Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
Encyclopedia
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is a 1975 camp
action film
starring Ron Ely as pulp
hero Doc Savage
. This was the last film completed by pioneering science-fiction producer George Pal
.
(Ron Ely) returns to New York City
following a visit to his Arctic hideaway. He learns that his father has died under mysterious circumstances while exploring the Central America
n Republic of Hidalgo. While examining his father's personal papers, Doc finds himself the target of an assassination
attempt.
Doc Savage chases and corners the sniper on the nearby Eastern Craymore Building, but the would-be assassin loses his footing and falls to his death. Examining the body, Doc discovers that his assailant is a Native American
with peculiar markings; his fingertips are red, as if dipped in blood, while his chest bears an elaborate tattoo
of the ancient Mayan
god Kukulcan.
Returning to his penthouse headquarters, Doc finds that intruders have destroyed his father's personal papers. Vowing to solve his father's murder, Doc Savage flies to Hidalgo with "The Fabulous Five", his brain trust
.
Waiting for Doc Savage's arrival is the international criminal and smuggler Captain Seas (Paul Wexler) who repeatedly attempts to kill Doc and his friends, culminating in a wild melee onboard his yacht, the Seven Seas.
Doc's investigation uncovers that, years ago, Professor Savage received a vast land grant in the unexplored interior of Hidalgo from the Quetzamal, a Mayan
tribe that disappeared 500 years ago. However, Don Rubio Gorro (Bob Corso) of the local government informs Doc that all records to the land transaction are missing. Doc receives unexpected help from Gorro's assistant, Mona Flores (Pamela Hensley
), who saw the original papers and offers to lead Doc and his friends to the land claim.
Following clues left by his father, Doc and his friends locate the hidden entrance into a valley where the lost Quetzamal tribe lives. Doc separates from the group and finds a pool of molten gold. Doc also learns that Captain Seas is using the Quetzamal natives as slave labor to extract the gold for himself.
Meanwhile, Seas' men capture Mona and The Fabulous Five, and Seas unleashes the Green Death, the same airborne plague that killed Doc's father and keeps the Quetzamal tribe under his control.
Doc overpowers the Captain after a protracted clash of different fighting styles
and forces Seas to release his friends, whom Doc then treats with a special antidote. Seeing their leader captured, the Captain's men try to escape with the gold, but exploding dynamite causes the pool of gold to erupt, covering the henchmen, including Don Rubio Gorro, in molten metal.
Freed from Captain Seas, Chief Chaac (Victor Millan) offers the gold and land grant to Doc, who replies, "I promise to continue my father's work ... his ideals. With this limitless wealth at my disposal, I shall be able to devote my life to the cause of justice."
Doc Savage returns to the United States and performs acupuncture
brain surgery on Captain Seas to cure him of his criminal behavior. Later, during Christmas season, Doc Savage encounters the former supervillain
, who is now a bandleader for the Salvation Army
, flanked by his former paramours Adriana and Karen.
Arriving back at his penthouse from shopping, Doc hears an urgent message about a new threat that could cost millions of lives.
Doc Savage leaps into action and speeds to his next adventure.
Other noteworthy casting included:
retained the radio, film, and television rights to the character as part of his contract with Street and Smith Publications, publishers of the Doc Savage pulp magazine. Although Dent succeeded in launching a short-lived radio program, he was never able to interest Hollywood in a Doc Savage film. Upon Dent's death in 1959, his widow, Norma Dent, acquired the radio, film, and television rights to Doc Savage.
The production team of Mark Goodson
and Bill Todman
announced the intention to produce a Doc Savage film to cash in on the popularity of the re-issued pulp novels by Bantam Books
and the James Bond
craze sweeping the movies.
The film would be based on the July 1934 pulp novel The Thousand-Headed Man, with Chuck Connors
as Doc, for a 1966 release.
Unfortunately, the producers and Condé Nast Publications
, the new copyright
owner to Doc Savage brand, failed to secure the film rights from the estate of Lester Dent. By the time the legal issues had been resolved, the production team and cast had moved on to do the offbeat western Ride Beyond Vengeance
.
Only the one-shot comic book
movie tie-in (pictued) published by Gold Key
, with cover artwork by James Bama
, remains to mark this aborted film undertaking.
secured the film and television rights from Norma Dent with the intention of launching a film franchise like the James Bond movies. Ever the businessman, Pal envisioned marketing and production savings from such a series, with an eventual sell to television to recoup any back-end costs, followed by an eventual television series, just as Sy Weintraub
had done with Tarzan
and Irwin Allen
with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
. However, to make a franchise work, the first movie had to be successful. Pal originally contacted Steve Reeves
for the role of Doc but when filming was about to begin a Hollywood writers strike put the film on hold with Reeves and the original director replaced.
