VHS : Superman: Serial

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- First live-action Superman has good opening, but bogs down
The best parts of SUPERMAN (1948), a 15-chapter serial produced by Columbia Pictures, are found in the first three or so chapters when we see a lot of Superman lore adapted to film, including the destruction of Krypton, young Clark growing up on a farm with the Kents, and Clark coming to Metropolis and joining the staff of the Daily Planet. We also get to see Superman do lots of superheroic deeds such as rescuing people from disasters. Afterwards, however, it settles into a standard cliffhanger formula with Superman battling the Spider Lady (Carol Forman), a conventional serial villainess and criminal gang leader who sends her standard-issue thugs and henchmen (middle-aged guys in suits, ties and fedoras) out to kidnap Lois and knock out Jimmy Olsen with growing monotony in every episode.

On the plus side, the Superman flying effects are carried out through cartoon animation. This enables Superman to be seen flying through a variety of locales. (If Republic Pictures had shot this, they would have repeated the same shot over and over of a stuntman in costume flying on a wire strung from one rock in the San Fernando Valley to another.) Also, Noel Neill's Lois is as spunky here as the character ever got. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the ever-smiling Lois plunges into the action wholeheartedly time and time again, frequently making Superman look weak and overly cautious in comparison. Neill played the part again in the sequel, ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN, and later in all but the first season of the TV series.

A word about the sequel: ATOM MAN is far superior to this one, with a stronger, more comic book-appropriate villain in Lex Luthor, many more clever and imaginative sci-fi twists, and a more carefully devised script and structure. Superman also gets to do many more heroic feats of strength and the animated effects are more plentiful too.

Rating:

- One of the greatest things I have ever seen!
A week ago I bout the 1948 Superman serial here from Amazon and I loved it! It is powerfully charming and fun to watch! There is a total of 15 chapters on the tapes and they are each 20 minutes long and end with a very suspenseful cliff hanger! I have showed it to my friends and there families my family and everyone loves it! I think you should buy it today! No one should have to live and not watch this! It is a must have! Now I'm going to give you a summary of the first three chapters:
Chapter 1 - Superman Comes To Earth: Galaxies far from ours there is the blue planet Krypton. Krypton is a world of advanced science and mystery. One day Jor-EL a member of Krypton's council board and one of the brilliant scientist on Krypton, makes a startling discovering! He learns that the mighty Krypton is coming upon its last hours, Krypton is being drawn into its red sun and will explode! He tells the rest of Krypton's council leaders this and tells them that all of Krypton's population must flee to the planet Earth, in spacecraft! The council leaders laugh at his discovery and vote to stay on Krypton; Jor-EL calls them fools and leaves! At Jor-EL's home he tells his wife what just happened, they both agree to send their baby boy Kal-EL on Jor-EL's experimental rocket and send it to Earth. After Kal-El is put into the rocket and lunched into space, the planet Krypton explodes, killing all of its people except Kal-EL! On Earth in a small town a farmer and his wife witness some sort of spacecraft come out of the sky and land on the ground! The farmer opens the spacecraft and finds a baby boy raped in fireproof blankets, the farmer and his wife adopted the boy that came out of the sky and name him Clark Kent. It's not long after Clark starts to grow, he learns he is no ordinary boy and can perform impossible deeds! When Clark grows up he vow's to his foster parents that he will use his powers for truth justice and the American way! His foster mother give's him a suit that she made from the blankets Clark was raped in when he first came to Earth. He tells them he will wear it only when he is SUPERMAN!
Chapter 2 - Depths Of The Earth: There is a mine disaster and reporters from the Daily Planet in Metropolis are sent on a train to cover the story. But a track is broken and the engineer of the train is not warned in time and is going to crash! Before a train goes over the broken track, a man in a cape and a giant "S" symbol on his shirt, comes out of the bushes and fixes the track with his bare hands. The train is safe but the queer man who help has run off. In Metropolis Clark Kent is in a cab and asks to go to the Daily Planet, on the way Clark sees a building on fire and asks the cabby to pull over! Clark gets out and use's his x-ray vision and sees a women inside the building, Clark say's to himself, "This looks like a job for Superman!" and changes into a suit with a cape and a giant "S" symbol on it. In an instant flies into the building grabs the women flies back out with her in his arms, next he drops her off safely and runs off. At the Daily Planet Clark asks Perry White the chief editor at the Daily Planet, if he can have a job. Perry is about to say no but gets a phone call instead. On the phone are Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen they were sent to do a story on the mine disaster but the police won't let them in. Clark say's to Perry that if he could get in and get the story, if he could have a job, Perry agrees. At the mine disaster Lois finds a way into the mine but gets caved in and now is left to die by dangerous fumes!
Chapter 3 - The Reducer Ray: Superman comes to the rescue and brakes through the mine and saves Lois and the miners and then runs off again! When Lois and Jimmy get back to the Daily Planet they are mocked because someone else got the story and Lois is really mad! Next her and Jimmy meet the newest member at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent! In a secret hideout the Spider Lady ruler of the underworld of crime want's to steal a very powerful weapon called the Reducer Ray, it can blow up any thing with a blast bigger then a the atomic bomb. Her first plot to steal it is unsuccessful for Superman stops her. That night a meteor crashes near Metropolis. At the Metropolis Museum Professor Leeds wants show reporter Clark Kent the meteor. It is in a lead box, Leeds tells Clark that it is very strange and thinks that it comes from the planet Krypton that exploded many years ago! When Leeds takes off the lid the meteor glows green and Clark falls down dead!

Rating:

- THANK YOU FOR THE TRIBUTE TO FLEISHER SUPERMAN CARTOONS
The Superman serials from Columbia had cartoons in tribute to the Fleisher cartoons of a few year before. It was very creative and thinking out of the box. ~*~ Carol Forman is great in her continuing quest to take over the world. This serial is a hoot.

Rating:

- Columbia Wimps Out
Too bad Republic didn't make this serial because over there they at least had Commando Cody and Captain Marvel up in the skies. Instead we get some fake animation everytime our boy in blue jumps. I'm sure that some think it's cute but I felt cheated. I give them 2 stars for trying though.

Rating:

- SuperMovie for a Superman SuperFan
All right Superman fans. For those of you who are really into the Superman mythology, then this nostalgic piece of work is for you. As like the modern (Chris Reeve) Superman, we see in the beginning chapter the origins of Krypton and it's untimely demise as the sun draws it closer to it. Then the origin of Superman is pretty much the same, which follows the George Reeves and modern Superman origins with Superman being raised by foster parents who teach him Godly morals and to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

For those of you who like the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons or the Hanna-Barberra Superman cartoons of the seventies and eighties, this is also a film for you. The reason, whenever Superman flies, jumps from a building, or crashes into walls, he turns animated, thus making any stunt possible. And no actors were hurt, which is even better.

Sadly, the man that played Superman, Kirk Alyn, died in 1999 at age 88. However, we will always have the Superman serials and the memorories will never die.

All in all, I must give this movie 5 out of 5 stars. Any Superman fan or Kirk Alyn fan needs this piece in their collection....

A Super Fan, David Meek

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