DVD Review

Superman - The 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection (1948)
© Warner Bros.

Mania Grade: B
Show Grade: B
Disc Grade: B+
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: Not Rated
Cast: Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Tommy Bond, Pierre Watkin
Writers: Lewis Clay, Royal K. Cole, Arthur Hoerl / David Mathews, George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland
Directors: Thomas Carr / Spencer Gordon Bennet
Distributor: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 1948 / 1950
Extras: English DD 2.0; English & French subtitles; CC; featurettes.
Suggested Retail: $39.98
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"Superman: Theatrical Serials Collection"

By: Brian Thomas
Review Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Though comic-book heroes like Captain Marvel, Batman and Captain America all were featured in movie serials within a few years of their print debut, National Periodical Publications instead sold screen rights to their moct valuable creation Superman to the Fleischer Studios for a series of successful (but expensive) cartoon shorts. And so, it took about ten years for the comics’ most famous hero to reach the screen in live-action form. In a way, for posterity’s sake at least, this was a good thing. Some other heroes were adapted to movies in haphazard form, but the Superman mythos had a chance to build and become entrenched in the public consciousness – whether from the comic-books, newspaper strips or the Adventures of Superman radio show - before appearing in moving pictures.

The 1948 15-chapter serial Superman takes as much of that established background information as it can afford. The extended first chapter “Superman Comes to Earth” tells the familiar origin story (told in one page in Action Comics #1) of how Kryptonian scientist Jor-El (Nelson Leigh) tries to save his race from the destruction of their planet, but when he faces opposition, he and his wife Lara (Luana Walters) are only able to send their infant son into space. The baby’s rocket is found by the Kents (Ed Cassidy and Virginia Carroll), who raised the powerful alien as their own son. All this is pretty much set aside as soon as the grown Clark Kent (Kirk Alyn) heads for the big city of Metropolis to set up a base as a newspaper reporter in order to get the earliest possible alert of trouble so that his alter ego can put his super-powers to work. No sooner has Clark been hired by the Daily Planet than he runs up against the schemes of the super-criminal known as the Spider Lady.

The masked villain was a standard plot device of serial adventures. Usually the mask hides the villain’s identity from even the audience, with a final chapter unmasking revealing that some minor character is to blame. Here, the Spider Lady’s identity is unknown to only the cast, but since she doesn’t appear to have any other name or cover identity, it doesn’t make much difference. However, Carol Forman adds an element of startling sexuality unusual for a chapterplay – in a blonde wig and tight black dress, she slinks around her secret lair, often posing in front of a huge web that is wired to electrocute her enemies. Typecasting may have been in effect, since just a few months before Forman played “Sombra the Spider Woman” in the Republic serial The Black Widow.

The rest of the plot follows more or less standard procedure, with the Spider Lady kidnapping scientists to develop super-weapons for her, and countering interference from the heroes by putting them in various death traps. Kirk Alyn, as is often said, looks the Superman part perfectly, using his training as a dancer to do most of his own stunts, and he makes a serviceable Kent. However, he may bring a bit too much grace to the role. He’s often shown posing with his arms out at his sides, and his acting in the tights is stilted and unnatural. Noel Niell is absolutely perfect as Superman’s love interest – and Kent’s sometime rival – Lois Lane. She comes off as a bit naïve at times, but she shows a scrappy spirit, sometimes even launching into fights with thugs. The only mar to her performance is an unfortunate large hat she’s been provided for most of her scenes. Tommy Bond, an alumnus of the Our Gang kid comedies, uses his own hat as his most distinguishing characteristic as photographer Jimmy Olsen. His battered fedora is supposed to mark him as comic relief, but he doesn’t get to do much funny business, instead spending a lot of time getting knocked out by crooks.The Spider Lady does manage to get hold of some kryptonite for some extra threats, but it doesn’t amount to much and the big climax is over her attempt to wreck a train.

To modern audiences, the most jarring aspect of the serial is that Superman’s flying stunts are accomplished via animation. This allows the hero a great deal more maneuverability than the standard rear projection or dummy-on-a-wire f/x, but it takes some getting used to.

Despite its lack of spectacle, Superman was a huge hit, credited as being the most successful serial of all time. A sequel went into production soon after release, and Atom Man vs. Superman was in theaters by 1950. Though thankfully the main cast was kept the same (Neill trades in that hat for a sexy bob haircut), some major improvements were added for the follow-up. The focus, as the title implies, is on atom age weapons and concepts, increasing the level of spectacle a great deal. And the villain is much stronger. By this time, every Superman fan knew that their hero’s arch nemesis was the bald super-criminal and mad scientist Luthor. In Atom Man vs. Superman, Luthor (radio and genre movie mainstay Lyle Talbot) can almost be taken for the lead character. He starts out by threatening Metropolis with a ray machine that destroys a bridge – stock footage of real disasters and explosions are used to good effect as background plates by f/x man throughout the serial. Howard Swift is credited with the special effects, but as he was an animation director for Columbia’s shorts, he was likely only responsible for the Superman animation.

Luthor is caught by Superman and sent to prison, but continues with his plans by teleporting in and out of his cell. He appears to ally himself with a masked villain called Atom Man, who wears a shiny, glittering metal helmet to hide his identity. Later, Luthor gains his freedom from prison, and pretends to help the authorities to fight the Atom Man. This false public pose would become a common tactic in much later portrayals of Luthor. He even buys a television station to use in his operations, and when Lois is fired by Perry White (Pierre Watkin), he hires her as a TV reporter (both Lois and Clark would later work on TV in the comics). Luthor uses his destructive ray to murder underlings, invents artificial kryptonite, and traps Superman in another dimension much like the Kryptonians’ Phantom Zone.

Not only is there a lot more action in the sequel, but more characterization and humor. The subplot about Lois suspecting Clark’s secret comes up (though, and White is given more to do than hollering at reporters. The climax has Luthor sending a nuclear missile at Metropolis, and as Superman rides it toward the Planet building, the tension breaks for a laugh when we see Lois and Jimmy run out on Perry. Though the serial suffers from a bit of the same meandering plot syndrome that many cliffhangers fall prey to, with an entire chapter interrupted to have Luthor (of all people) recap Superman’s origin, the main flaw is in the gimmick of the title menace.

The serials are each contained on two discs held in a digipack album, and the transfers are relatively free of flaws, though midway through Atom Man there’s a troublesome splice. Disc 4 contains a good featurette, with Neill, fans Bob Burns, Don Glut and others looking back at the serials. There’s also an abridged version of the promotional TV special Look, Up in the Sky, which has already appeared on DVD.

Superman would continue on with George Reeves in the pilot feature Superman and the Mole Men and on into the hit TV series, leaving these serials much forgotten. As such, this set is a great gift to fans.

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