George Pal and Joe Morhaim wrote the screenplay based on The Man of Bronze, the first Doc Savage adventure, with additional story elements from other Doc Savage adventures, such as the November 1938 novel The Green Death and the January 1935 novel The Mystic Mullah.
The villainous Captain Seas, played by Paul Wexler, was based on the flamboyant and brutal Captain Flamingo from the February 1936 pulp novel Mystery of the Sea. This should not be confused with the Canadian television character Captain Flamingo
.
English director Michael Anderson
would helm the first Doc Savage movie. His specialty was action-adventure films, such as Dam Busters
, Battle Hell, The Wreck of the Mary Deare
, and Operation Crossbow
. His most noteworthy effort had been Around the World in Eighty Days
, the Best Picture of 1956.
Although there were reports that Pal planned to do location filming in Central America, principal photography was confined to southern California. Scenes involving the fictitious Eastern Cranmoor Building in New York City were filmed underneath the clock tower
of the art deco
Eastern Columbia Building
in downtown Los Angeles
.
Ron Ely's involvement extended beyond starring in the lead role. He reportedly directed several second unit
sequences, including staging the fight onboard Captain Seas' yacht Seven Seas, which featured stuntman
Dick Durock
who later starred in the Swamp Thing
films and television series. Also, the portrait of Professor Clark Savage, Sr., in Doc's penthouse headquarters actually shows actor Ron Ely wearing a vintage safari
outfit and pith helmet
, with a handlebar moustache.
Pamela Hensley
made her film debut in this motion picture.
Darrell Zwerling and Federico Roberto appeared in another 1930s nostalgia film, the 1974 film noir
retro
classic Chinatown, with Zwerling playing Hollis Mulwray, the murdered water commissioner.
Paul Frees
, who provided the uncredited voice-over
narration for the opening title sequence
, also made a rare on-screen appearance in the 1953 version of War of the Worlds
as well as performing the narration and other voice work for the 1960 fantasy film
Atlantis, the Lost Continent
, both produced by George Pal
.
The film features a rare Cord Model 810 coupe (pictued} and a vintage Douglas DC-3
aircraft.
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze was visually faithful to the novels and characters, which included such elements as:
Other aspects of the Doc Savage mythos were modified for the movie. For example, The film takes place in 1936, but the original pulp novel was published in March 1933. Most Doc Savage
chronologies place the events in The Man of Bronze in early 1931 prior to the official opening of the Empire State Building, the implicit location of Doc's 86th floor penthouse headquarters. The film does not mention that Doc's father, Professor Clark Savage, Sr., was instrumental in raising his son from the cradle to become the supreme adventurer under the tutelage of a blue-ribbon group of distinguished scientist
s. The Seven Seas is actually the name of Doc Savage
's private motor yacht
in the pulp novels written by Lester Dent
. Finally, Long Tom (Paul Gleason) mentions that Monk, Ham, Renny, Johnny, and he first met Doc Savage while fighting in the trenches during World War I
and vowed to work together against evil-doers after the war. The 1991 novel Escape From Loki by Philip José Farmer
retroactively tells the story of how Doc first met The Fabulous Five in a high-security German POW camp in 1918. Finally, the opening titles used the same typography (pictured) used in the Bantam Books
reprints of the Doc Savage pulp novels.
Debate continues who was responsible for the camp
content of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, the studio or George Pal
and his production team. Among the many examples of over-the-top camp include Don Rubio Gorro (Bob Corso) rocking himself to sleep in an adult-sized baby crib, with Beautiful Dreamer as its musical cue
. Also, he animated twinkle in the eye of Doc Savage (Ron Ely) at the beginning of the film and later when Doc tells Mona (Pamela Hensley) that she was a brick. "La Cucaracha", played by a flute was used in an up-tempo musical cue
, during the attempted escape of Captain Seas' henchmen from the Valley of the Vanished. Finally, an applause soundtrack
was added following Doc's recitation of his personal code (see Selected quotes and dialogue below for the text).
