  Well, since I've got this working, here's a meandering bit of writing. *Ahem*... As a fan of his work, I am excited about Christian Bale as the next Batman, especially with Chris 'Memento' Nolan behind the camera.
However, back in 1946, a potentially even greater version of the Dark Knight was being considered urlLink According to this site, Orson Welles, famous actor and director, known for his many films such as Citizen Kane and Transformers: The Movie was prepared to produce a Batman film. The casting of the villians is truly wonderful (and the best part - most of the actors had accpeted): George Raft as Two-Face , Basil Rathbone as The Joker, James F'in Cagney as The Riddler and Marlene Dietrich as Catwoman!
Unfortunately, studio differences over the casting of Gregory Peck as Batman meant the film fell through. And it is a damned shame, because a Batman film at the being of the mythology, without additions like Robin and Bat-girl and without the influence of Adam West and Burt Ward running around in camp leotards would have been awesome. 
