Superman - The 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection
by Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr
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Actor: Carol Forman, George Meeker, Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Tommy BondDirector: Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Arthur Hoerl
Writer: David Mathews
Writer: George H. Plympton
Writer: Jerry Siegel
Writer: Joe Shuster
Writer: Joseph F. Poland
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Black & White, Box set, Closed-captioned, Dolby
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 518 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 82125
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Kirk Alyn sets the herioc standard for generations to come, portraying Superman in these multichapter cliffhanger adventures that kept Saturday matinee crowds coming back for more. The 15-chapter Superman (1948) spans our hero's first arrival on Earth to his alter-ego role as reporter Clark Kent through his battle with sinister Spider Lady. In the 15-part Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), a UFO and A-
DVD Reviews of Superman - The 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection
DVD Review: Up, Up, and Away!
Summary: 4 Stars
Well, I was enjoying all 8-plus hours of this set until I got to the short except of an upcoming documentary on the Man of Steel. The documentary, like this disk, was meant to coincide with and complement the release of 2006's `Superman Returns.' All's cool until one of the talking heads - I refuse to watch it again so I'll never know which head - says there "are good Superman movies and bad Superman movies." Clips are played under his voice, and when he says "good Superman movies" we see a clip of a Chris Reeve Superman (appropriately enough) and when he says "bad Superman movies" we see a clip from the 1948 `Superman serial' that we've just finished watching on disks one and two of this set. Boo! Hiss! And what's up with that!?
Poor Kirk Alyn (Clark Kent/Superman) can't get any respect. First, he's unbilled in both the 1948 and 1950 serial (`We couldn't find an actor good enough to play Superman, so Superman's playing himself!' is how that lack-of-credit decision was made.) Then along comes this snotty little documentary clip to sweep his stuff into the dustbin. Yeah, these serial episodes are corny, made on the cheap, and geared towards a late 1940s 12-year-old's sensibilities, but neither were nearly as bad as that Reeve Superman with Richard Pryor was.
Besides, these are serials which, according to reliable sources, were among the most successful serials ever made. Serials are short (15-17 minutes in length) films that were a part of the Saturday matinee tradition from the silent era to the mid-1950s. There were usually about 15 episodes per serial, one played each week - the thought being that the kiddies would return week after week to follow the adventures of their heroes. To turn the heat up a bit, each episode usually ends with a cliff-hanger - Lois Lane is lying unconscious in a cave when the 10-gallon drum of dynamite explodes five feet away from her. The episode ends with a teaser - can Superman stop the evil Spider Lady from getting her hands on the all-powerful reducer ray? - as well as the possibility that Lois Lane was just blown to smithereens. Don't miss the next episode of `Superman' - playing at this theater next week.
In the first, 1948 serial, simply titled `Superman,' the Man of Steel battles the Spider Lady and her nefarious henchmen. In the second serial, `Superman vs. Atom Man,' he confronts his arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor (who also plays Atom Man, for reasons too complicated to get into here.) The opening credits in each episode tells us Superman is based on the character credited in the comic books, and is adapted from the popular Superman radio program. Bud Collyer played Superman for a decade on the radio, and his show contributed mightily to the formation of the most popular comic book character of all time. It's easy to forget how much the radio program drove and helped to shape the Superman world. Betcha didn't know Perry White and Jimmy Olson both debuted on the radio. The 1948 serial has a couple of elements lifted directed from the radio program, elements they would wisely drop when they came around to filming the 1950 sequel. When Superman's fighting the Spider Lady, every time danger's a-brewing and Clark Kent has to do the quick change into tights and cape Alyn voice-overs a Collyer-ish "This looks like a job for Superman," dropping from a nebbish tenor to a super hero baritone when he got to the words "for Superman. Also, Alyn belts a hearty "up, up, and away!" every time he goes airborne - a nice vocal cue for a radio program, but a little much for a film. Oh, and in both serials the flying Superman is depicted through regular, old-fashioned cel animation. Not convincing, but really not all that much worse than some current CG animation. They'd hang Alyn from ceiling mounted wires and blow smoke past him in the sequel, while retaining the cel animation for the long shots and when they needed to show anime bullets bouncing off his chest.
By today's standards the special effects are almost laughably primitive - but this is the first appearance EVER of a live action Superman! How cool is that!?
Pretty darn cool, mister, and don't you forget it! If you can get into the rhythms of a serial this set shouldn't disappoint. Kirk Alyn was a professional dancer, veteran of other serials, and his graceful athleticism makes him a more than acceptable Man of Steel. Noell Neill is delightfully spunky as girl reporter Lois Lane. A brief digression - these serials were made for youngsters and there is no, repeat no, romance between Lois and Clark Kent or Superman. Even when Superman is about to rescue her (yet again!) and asks "Are you ready?" and Lois answers "I'm always ready!" Neill's reading is so gleefully innocent it takes a moment or two to figure out they might have been talking about Something Else. My favorite character of all is Lyle Talbot's Lex Luthor. He doesn't get the big buck dialogue given guys like Gene Hackman, or Kevin Spacey, but his sober, straightforward take on the character works well.
As kid safe and family friendly as these disks are I hesitate to recommend them for family night around the dvd. The coolest thing, a live action Superman on film, lost its novel appeal decades ago. These films have an innocent charm and are as corny as Iowa in August, but they probably won't appeal to many children between the ages of 6 and 20.
Description of Superman - The 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection
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