The film is also remembered for its theme song arranged by Frank De Vol
around John Philip Sousa
's The Thunderer
. Sousa’s music was intended to evoke a patriotic theme for Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze and attempted to emulate the success that director George Roy Hill
and composer Marvin Hamlisch
had achieved when they used the ragtime music of Scott Joplin
for the 1975 caper film The Sting
. Both Sousa and Joplin were turn-of-the-century contemporaries, and their music were not contemporaneous to the period that these 1930s nostalgia films were set. The credit acknowledging Sousa's score has the letters "USA" of his last name highlighted in red, white, and blue.
Producer George Pal
reported to Edward Felipe in the magazine Castle of Frankenstein that "We made it too good." However, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze proved to be inferior in every production category – set design, art direction, costuming, hair style – to Chinatown, The Sting
, Murder on the Orient Express
, and other 1930s nostalgia films released during this period. Even Pal's trademark visual effects
and matte paintings were mediocre, with the depiction of the Green Death as animated serpentine vapors being particularly unconvincing (pictured).
The decision by Warner Brothers to shift the release date from the Spring of 1974 to Easter
1975 denoted a lack of confidence in the production and its box office potential. However, a 16-page press kit
was prepared, and Ron Ely participated in a press junket that included an appearance in the WSB-TV
annual Fourth of July parade in Atlanta, Georgia
.
Reviews were scathing, with Daily Variety noting: "Execrable acting, dopey action sequences, and clumsy attempts at camp humor mark George Pal's Doc Savage as the kind of kiddie film that gives the G rating a bad name."
The movie proved to be a disappointment for both die-hard Doc Savage fans and the general public. The film did not do well at the box office, and it soon disappeared in a summer dominated by the blockbuster
box office
of Jaws
.
area simultaneously with the principal photography for the first Doc Savage.
According to the screenplay that was posted on the Internet, the sequel was based very loosely on the October 1934 pulp novel Death in Silver
, which also featured a deformed, German-speaking supervillain and a man-eating octopus
found in the September 1937 pulp novel The Feathered Octopus. However, due to the poor reception of the first film, Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil was never completed or released.
Another script was written by Philip José Farmer
, and included a meeting between Doc and a retired Sherlock Holmes
in 1936, but it was never filmed.
of The Mummy
, Castle Rock Entertainment
announced plans to produce a new Doc Savage movie with Warner Brothers and Universal Studios
. Film-makers Frank Darabont
and Chuck Russell
would supervise the production, based on a screenplay by Brett Hill and David Johnson, with Arnold Schwarzenegger
attached to play Doc.
However, with Schwarzenegger now serving his second term as governor of California
, and both Darabont and Russell involved in other projects, this remake appears to be improbable.
In late 2006, director-producer Sam Raimi
announced plans to make a film involving several Street and Smith pulp
heroes, including The Shadow
, The Avenger, and Doc Savage
. A screenplay is being written by Siavash Farahani (Ruse) but no plot details were available.
from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
. The film was also released onto Laserdisc
and there is a DVD
available in Germany (with German and English language).
In March 2009, the movie was made available within the United States as part of Warner Brothers's "Warner Archive" print-on-demand DVD service, at a price of $19.95 for a DVD containing the movie presented in its original aspect ratio, and its trailer in 4:3.
Sequels & possible remakes
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
starring Ron Ely as pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
hero Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
. This was the last film completed by pioneering science-fiction producer George Pal
George Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
.
Plot
Doc SavageDoc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
(Ron Ely) returns to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
following a visit to his Arctic hideaway. He learns that his father has died under mysterious circumstances while exploring the Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
n Republic of Hidalgo. While examining his father's personal papers, Doc finds himself the target of an assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
attempt.
Doc Savage chases and corners the sniper on the nearby Eastern Craymore Building, but the would-be assassin loses his footing and falls to his death. Examining the body, Doc discovers that his assailant is a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
with peculiar markings; his fingertips are red, as if dipped in blood, while his chest bears an elaborate tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
of the ancient Mayan
Maya mythology
Mayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles...
god Kukulcan.
Returning to his penthouse headquarters, Doc finds that intruders have destroyed his father's personal papers. Vowing to solve his father's murder, Doc Savage flies to Hidalgo with "The Fabulous Five", his brain trust
Brain Trust
Brain trust began as a term for a group of close advisors to a political candidate or incumbent, prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of advisors to Franklin Roosevelt during his presidential administration...
.
Waiting for Doc Savage's arrival is the international criminal and smuggler Captain Seas (Paul Wexler) who repeatedly attempts to kill Doc and his friends, culminating in a wild melee onboard his yacht, the Seven Seas.
