Atom Man vs. Superman

Atom Man Vs. Superman' is the second of 2 Columbia Pictures Superman serials and is clearly superior to the first. Once you liberate yourself from modern expectations regarding budget, special effects, realism, etc., you can sit back for 15 chapters and enjoy the earnestness and charm of the actors, and the free-wheeling fantasy of the storyline.

It is best to watch the old serials from the perspective that you are looking at some kind of alternate reality so as to suspend some of the prejudices of the modern world. Or perhaps as though one were a tourist in a foreign country: rather than seeing differences as bizarre or deficient, but instead as being novel, interesting, and sometimes wondrous.

Next to Kirk Alyn, George Reeves was Lawrence Olivier. That notwithstanding, Kirk Alyn at least bears a good physical resemblance to the comic book Superman, and at least he tackles the impossible with gameness and good cheer. His best moments are with Lois and Luthor, and there a few times in the serial when his acting is actually good. And his performance in 'Atom Man' is a 100% improvement over the 1st serial. And even at his clumsiest moments, Kirk Alyn is infinitely preferable to Brandon Routh.

The supporting cast is great. Noel Niell is cute as a button and very charming as Lois Lane. Pierre Watkin is a perfect Perry White. Former Our Gang member Tommy 'Butch' Bond plays Jimmy Olsen as a pugnacious juvenile, which works pretty well. Best of all, Lyle Talbot plays arch-villain Lex Luthor with creepy and insane genius, and also uses a good foreign accent during the scenes when we wears the ridiculous 'Atom Man' disguise (Talbot is, IMO, at least as good as Gene Hackman, and head and shoulders above Kevin Spacey in the role).

This serial moves quickly along and is filled with many clever plot devices and cliff hangers. The primary purpose of the serial was to provide diversion and escapism, and this provides plenty.

One of the most notable features of this serial has to be the abundance of science fiction elements, many of which were on the very cutting edge in 1950. There is a teleportation device, similar to that used on Star Trek and there is a flying saucer. To my knowledge, this serial features the earliest cinematic appearances of such devices. Star Trek's 'transporter' would not appear till 1966, and flying saucers entered feature films in 1951 with 'Day the Earth Stood Still' and 'The Thing.' There is a very effective sequence in which Superman is exiled in another dimension, called 'the empty doom.' As far as I know, this is the first time in cinema that the concept of an extra-dimensional world is introduced. The Superman comic books would later appropriate this gimmick and call it the Phantom Zone, which would become one of the more interesting parts to the Superman mythology. As far as I know, dimensional worlds didn't become well known in celluloid sci-fi via until the early 1960's via 'Twilight Zone' and 'Outer Limits' episodes.

Another fresh but not wholly new sci-fi element in the serial is Luthor's ballistic missile. I can't think of any feature films with them prior to this serial, but I know that Republic's 'King of the Rocket Men' had a great scene with their hero stopping an 'air torpedo' in 1949, thus beating Superman to the punch. Ballistic missiles, of course, had been a reality ever since WWII's V-2 rockets, but it wouldn't be till the mid-fifties that they really entered the mass consciousness of the cinema. I don't want to spoil too much, but note the scene with Superman riding atop the ballistic missile: this pre-dates Slim Pickens' ride on Dr. Strangelove's A-bomb by 14 years.

Also note that the opening credits feature stock footage of A-bomb tests. As the 50's and 60's progressed, copius use A-bomb footage would become a staple of scifi and horror films, especially in opening credit sequences.(Stanley Kubric as well used A-bomb footage in Dr. Strangelove, strangely enough.) So far as my studies have led me over the past 35 years of B-movie research, this is the earliest usage of A-bomb footage in any scifi/monster pic.

A final note: I advise that you watch this in chapter installments, or limit yourself to at most 4 chapters at a time between other activities. I can't explain it, but it's more enjoyable that way, perhaps due to design.

ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (1950) is a 15-chapter follow-up that represents a vast improvement over the first Superman serial, SUPERMAN (1948). The original cast members who played Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White all return, but they are joined by a new villain, Lex Luthor, Superman's archnemesis from the comic book. Luthor's evil genius gives Superman far more opportunities to use his superpowers than did Spider Lady, the stodgy femme fatale from the first serial who did little more than dress in black satin and sit at a table issuing orders from a desk via oversized mike to an army of standard-issue thugs in suits, ties and fedoras.

