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    Superman

    Movie » Superman released on July 15, 1948.

    'Superman', a Columbia Pictures movie serial, was the first live action film appearance of Superman.

    gc8's Superman review

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    First Live Action Superman Film

    Superman was a Columbia serial of 15 installments. It's notable as the first live action version of Superman to hit the big screen. Of all the 1940s adaptations of Superman to other media, it is probably the weakest, behind the awesome Superman animated films of Fleischer Studios, 'The Adventures of Superman' radio program, and The Adventures of Superman novel by George Francis Lowther.

    Still, it's not bad when judged in terms of it's time. Definitely low budget, the producers wisely chose to have the special effects added in as animation rather than settle for something that no doubt would have been far sillier looking given the limitations of the time.

    In the first episode, 'Superman Comes to Earth', you have to suffer through the hammy overacting of Jor-El and the other Kryptonians who are a bit Shakespearean and refer to themselves as 'Supermen' with 'Our Advanced Civilization'. But some of the science behind the destruction of Krypton (decaying orbit) actually makes more sense than the crazier explanations in the comics of the Golden Age.

    By the second episode, the real weakness of the series begin to show. 'Depths of the Earth' has the crude but workable effects previously mentioned, but takes things down a notch with more bad acting, and nonsensical things such as lighted caves. The series seems to be as much influenced by the earlier Superman radio dramas as by the comics.

    Episode 3 is a bit of a mess, trying to accomplish too much, from revealing the main villainess, The Spider Lady, to introducing kryptonite.

    Episode 4 has Superman learning about his vulnerability to kryptonite, as well as the Spider Lady getting the upper hand by capturing Lois and by learning about kryptonite. This is a typical 1940s serial episode with cliffhanger ending.

    Episode 5 is pretty action packed, beginning with a car chase, followed by a museum robbery. Lois Lane is in danger and in need of rescue twice during this episode!

    Episode 6 is one of the better episodes because, at least for a time, the bad guys get the upper hand, using kryptonite against Superman, and things don't work out as he planned when Lois inadvertently sets a criminal free who he had restrained.

    Episode 7 is a bit of a time-passer, with first Jimmy and then Clark captured by the bad guys who hope to lure Superman to them. Of course there is the inevitable cliffhanger when the bad guys decide they've had enough waiting.

    Episode 8 After rescuing Jimmy Olsen, Superman has to guard the Reducer Ray as it's being moved. The authorities are sure the Spider Lady is going to attempt to steal it while it's in transit, but Superman has a plan to outwit her. This episode gave me a distinct feeling of deja vu. I swear this plot was lifted from one of the Superman radio dramas just substituting the Spider Lady for the Wolf or some other villain.

    Episode 9 has to be one of the worst installments of the series. First Superman has to stop a speeding locomotive - like that's a challenge. Then, Lois gets captured after she makes the dumbest - and I mean the absolute dumbest mistake of her entire career on film or in print. I mean credibility stretching dumbness. Top it off with some terrible acting by the episode's primary villains.

    Episode 10, while better than #9 is a mixed bag. Jimmy Olsen does a pretty poor job of being inconspicuous, there's a lot of pseudoscience babble that makes no sense, and Doctor Graham comes up with a distress signal that's a bit like a message-in-a-bottle in terms of likeliness anyone would ever receive it. But a little bit of these kinds of things are pretty much par-for-the-course when it comes to the serials.

    Episode 11 may be the best episode so far. The villains need a metallic compound, but it's use is restricted and when they try to acquire some from a chemical engineer, it sends up red flags. Perry White puts Clark on the story, but Lois tricks him into getting arrested so she can get the scoop - which leaves him in jail when Superman is needed!

    Episode 12 is really bad. It features some really bad props like a hand drawn map and a sign painted on a rock. When a man is killed, the police don't even show up, leaving the crime scene to be traipsed over by just about everyone. And, Lois manages to leave the most cryptic message imaginable, yet somehow Clark knows it's from her and figures out the meaning. Also there's a big 'well that was convenient' factor in this episode, from characters learning information to explosives lying around for the bad guys to use.

    Episode 13 is neither bad, nor particularly good - and therein lies the problem. This close to the end of the series, the stakes should be higher (they aren't), and the bad guys don't particularly have the upper hand (which they should). In fact, this could be considered a run of the mill episode.

    Episode 14 is called 'Superman at Bay', though it is somewhat of a mysterious chapter title as Superman is never really 'at bay' in the episode. In any case, it's a good episode that has Anton (Jack Ingram) allowing himself to be captured to retrieve one of The Spider Lady's incarcerated henchmen. Once in jail, though, his encoded message to those who are to rescue him is intercepted by Lois and Jimmy. When Jimmy takes the place of the messenger, he's caught and left in a booby trapped room. This doesn't prevent him from being rescued by Superman, though. Meanwhile, the ray machine is complete and The Spider Lady decides to fire it at the jail to rid herself of both Anton and the wayward henchman; unfortunately for Lois, who happens to be at the jail trying to get answers from Anton.

    Episode 15, 'The Payoff', actually doesn't seem like much of a payoff after 14 episodes, but it does tie everything up. Unfortunately, it's a bit more gimmicky than usual - for the first time the series resorts to making 'creative' use of superman's powers (he puts together a broken record by putting all the pieces together and pressing - fusing it back to pristine playability. Later he seems to use knowledge he probably ought not have and does something that makes you wonder why he doesn't modify his suit to be like that all the time (or why it works given his hands and face aren't covered).

    As a whole, the series is a little unsatisfying - it came very late in the Serial era (Columbia only produced two more serials after this), and effects-wise it pales compared to many of the other superhero serials. On the other hand, it has very believable characters, and has a much more 'down to Earth' portrayal of Superman than movies and TV shows of subsequent decades had. You really can't call yourself a Superman fan if you haven't seen these films.

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