Thursday, February 20, 2014

1950 Superman Serial


Not as good as the 1948 version. Far from being the best. Although I thought interesting note - small part of henchman played by Wally West but no relation to kid Flash LOL



WIKI

Plot

Lex Luthor, the Atom Man, invents a number of deadly devices to plague the city, including a disintegrating machine which can reduce people to their basic atoms and reassemble them in another place. But Supermanmanages to thwart each scheme. Since Kryptonite can rob Superman of his powers, Luthor decides to create a synthetic Kryptonite and putters about obtaining the necessary ingredients: plutonium, radium and the undefined 'etc.' Luthor places the Kryptonite at the launching of a ship, with Superman in attendance. He is exposed to the Kryptonite and passes out. Superman is taken off in an ambulance driven by Luthor's henchmen, and he is now under the control of Luthor. Superman is placed in a device, a lever is pulled, and the Man of Steel vanishes into "The Empty Doom" (which bears a similarity to the Phantom Zone of the comic books). Most of chapter 7 is a repeat of the origin story from chapter 1 of Columbia's first "Superman" serial, and this serial also finds a way to work in stock footage from Ken Maynard's 1936 Avenging Waters (also directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet[1]). The serial features several elements re-used in laterSuperman features: the Man of Steel is exposed to synthetic Kryptoniteduring a public function, as he is in the motion picture Superman III. When he escapes from "The Empty Doom", the headline of the Daily Planetproclaims: Superman Returns, the title of the 2006 Superman movie.

Cast

  • Kirk Alyn as Superman/Clark Kent
  • Noel Neill as Lois Lane
  • Lyle Talbot as Lex Luthor/The Atom Man
  • Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen
  • Pierre Watkin as Perry White
  • Jack Ingram as Foster (dapper henchman)
  • Don C. Harvey as Albor (lab henchman)
  • Rusty Wescoatt as Carl (beefy henchman)
  • Terry Frost as Baer (medium henchman)
  • Wally West as Henchman Dorr
  • Paul Stader as 'Killer' Lawson
  • George Robotham as Earl, TV truck cameraman-driver

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