Doc's investigation uncovers that, years ago, Professor Savage received a vast land grant in the unexplored interior of Hidalgo from the Quetzamal, a Mayan
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
tribe that disappeared 500 years ago. However, Don Rubio Gorro (Bob Corso) of the local government informs Doc that all records to the land transaction are missing. Doc receives unexpected help from Gorro's assistant, Mona Flores (Pamela Hensley
Pamela Hensley
Pamela Gail Hensley is an American actress. She is best known for playing Princess Ardala on the 1979-1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and C.J...
), who saw the original papers and offers to lead Doc and his friends to the land claim.
Following clues left by his father, Doc and his friends locate the hidden entrance into a valley where the lost Quetzamal tribe lives. Doc separates from the group and finds a pool of molten gold. Doc also learns that Captain Seas is using the Quetzamal natives as slave labor to extract the gold for himself.
Meanwhile, Seas' men capture Mona and The Fabulous Five, and Seas unleashes the Green Death, the same airborne plague that killed Doc's father and keeps the Quetzamal tribe under his control.
Doc overpowers the Captain after a protracted clash of different fighting styles
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
and forces Seas to release his friends, whom Doc then treats with a special antidote. Seeing their leader captured, the Captain's men try to escape with the gold, but exploding dynamite causes the pool of gold to erupt, covering the henchmen, including Don Rubio Gorro, in molten metal.
Freed from Captain Seas, Chief Chaac (Victor Millan) offers the gold and land grant to Doc, who replies, "I promise to continue my father's work ... his ideals. With this limitless wealth at my disposal, I shall be able to devote my life to the cause of justice."
Doc Savage returns to the United States and performs acupuncture
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of solid, generally thin needles in the body....
brain surgery on Captain Seas to cure him of his criminal behavior. Later, during Christmas season, Doc Savage encounters the former supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
, who is now a bandleader for the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
, flanked by his former paramours Adriana and Karen.
Arriving back at his penthouse from shopping, Doc hears an urgent message about a new threat that could cost millions of lives.
Doc Savage leaps into action and speeds to his next adventure.
Cast
- Ron Ely as Clark "Doc" Savage Jr.Doc SavageDoc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
(pictured) - Paul GleasonPaul GleasonPaul Xavier Gleason was an American film and television actor, known for his roles on TV series such as All My Children and films such as The Breakfast Club, Trading Places and Die Hard.-Early life:...
as Major Thomas J. "Long Tom" Roberts - William LuckingWilliam LuckingWilliam Lucking is an American film, television, and stage actor perhaps best known for his role as Piney Winston in the drama series Sons of Anarchy.-Film and television:...
as Colonel John "Renny" Renwick - Michael Miller as Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett "Monk" Mayfair
- Eldon QuickEldon QuickEldon Quick is an American character actor. He is an alumnus of the American Shakespeare Festival and has numerous stage, screen, and television roles to his credit....
as Professor William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn - Darrell ZwerlingDarrell Zwerling-Filmography:-External links:...
as Brigadier General Theodore Marley "Ham" Brooks - Paul Wexler as Captain Seas
- Pamela HensleyPamela HensleyPamela Gail Hensley is an American actress. She is best known for playing Princess Ardala on the 1979-1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and C.J...
as Mona Flores - Bob Corso as Don Rubio Gorro
- Federico Roberto as El Presidente Don Carlos Avispa
- Janice Heiden as Adriana
- Robyn HiltonRobyn HiltonRobyn Hilton is an American film and television actress. She is also a model.-Career:She has appeared in many film and television roles including a small supporting role in the comedy film Blazing Saddles directed by Mel Brooks as Miss Stein Robyn Hilton is an American film and television...
as Karen - Victor MillanVictor MillanVictor Millan, whose real name was Joseph Brown, was an American actor, academic and former Dean of the theatre arts department at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California. Victor Millan was Brown's pseudonym used during his acting career, which spanned decades.-Early life:Brown was born...
as King Chaac - Paul FreesPaul FreesPaul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
as Narrator (uncredited)
Other noteworthy casting included:
- CultCultThe word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
actor Robert TessierRobert TessierRobert W. Tessier was an American actor and stuntman who was best known for playing heavy, menacing characters on film and television.-Early life:...
as one of Captain Seas’ henchmen. - CultCultThe word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
actor Michael BerrymanMichael BerrymanMichael John Berryman is an American actor. He has appeared in several horror movies and other B movies. Berryman is famous for having a distinctive physical appearance as a result of hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, a rare genetic condition which prevents him from developing hair, sweat glands...
as Juan Lopez Morales, Hidalgo's chief coroner. - Legendary stuntmanStuntmanA stuntman or stunt performer is someone who performs dangerous stunts.Stuntman may also refer to:*The Stunt Man, a 1980 film starring Peter O'Toole*Stuntman , a 2002 video game**Stuntman: Ignition, its sequel...
