"Superman" serial on TCM starting Saturday

For those who are interested, the 1948 original live-action Superman

TheThunderChild...

serial starring Kirk Alyn as Clark Kent/Superman starts on TCM at
10:00 AM EDT on Saturday 10/28.

Dang! Read this forum exactly 10 hours too late to take advantage of
this heads up!

The Thunder Child

Russell Watson...

They only showed the first 5 episodes (about 1.5 hrs) so you can pick
it up next week, same time/same channel. The beauty of a serial is
that they'll even give you a recap of the plot essentials. I had to
work yesterday morning but I remembered to set up the VCR to record
it, which allowed to me to FF through the repetitive intro and
"previously on" stuff. I really enjoyed it, having never seen more
than snippets of it previously. I wish they had modeled the flying
scenes after those in the '41 "Captain Marvel" serial and it would
have been nigh perfect. Superman and Batman just play better as period

Bill Steele...

It would have happened if Republic had obtained the rights. They rewrote
their Superman script into "The Mysterious Dr. Satan" with a
dual-identity hero called The Copperhead -- with no special powers but

TBerk...

I found this:

Will Dockery...

Hey, Blackhawk!

great stunt work.

And for the first time it occurs to me that Dr. Satan might originally
have been Luthor.

Either way, I keep giggling when I hear "Spider Lady."

Did anyone notice that Pa Kent was named "Steven?"

pieces, IMO. I would love to see either character in a feature film in
the mold of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", set in the late-
'30s or early-'40s.

gandrwedding...

Is it just me, or do they never give Kirk Alyn's name in the credits?

Russell Watson...

Correct. My wife asked: "Why don't they show the guy who's playing
Superman in the credits?"
Answer: Because the idea was present him to kids who saw the serial
back in the '40s as Superman, not as an actor playing Superman. Helps
sell the illusion, y'know?

Will Dockery...

Yeah, I just read on one of the websites that this was another bit the
filmmakers carried over from the radio Superman, which the serials note

Will Dockery...

serials

they are based on, not the comic book.

Bill Steele...

Along with "Up, up and away" (They had to tell the radio audience what
was happening) and "This looks like a job for... Superman."

Russell Watson...

IIRC the radio show is where Superman started flying. Prior to that in
the comics he could only jump a long way (1/8 of a mile was the
original distance given).

Bill Steele...

I recall a conversation on the radio show where Superman tells someone
that he doesn't actually fly, just leaps. I think flying came into the
comic books when the competition with Captain Marvel heated up. Then
perhaps it made it into the latter days of the radio show.

In the Fleischer cartoons, IIRC, he leaps.

Actually, I think the credits say the serial is based on Action Comics,
Superman and the radio show.

Will Dockery...

Okay, I'm checking it out now on Turner Classic Movies, and it goes
like: "Based on Action Comics and Superman, /Adapted/ from the radio
show on Mutual..."

Will Dockery...

Yeah, you're right, but I've read they focused more on the "Superman"
mythos of the radio series, even going with the concept promoted that
the actoe actually /was/ Superman, even leaving Kirk Allyn (one "l"?)
off the credits...

The radio show was pretty important in making Superman the household
name, sending the adventures right into the living room for /free/...
and interesting how many concepts began there, Jimmy Olsen,
kryptonite...

Interestingly, many of the major aspects of the Superman mythos were
originated on the roadio series first, such as kryptonite and Jimmy
Olsen, only later picked up by the comic book.

On that note, have any of you read _It's Superman!_ that takes the

Will Dockery...

audience

Will Dockery...

I've read that a young Bruce Wayne appeared once, but I was writing about

Anim8rFSK...

On Smallville? Nope. Constantly rumored, and there was a charater that
seemed like he was supposed to be Bruce, but turned out not to be.

Will Dockery...

Okay, and also a reference to Wonder Woman, or did that fall through,
as well?

Anim8rFSK...

I'm told there's a throwaway that I didn't even notice; some text in the
Daily Planet about a "themyscrian princess"

Super-Menace...

We briefly see a Daily Planet headline that mentions her (I think it's
in the "Perry" episode), but that's about it.

but I was writing about

the 1940s radio show there... never seen a "Smallville", yet...

Sweet Sugir...

how does that help with your performaces?

character back to the time of his origins in the form of a novel?Just
wondering if it comes recommended by fans.

serial starring Kirk Alyn as Clark Kent/Superman starts on TCM at
10:00 AM EDT on Saturday 10/28.
There will be a new DVD box set of this one and the 1950 follow-up
"Atom Man vs. Superman" released along with all the other Supermania
that is coming out in conjunction with "Superman Returns" on the 28th
of next month.

ozzy.kopec...

