first half of the False Face Two Parter, which they called "True or False Face", which featured Special Guest Villain, Mr. Malachi Throne; we proudly present an actual, real live review. .
GOTHAM City is threatened by a new crime wave, which is much more of the unusual than previous lawless rampages; for this time, no face could be put to the mastermind thug, at least no one face. Much like our modern Fighting Forces, including Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara and the Lawmen of Gotham City were in a struggle with unknown foes, who operated much in the same way as a modern terrorist. Making use of the lack of any uniform strike from anywhere, but if caught expect civil Geneva Convention treatment. There is an interesting comparison to be made.
FOLLOWING the usual first crime that alerts the Police that they need the extracurricular heap of helpfulness of the Dynamic Duo, False Face starts his reign of terror. Eluding capture using his make up skills and proficiency in rapidly executing the change, the super "fast change artist" quickly piles up a string of successful robberies.
IN support of the master crook is a gang of quite varied henchmen. The gang members are skilled in giving proper support to the boss by means of an eerie and perverse application of the psychological ploy of Role Playing. In effect, False Face had a sort of traveling Stock Company of Actor-Crooks.
AT the conclusion of this episode, the Batman & Robin Team was trapped by False Face, who had them rendered helpless, being tied to the rail of a Gotham Subway train. The usual fade out spoken by Producer William Dozier asked "Will this be the End of Batman & Robin? Etc., etc., ..Tune in Tomorrow, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel! And remember, THE WORST IS YET TO COME!" AND We (Schultz and Meself) say. "Be Sure You Read Our Next Review, HOLY RAT RACE which follows (or at least it will when we finish this and write and submit it).
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
The Case of False Face
rcollins206 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Malachi Throne appears in this episode as the tremendously entertaining villain known as False Face, who wears an awesome looking creepy mask and has an uncanny talent for being a master of disguise. Great episode, Adam West, Burt Ward, Alan Napier and Neil Hamilton are fantastic as always, but that goes without saying. Pretty sure this is the only live action portrayal of the False Face character, who first debuted in the comic book "Batman" issue 113 back in February 1958. I definitely think this villain would blend well into a modern Batman film...Holy Deception!
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