Dar RobinsonDar RobinsonDar Allen Robinson was an American stunt performer and actor. Robinson broke 19 world records and set 21 "world's firsts." He invented the decelerator which allowed a cameraman to film a top-down view of the stuntman as he fell without accidentally...
as the would-be Mayan assassinAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
. - Carlos Rivas, who played the renegade MayanMaya civilizationThe Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
shaman Kulkan, also appeared in episodes "The Ultimate Duel" and "Perils of Tanga" of the 1966 TV series NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series TarzanTarzan (TV series)This is a list of TV series based on Tarzan....
starring Ron Ely. - Grace StaffordGrace StaffordGracie Lantz , also known by her stage name Grace Stafford, was an American actress and the wife of animation producer Walter Lantz. Stafford is best known for providing the voice of Woody Woodpecker from 1950 until 1972.-Career:Grace appeared in feature live action films from 1935, Dr...
, the wife of animation producer Walter LantzWalter LantzWalter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.-Early years and start in animation:...
, played an elderly woman who was helped across the street by a Boy ScoutBoy ScoutA Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
near the end of the film. George PalGeorge PálGeorge Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
and Lantz were good friends, and Lantz’s most famous creation, Woody WoodpeckerWoody WoodpeckerWoody Woodpecker is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal Pictures...
, often made a cameo appearanceCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in Pal's films. Ms. Stafford provided the voice for Woody Woodpecker.
Production background
Goodson-Todman Aborted 1966 Film
As co-creator of Doc Savage, author Lester DentLester Dent
Lester Dent was a prolific pulp fiction author, best known as the creator and main author of the series of novels about the superhuman scientist and adventurer, Doc Savage. The 159 novels written over 16 years were credited to the house name Kenneth Robeson.-Early years:Dent was born in 1904 in...
retained the radio, film, and television rights to the character as part of his contract with Street and Smith Publications, publishers of the Doc Savage pulp magazine. Although Dent succeeded in launching a short-lived radio program, he was never able to interest Hollywood in a Doc Savage film. Upon Dent's death in 1959, his widow, Norma Dent, acquired the radio, film, and television rights to Doc Savage.
The production team of Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
and Bill Todman
Bill Todman
William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...
announced the intention to produce a Doc Savage film to cash in on the popularity of the re-issued pulp novels by Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
and the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
craze sweeping the movies.
The film would be based on the July 1934 pulp novel The Thousand-Headed Man, with Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
as Doc, for a 1966 release.
Unfortunately, the producers and Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
, the new copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
owner to Doc Savage brand, failed to secure the film rights from the estate of Lester Dent. By the time the legal issues had been resolved, the production team and cast had moved on to do the offbeat western Ride Beyond Vengeance
Ride Beyond Vengeance
Ride Beyond Vengeance is a 1966 western film. It stars Chuck Connors, Michael Rennie, Kathryn Hays and Bill Bixby.The film was directed by Bernard McEveety and produced by Andrew J. Fenady from the story "The Night of the Tiger" by Al Dewlen. Glenn Yarbrough sang the title song vocals. It was...
.
Only the one-shot comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
movie tie-in (pictued) published by Gold Key
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
, with cover artwork by James Bama
James Bama
James Bama is an American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, "Here an artist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see the first buildings, the oldest wagons, saddles and guns, and be up close to the remnants of...
, remains to mark this aborted film undertaking.
George Pal's 1975 theatrical film
Producer George PalGeorge Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
secured the film and television rights from Norma Dent with the intention of launching a film franchise like the James Bond movies. Ever the businessman, Pal envisioned marketing and production savings from such a series, with an eventual sell to television to recoup any back-end costs, followed by an eventual television series, just as Sy Weintraub
Sy Weintraub
Sy Weintraub was a movie and television producer best known for his series of Tarzan films and television episodes between 1959 and 1968. Weintraub broke with the Johnny Weissmuller formula of portraying Tarzan as a pidgin-speaking noble savage who lives in a treehouse with Jane and Boy...
had done with Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
and Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
. However, to make a franchise work, the first movie had to be successful. Pal originally contacted Steve Reeves
Steve Reeves
Stephen L. Reeves was an American bodybuilder and actor. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.-Childhood:...
for the role of Doc but when filming was about to begin a Hollywood writers strike put the film on hold with Reeves and the original director replaced.