================
Watched some episodes today - Lex Luthor the arch-enemy in the current
serial. The stock footage of the swaying bridge was from the Tacoma
Narrows Bridge that collapsed in 1940. The car had a poor little
doggie in it that was left behind and went down for the count. Unlike
the show, the driver was a man :0)

Russell Watson...

No Lex, just "Luthor". I believe the notion of his first name being
"Lex" came along quite some time after the serials were made.
At least in this one they have some closeups of Superman in flight
with the real guy instead of just the inferior animation used for the
distance shots. Did you notice that right after he takes off from
holding the bridge still and makes that corny radio-style "Attention,
police...." announcement that it was printed backwards? You have to
look at his chest emblem to catch it.
These serials are goofy but fun, and when they come out on DVD at the
end of the month I'll be more apt to buy them than any of the other
Superman-ia coming out in conjunction with the release of "Superman
Returns", the only other possible exception being the so-called
"Donner Cut" of "Superman 2" just to assuage my curiosity about what
the movie that was the best in the Reeve series as is could have been.

On a side note: I had asked somewhere (in another thread maybe) if
anyone had read the novel _It's Superman!_ by Tom De Haven. I bought
it last weekend and am about 2/3 of ther way through it and it's a
hoot. Written in the style of a pulp magazine story as far as the
chapter headings and such go it's sort of an amalgam of the various
early media incarnations of Superman. Some of the elements are from
the original Siegal and Schuster comics, some from radio, and some
from the Fleischer cartoons (people reading the novel who have seen
any of the latter will recognize them as the source of the description
of the costume, which states it has a red "S" on a black shield on the
chest. AFAIK, the animated shorts are the only place the background
color for the chest emblem was black until Alex Ross did "Kingdom
Come").

Small spoilers about the book, not plotwise but some of the cool
details below....

The story is set in the mid-late '30s, starting off on the premise
that in 1935 Clark Kent is 17 years old. There is a mix of powers from
various early sources: he starts off jumping really far but he misses
a jump and learns by accident he can fly. Bullets bounce off him but
they leave a mark, and as in the earliest description he can be
injured to some extent by a big enough explosion "...nothing less than
a bursting shell can penetrate his skin..."), though he heals very
quickly afterwards. One of the things that's cool about the novel is
its descriptions of how his powers effect HIM. When he flies his body
tingles as though an electric current is running across his skin,
using heat or x-ray vision makes his eyes feel funny for a few seconds
afterwards, etc. The book takes its liberties with the origins and
even the personalities of the characters, but not in any way that
anyone but the most slavish acolyte of comic book canon could take
offense to. Compared to what the TV series "Smallville" has done to
the characters this novel is almost straight from the "Bible", and it
gets extra points for being a period piece, which is the way I prefer
the story.

Will Dockery...

So far much better than the first serial... Luthor's a nice touch, and
the Atom-Man helmet is nice and goofy, definitely see the influence
this had on the campy tv Batman.

Anim8rFSK...

Yeah, but Luthor's gotta be the dumbest evil genius ever. He gets on
the radio and announces THIS IS LUTHOR -- YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO
UNMASK ME! um - say what? And, no, that gun really isn't going to help.

Will Dockery...

Yeah, they handled that scene well... too bad about the dog, though.

In fact the only thing I really hate about this is the awful animated
flying scenes. By the second serial it seems they'd have noticed that
this just doesn't work...

Anim8rFSK...

Most of them so far seem to be stock footage from the first serial.

And can't help but wish George Reeves had come on just a bit earlier...

Anim8rFSK...

It's interesting to me that clearly time has passed since the first
serial; Superman and Luthor have had run ins before, people take
Superman somewhat for granted, and you get the feeling Lois knows darn
well Clark is Supes, but they just don't talk about it.

The big question for me is, why isn't Kirk Alyn credited???

Russell Watson...

"Superman". The idea was to present Superman as "real" and the rest of
the cast as actors playing parts.

Anim8rFSK...

So who's playing Clark Kent?

There is however a 'Wally West' in there . .

Russell Watson...

I'll have to "flash" over there and see what that's about...

Anim8rFSK...

I figured you couldn't resist the 'impulse'

Anim8rFSK...

Thanks for the heads up! Kirk Alyn was great!