Luthor (played by Lyle Talbot) is quite busy here. Paroled early on, he supposedly goes straight and takes charge of a Metropolis TV station, in the early days of television, and even hires Lois Lane away from the Daily Planet at one point. By night, however, he sends robbery gangs to crack the safes of stores his TV trucks have cased. He also unleashes a variety of ingenious inventions including a "space transporter" which teleports his henchmen from police custody back to his cave headquarters (16 years before "Star Trek"'s "beam me up" technology) and a "directional cyclotron" which causes earthquakes in Metropolis. In the final chapters he unveils even greater stuff as the action heats up.

Every episode offers a new element and a clever twist or two to keep things interesting right up until the spectacular climax in outer space. While the first serial devolved into standard cliffhanger formula fairly quickly and gave Superman few superheroic things to do, this one gives him lots of super feats to perform. In addition to fending off Luthor and his thugs, he always pops up at various disasters to rescue people. These include a bridge collapse, a fire on a cruise liner, and a flood. Interestingly, all disasters depicted use actual newsreel film footage, including the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse of 1940.

As in SUPERMAN (1948), the effects of Superman flying are created through animation so that whenever Superman takes off he becomes a fluidly animated cartoon. The difference here is that the cartoon shots are intercut with live close shots of Kirk Alyn as Superman in flight. Also, the animation is used to depict a greater range of activities here. Superman is frequently seen carrying people (especially Lois) in cartoon form. In one spectacular shot an animated Superman lifts a live-action truck (shot in miniature) from a raging torrent of water on a miniature set. And there is one whole sequence in outer space that relies heavily on animation.

Having worn the same outfit throughout all 15 chapters of the first serial, Lois (played by Noel Neill) gets a lot of costume changes here. She's less spunky and less cheery, more determined and no-nonsense, and dressed and coiffed more severely. She doesn't plunge into fights as much, but when she's chased by crooks in one scene after grabbing a notepad containing evidence, she runs through streets, hallways, and alleys and up and down staircases and fire escapes like an old pro and eludes her pursuers. We also get to see Lois in a new light in a new job when she goes to work as an on-the-street TV reporter for Lex Luthor's TV station.

ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN is arguably one of the best serials ever made and certainly the finest example of live-action filmed Superman in the forty years preceding Richard Donner's SUPERMAN (1978).

This serial is a sequel to "Superman", the 1948 serial. In this one the Man of Steel is battling the evil Lex Luthor and his alter ego, the Atom Man in a bid to take over the world with another of those deadly rays popular in serials of the time.

Kirk Alyn is back as Superman/Clark Kent and once again does a creditable job. Noel Neill is the spunky Lois Lane, former Little Rascal Tommy Bond is Jimmy Olsen and Pierre Watkin as cranky old Perry White. Lyle Talbot makes an excellent villain as Luthor. The serial is populated with the usual assortment of villains from Columbia's stock company including Don Harvey and Rusty Westcoatt. Even veteran "B" western villain Charlie King turns up briefly in suit and tie as one of the baddies. The usual assortment of narrow escapes and explosions abound.

As in the original, most of the special effects are handled through the use of animation. Although it looks a little tacky by today's standards, it is nonetheless quite innovative for it's time given the limited budget and lack of technology. Don't forget, Superman IS a comic book character.

In my opinion, the Superman serials were among the best ever produced by Columbia. Taking them for what they are, they are very entertaining and enjoyable.

"Atom Man vs. Superman" was quite hard to obtain on video, back in the heyday of that format. I had already seen the 1948 serial of "Superman" and that one is great. My expectations for the above production were only half met. The actor who played Lex Luthor was perfectly satisfactory. It was good to see Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill reprise their respective characters. However, the story as a whole didn't interest me all that much. I found it a bit hard in keeping up with what was happening. That is usually a sign that the writers haven't done a very good job. As before, there are 15 chapters that compromise the whole story but it felt longer than that to me. There is still some fun to be had with this one.

There are few sequels that are ever as good as the original. This is one of them. The only real difference between the two is that the special effects in this one are better. The story leaps right into the action, with the city of Metropolis being hit by a crime wave. One man is behind all this crime, the evil Lex Luthor. Superman battles Lex Luthor and his alter ego the Atom Man through 15 fun and exciting chapters.

Superman does a lot in this serial. Can he save Metropolis from a deadly flood? Can Superman escape the Empty Doom? Will Superman's real identity be released to the public? Will Lois Lane go to work for the Lex Luthor? Find out this and more in ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN

I give it 10/10. It's perfect.

(Note: Look at the close-up shots of Kirk Alyn flying as Superman. The 'S' on the Superman uniform is backwards.)