George Pal and Joe Morhaim wrote the screenplay based on The Man of Bronze, the first Doc Savage adventure, with additional story elements from other Doc Savage adventures, such as the November 1938 novel The Green Death and the January 1935 novel The Mystic Mullah.
The villainous Captain Seas, played by Paul Wexler, was based on the flamboyant and brutal Captain Flamingo from the February 1936 pulp novel Mystery of the Sea. This should not be confused with the Canadian television character Captain Flamingo
Captain Flamingo
Captain Flamingo is a Canadian animated television series, which chronicles the adventures of the protagonist and main character Milo Powell Captain Flamingo is a Canadian animated television series, which chronicles the adventures of the protagonist and main character Milo Powell Captain Flamingo...
.
English director Michael Anderson
Michael Anderson (director)
Michael Joseph Anderson, Sr. is an English film director, best known for directing The Dam Busters , Around the World in 80 Days and Logan's Run .-Early life:...
would helm the first Doc Savage movie. His specialty was action-adventure films, such as Dam Busters
The Dam Busters (film)
The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis's...
, Battle Hell, The Wreck of the Mary Deare
The Wreck of the Mary Deare
The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a novel written by British author Hammond Innes and later a movie starring Gary Cooper. It tells the story of the titular ship, which is found adrift at sea by John Sands. Sands boards it hoping to claim it for salvage, but finds the first officer, Gideon Patch, still...
, and Operation Crossbow
Operation Crossbow (film)
Operation Crossbow is a British 1965 spy thriller and World War II film, made from a story from Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli and filmed at MGM-British Studios...
. His most noteworthy effort had been Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
, the Best Picture of 1956.
Although there were reports that Pal planned to do location filming in Central America, principal photography was confined to southern California. Scenes involving the fictitious Eastern Cranmoor Building in New York City were filmed underneath the clock tower
Clock tower
A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more clock faces. Clock towers can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall. Some clock towers are not true clock towers having had their clock faces added to an already existing building...
of the art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
Eastern Columbia Building
Eastern Columbia Building
The Eastern Columbia Building is a thirteen-story building located at 849 S. Broadway in the Broadway Theater District of downtown Los Angeles, and is considered by many to be the most beautiful of Los Angeles' historic buildings, as well as its finest surviving example of Art Deco architecture...
in downtown Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Ron Ely's involvement extended beyond starring in the lead role. He reportedly directed several second unit
Second unit
In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...
sequences, including staging the fight onboard Captain Seas' yacht Seven Seas, which featured stuntman
Stuntman
A stuntman or stunt performer is someone who performs dangerous stunts.Stuntman may also refer to:*The Stunt Man, a 1980 film starring Peter O'Toole*Stuntman , a 2002 video game**Stuntman: Ignition, its sequel...
Dick Durock
Dick Durock
Richard "Dick" Durock was an American stuntman and actor who has appeared in over eighty films and over seven hundred television episodes.- Biography :...
who later starred in the Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
films and television series. Also, the portrait of Professor Clark Savage, Sr., in Doc's penthouse headquarters actually shows actor Ron Ely wearing a vintage safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
outfit and pith helmet
Pith helmet
The pith helmet is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of cork or pith...
, with a handlebar moustache.
Pamela Hensley
Pamela Hensley
Pamela Gail Hensley is an American actress. She is best known for playing Princess Ardala on the 1979-1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and C.J...
made her film debut in this motion picture.
Darrell Zwerling and Federico Roberto appeared in another 1930s nostalgia film, the 1974 film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
retro
Retro
Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...
classic Chinatown, with Zwerling playing Hollis Mulwray, the murdered water commissioner.
Paul Frees
Paul Frees
Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
, who provided the uncredited voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
narration for the opening title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
, also made a rare on-screen appearance in the 1953 version of War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
as well as performing the narration and other voice work for the 1960 fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
Atlantis, the Lost Continent
Atlantis, the Lost Continent
Atlantis, the Lost Continent is a 1961 science fiction film, directed by George Pal and starring Anthony Hall aka: Sal Ponti, about the destruction of Atlantis during the time of Ancient Greece.-Plot:...
