Rating:  -
This is a wonderful bundle of fun, well priced, silly but superb 50s kiddie drama. The show became increasingly childish (not the same as childlike) as the years went on, but was always fun to watch. Others say more about their various favorite episodes (I love Crime Wave--relatively high-budget noir opening followed by special effects of a lightning chamber in an attempt to kill Superman), or the grainy Stolen Costume episode (not too grainy and so bizarre and morally problematic an ending that it HAD to be included), but I want to add an anachronistic cheer for the other Lois, Noel Neill (or was it one "L"?)who took over in later seasons. Phyllis Coates is great, spunky, tough, and yes, an Olympic-quality screamer, but the differences between the actresses are also a function of script and direction. Noel was a different, but equally great Lois. More flirtatious, bratty, obnoxious, and meddlesome than her predecessor, Noel played to a 1950's boy's ambivalent fascination with young girls. The first season may have been the greatest for Superman as a series, but as for the Loises (as Fred Astaire once said of his various dance partners), they were all divine.
Rating: -
Well, I've finally gotten a chance to get this set, and see the original for the first time. I must say I am impressed! This and many other 1950's TV shows brought TV to what it has become today. It's cool to see this great series in it's original Black & White presentation. The bonus features are quite cool, too. Very nifty!
I was a bit upset by the picture quality of the episode called "The Stolen Costume". But I realized that this show is 54 years old, and finding a good condition copy was probably difficult, but I'm glad it did make it on the set, and officially made it a "Complete First Season". But because of the credits at the beginning looking so good, I realized that credits from one episode must have been remastered, then just used for each and every episode on this Season 1 DVD. So, I guess that doesn't make this set altogether "original".
Rating: -
Looking at these episodes, 45 years after I watched them as a child, I can only say that they have truly held up to the test of time. Thinking of when they were made, and how they were made, allows me to have more respect for all the participants, and the production itself.
Truly outstanding.
Rating: -
I COULDN'T WAIT AND WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. SINCE I WAS A KID I RAN HOME TO WATCH SUPERMAN ON RERUNS FROM SCHOOL.AS SOON AS I RECEIVED IT I SAT DOWN AND WATCHED ALL THE EPISODES OVER THE WEEKEND. FRIENDS IF YOU LOVE GEORGE REEVES AS SUPERMAN YOU MUST GET THIS SET.MOST HAVE BEEN REMASTERED.THE QUALITY IS 9 OUT OF 10..I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH.THE PACKAGE IS BEAUTIFUL AND THE PRICE IS UNBEATABLE.ALL I CAN SAY IS "GET IT-BUY IT-ENJOY IT"NOSTALGIA AT ITS BEST
Rating: -
I've always gotten razzed when I say that George Reeves was the greatest 'Superman'. After all, Christopher Reeve was closest to the comic book, Dean Cain introduced a level of sexiness to the character, and Tom Welling is the current teen heartthrob; the general impression of Reeves was as the chubby, aging, 'long johns'-clad Superman, from the silly color TV episodes of the late 50s, who "killed himself" when the series ended.
The new DVD "Adventures of Superman - Complete First Season" should put that impression to rest!
Filmed in B&W, in 1951, the youthful, 37-year old Reeves offered a 'Man of Steel' of compassion, integrity, and honor, with a twinkle in his eye and a ready smile for the TV audiences who shared his 'secret'. Far more charismatic than his movie serial predecessor, Kirk Alyn, he was as quick to use his head and his fists as his "Powers and Abilities' to defend "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" against gangsters, spies, and evildoers. While some may quibble that his 'Clark Kent' was TOO heroic, and similar to his costumed alter ego, he was an unabashed role model for a generation of young viewers, and he never let us down, during the 'Superman' years, either on screen, or off.
The first season episodes are, perhaps, the best of the series, produced by veterans of the B-movie industry who knew how to make action-packed stories quickly, and cinematically. The plots are rich in film noir touches ("The Haunted Lighthouse" is so atmospheric that it could stand beside many of the noir dramas of the 40s), and offer, for the first time, believable flying effects (achieved, in large part, by double-exposing film of Reeves hanging by wire and harness, attached to a body-contoured 'flying pan', worn under his suit, with moving aerial shots). The episodes were never 'dumbed down' for kids; while some characters were played for laughs, the stories were serious, the violence real. These shows were not produced for children, they were made for the same audiences who loved adventure stories in movie theaters (it would take self-appointed committees to decide children weren't fit for such things, and force the series into complying, in later seasons).
Joining Reeves in the cast were 24-year-old Phyllis Coates as a spirited Lois Lane far ahead of her time; John Hamilton, 65, a veteran character actor for nearly 50 years, as crusty editor Perry White; B-movie vet Robert Shayne, 50, as Kent's friend, Police Inspector Henderson, and, best of all, 18-year old Jack Larson as a tousled-haired, naive Jimmy Olsen.
But, ultimately, the season (and the series) owed it's success to George Reeves, who appeared in every episode, and worked tirelessly to bring the Last Son of Krypton to life. As the syndicated series reached more and more markets (as TV stations began to spread across the nation), his performance, and the series, became national sensations, giving him the success that had eluded him in twelve years of acting, but also forever 'typing' him in a role that would cost him his career, and possibly his life.
"The Adventures of Superman" would be his legacy, and this fabulous collection might have you joining me in celebrating the BEST Superman of them all!
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