Leading up to this month’s Man of Steel, a bunch of the robots will be recapping Superman’s previous silver screen exploits. Of course, to most people, the Christopher Reeve movies immediately come to mind. Trust me, we’ll be getting to those. However, I wanted to show off the Man of Steel’s very first live action appearances, which include 2 movie serials and one feature film which led to TV’s Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves. I’ll break them down in order with a few little tidbits along the way.
Superman (1948):
1948’s Superman is pretty interesting. Somehow, it simultaneously merges an accurate representation of the Superman comics of the day, as well as tried and true movie serial tropes. Not only do you get a great opening sequence with Jor-El facing the ridicule of the Science Council regarding Krypton’s destruction, but you also get downright silly cliffhangers and a masked villain. In all fairness, Superman was made on a shoestring budget it’s kind of a miracle it turned out as well as it did.
The movie starts out as previously mentioned with an origin story. It’s really accurate to the time period, right down to the Kents being named Eben and Sarah, and dying before Clark becomes Superman. After that, we get a little montage of Superman doing super-feats and drawing media attention. Pretty abruptly, the government decides that they want Superman to protect and guard the Relativity Reducer Ray. Then we spend the next 12 chapters with that MacGuffin and Superman’s run-ins with the villain of the piece, the Spider Lady. The Spider Lady is kind of underutilized. She has a cool spider lair with an electrified spider web to kill her enemies on, but she delegates all of her plans to her inexhaustible bunch of cronies. Heck, she doesn’t even keep her mask on most of the time. She goes down with little to no effort at the climax, as well.
Another knock against the movie are the special effects. Despite being made 7 years after The Adventures of Captain Marvel, with its amazing (for the time) flight effects, Superman animates all of the flight sequences. You kind of get used to it after a while, but not really, and it does bring the enjoyment level down a bit.
That’s not to say the movie is all bad though. Kirk Alyn makes a fine Clark Kent/Superman. So much so, that as you can see from the poster above, the producers went with the conceit that the actual Superman starred in the movie, with Alyn only playing Clark Kent. Noel Neill plays Lois Lane, and similarly does a great job bringing the character to life. Later in her career, she was even brought back to play Lois in seasons 2-6 of Adventures of Superman.
Being a movie serial, Superman also sported some fantastic movie posters like the one above, but here are a couple of others that are pretty great as well.
Also, if you’d like to actually watch the movie, you can! You can either check out the serial in a nicely edited feature-length film with updated special effects and a lot of fluff cut out:
“>httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwESkj8LU_M
OR you could get the DVD on the cheap. It’s available on Amazon for less than $20 and you also get:
Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950):
The original Superman predictably made a lot of money, so a sequel was fast-tracked. This is both good and bad. The cast largely carries over from the first film, which is good. Added to this outing is Lyle Talbot as Lex Luthor. Talbot plays an outstanding version of Lex, bringing a pitch-perfect life to the late Golden/early Silver Age version of the character. This is a Luthor who not only has no problem being bald (sorry, Gene Hackman), and he truly is the greatest criminal mind of our time. Whether it be clever escapes from prision, super-psuedo-scientific feats, or boasting his every move to the general populace, this movie’s Luthor is truly a credible threat for Superman. Some will even go so far to say that Talbot’s Luthor is the definitive live-action version of the villain.
Sadly, as much as Talbot’s Luthor props the movie up, you can’t support something collapsing of its own weight. Returning are the animated special effects (although this time the flying is interspersed with shots of Alyn), coupled with an astonishing amount of stock footage and re-used plots and props from other serials. Even though the plot meanders about, and the titular Atom Man is just Luthor in an Easter Island-esque mask, there are a few things introduced here that would be re-used by later additions to the Superman mythos.
First, as part of the plot, Luthor creates a synthetic Kryptonite which Superman is exposed to during a public event, just like in Superman III. Sadly, Drunk Superman does not make an appearance. Secondly, while in many parts of the movie, Luthor is in mad scientist gear, he is also depicted in full-on business suits, giving him an air of respectability. Much later in the comics, this affectation was given to Luthor when he was re-imagined as a ruthless businessman. The final, and in my opinion, greatest addition is that of “The Empty Doom”. While it doesn’t sound like much, The Empty Doom is another dimension Superman gets sent to where he can see the world, but not interact with it, much like a ghost or… a phantom! Yes, while not described as such, Atom Man Vs. Superman contains the first appearance of the Phantom Zone, albeit in a crude form, 10 years before it would appear in the comics themselves!
While slow in spots, Atom Man Vs. Superman is what most sequels aspire to be: more of the same, but bigger. This serial definitely has more action than the first, and is well worth watching at least once, despite the corners cut in its production. Strangely, there is next to no footage of the film online, but again, it is available on an inexpensive DVD. Luckily, I do have a bit of the promotional material to share.
The Superman serials came out at a time when the format was dying. With the advent of television, entertainment seekers could stay in their homes for serialized entertainment. What about the Man of Tomorrow? Surely, the Last Son of Krypton could spearhead this technological marvel called TV? Of course he could, but first, a trial run, which leads us to:
Superman and the Mole Men (1951):
In this feature, clocking in at 58 minutes, we get an entirely new cast and sensibilities. Playing the dual role of Clark Kent/Superman is George Reeves, and even this early on in his super-career, he brings a great sensibility to his portrayal of Clark Kent, giving him a social conscious and sense of justice that previous “mild-mannered” (cowardly) interpretations lacked. Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane also shines, though I’ll always prefer Noel Neill in the role.
The flying effects were also much improved from the serials. No more animation here! Reeves is actually lifted by wires for his take-offs in this film. The story too is much improved. In a small town known for having the largest drill in the world, accidentally reveals an underground race, the titular Mole Men. What ensues is a story involving mass hysteria and mob mentality towards the unknown mole creatures. It’s a Superman story with a message evoking ‘Red Menace’ propaganda of the time, but still showing ultimately, we can all get along. It’s still a bit convoluted, what with the conceit that there is an underground race. However, if you can suspend your belief for Superman, Mole Men shouldn’t be too hard to swallow.
Apparently moviegoers thought the film was worthy, as The Man of Steel did in fact get a healthy 6 year run on television as The Adventures of Superman, with the same cast. In fact, this film was later adapted into two episodes late in the first season and is how most people nowadays have seen it. If you’re inclined to see it, both the uncut movie and edited episode are available on the first season DVD of Adventures of Superman.
And so, Superman’s film career got off to a smashing start. While these films are not ever going to be included on AFI’s top 100, their popularity helped cement Superman’s place in the public consciousness. Up, up and away!