, both produced by George Pal
George Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
.
The film features a rare Cord Model 810 coupe (pictued} and a vintage Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
aircraft.
Thematic issues
- Doc's trilling (although it sounded like bells tinkling rather than a more life-like trilling (such as a cat purring)
- Bickering between Monk and Ham
- Renny's signature expletive "Holy Cow!"
- Renny's love of slamming his fists through solidly constructed doors or door-panels.
- Monk's pet pig, Habeas Corpus
- Doc's Fortress of Solitude
- The penthouse headquarters on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building.
- The Crime College and Doc's brain surgery techniques to remove the criminal element from crooks he'd captured, making them incapable of committing further crimes.
- Doc's dramatic descent down a skyscraperSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
elevator shaft - Doc's daily two-hour exercise regime
- Doc standing on an automobile's running board in hot pursuit (see photo, right)
- Johnny's use of long, obscure words when simple words would suffice.
- A plethora of retroRetroRetro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...
gadgetry such as heat detector, globes of fire-fighting chemicals (extinguisher globes), phonographPhonographThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
-based recording machine, remote-controlled aircraft, a ray gun disguised as a cigarette lighterLighterA lighter is a portable device used to generate a flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition, and some provision for extinguishing the flame.- History :...
, lightweight bullet-proof vests, miniaturized SCUBAScuba setA scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving. It is much used for sport diving and some sorts of work diving....
-type underwater breathing gear, and the Whizzer, a prototype helicopterHelicopterA helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
--all his inventions and designs.
Other aspects of the Doc Savage mythos were modified for the movie. For example, The film takes place in 1936, but the original pulp novel was published in March 1933. Most Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
chronologies place the events in The Man of Bronze in early 1931 prior to the official opening of the Empire State Building, the implicit location of Doc's 86th floor penthouse headquarters. The film does not mention that Doc's father, Professor Clark Savage, Sr., was instrumental in raising his son from the cradle to become the supreme adventurer under the tutelage of a blue-ribbon group of distinguished scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s. The Seven Seas is actually the name of Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
's private motor yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
in the pulp novels written by Lester Dent
Lester Dent
Lester Dent was a prolific pulp fiction author, best known as the creator and main author of the series of novels about the superhuman scientist and adventurer, Doc Savage. The 159 novels written over 16 years were credited to the house name Kenneth Robeson.-Early years:Dent was born in 1904 in...
. Finally, Long Tom (Paul Gleason) mentions that Monk, Ham, Renny, Johnny, and he first met Doc Savage while fighting in the trenches during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and vowed to work together against evil-doers after the war. The 1991 novel Escape From Loki by Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
retroactively tells the story of how Doc first met The Fabulous Five in a high-security German POW camp in 1918. Finally, the opening titles used the same typography (pictured) used in the Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
reprints of the Doc Savage pulp novels.
Debate continues who was responsible for the camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
content of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, the studio or George Pal
George Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
and his production team. Among the many examples of over-the-top camp include Don Rubio Gorro (Bob Corso) rocking himself to sleep in an adult-sized baby crib, with Beautiful Dreamer as its musical cue
Musical cue
A musical cue is where another instrument's music is shown on a piece of music. It is up to the performer or the conductor on whether the section should play it. A cue may also function as a guideline for another instrument for improvisation or if there are many bars rest to help the performer find...
. Also, he animated twinkle in the eye of Doc Savage (Ron Ely) at the beginning of the film and later when Doc tells Mona (Pamela Hensley) that she was a brick. "La Cucaracha", played by a flute was used in an up-tempo musical cue
Musical cue
A musical cue is where another instrument's music is shown on a piece of music. It is up to the performer or the conductor on whether the section should play it. A cue may also function as a guideline for another instrument for improvisation or if there are many bars rest to help the performer find...
, during the attempted escape of Captain Seas' henchmen from the Valley of the Vanished. Finally, an applause soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
was added following Doc's recitation of his personal code (see Selected quotes and dialogue below for the text).
The film is also remembered for its theme song arranged by Frank De Vol
Frank De Vol
Frank Denny De Vol, also known simply as De Vol was an American arranger, composer and actor.-Early life and career:...
around John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
's The Thunderer
The Thunderer
"The Thunderer" is one of John Philip Sousa's marches. It was written in 1889.The origin of the name is not officially known, though it is speculated that it gets its name from the "pyrotechnic [effects] of the drum and bugle in [the] score."...
. Sousa’s music was intended to evoke a patriotic theme for Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze and attempted to emulate the success that director George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford...
and composer Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
had achieved when they used the ragtime music of Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
for the 1975 caper film The Sting
The Sting
The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
. Both Sousa and Joplin were turn-of-the-century contemporaries, and their music were not contemporaneous to the period that these 1930s nostalgia films were set. The credit acknowledging Sousa's score has the letters "USA" of his last name highlighted in red, white, and blue.
Reaction
George Pál
George Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
reported to Edward Felipe in the magazine Castle of Frankenstein that "We made it too good." However, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze proved to be inferior in every production category – set design, art direction, costuming, hair style – to Chinatown, The Sting
The Sting
The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
, Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)
Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, and based on the1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.-Overview:...
, and other 1930s nostalgia films released during this period. Even Pal's trademark visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
and matte paintings were mediocre, with the depiction of the Green Death as animated serpentine vapors being particularly unconvincing (pictured).
The decision by Warner Brothers to shift the release date from the Spring of 1974 to Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
1975 denoted a lack of confidence in the production and its box office potential. However, a 16-page press kit
Press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use...
was prepared, and Ron Ely participated in a press junket that included an appearance in the WSB-TV
WSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
annual Fourth of July parade in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
Reviews were scathing, with Daily Variety noting: "Execrable acting, dopey action sequences, and clumsy attempts at camp humor mark George Pal's Doc Savage as the kind of kiddie film that gives the G rating a bad name."
The movie proved to be a disappointment for both die-hard Doc Savage fans and the general public. The film did not do well at the box office, and it soon disappeared in a summer dominated by the blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
of Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
.
Future productions
A sequel, Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil, was announced at the conclusion of The Man of Bronze (see photo, right). Based on a screenplay by Joe Morhaim, and according to contemporary news accounts, it had been filmed in the Lake TahoeLake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
area simultaneously with the principal photography for the first Doc Savage.
According to the screenplay that was posted on the Internet, the sequel was based very loosely on the October 1934 pulp novel Death in Silver
Death in Silver (Doc Savage)
Death in Silver is a Doc Savage pulp novel by Lester Dent writing under the house name Kenneth Robeson. It was published in October 1934....
, which also featured a deformed, German-speaking supervillain and a man-eating octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
found in the September 1937 pulp novel The Feathered Octopus. However, due to the poor reception of the first film, Doc Savage: The Arch Enemy of Evil was never completed or released.
Another script was written by Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
, and included a meeting between Doc and a retired Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
in 1936, but it was never filmed.
Other productions
Following the box-office success of the 1999 remakeRemake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of The Mummy
The Mummy (1999 film)
The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...
, Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros...
announced plans to produce a new Doc Savage movie with Warner Brothers and Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. Film-makers Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
and Chuck Russell
Chuck Russell
Charles "Chuck" Russell is an American motion picture director, producer and actor.-Filmography:*The Hearse *Hell Night *The Seduction...
would supervise the production, based on a screenplay by Brett Hill and David Johnson, with Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
attached to play Doc.
However, with Schwarzenegger now serving his second term as governor of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and both Darabont and Russell involved in other projects, this remake appears to be improbable.
In late 2006, director-producer Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
announced plans to make a film involving several Street and Smith pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
heroes, including The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
, The Avenger, and Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
. A screenplay is being written by Siavash Farahani (Ruse) but no plot details were available.
Awards
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze received the 1974–1975 Golden Scroll for Best Fantasy FilmSaturn Award for Best Fantasy Film
The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Fantasy Film:...
from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
Home video
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze was initially released by Warner Home Video in a clamshell box, at the time denoting a family film, with cover art (see photo, right) designed to capitalize on the success of Raiders of the Lost ArkRaiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
. The film was also released onto Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
and there is a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
available in Germany (with German and English language).
In March 2009, the movie was made available within the United States as part of Warner Brothers's "Warner Archive" print-on-demand DVD service, at a price of $19.95 for a DVD containing the movie presented in its original aspect ratio, and its trailer in 4:3.
External Links & Sources
1975 film- ThePulp.Net: Doc Savage on Film ThePulp.Net's Doc Savage movie page
- Preview Hidalgo Trading Company website – Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze page
- Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze - The Movie Doc Savage The Man of Bronze – On-line Movie Graphic Novel
- http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/docsavage.htm Moria: Doc Savage Movie Page
- Doc Savage - The Man of Bronze - Movie Weird Sci-Fi – Doc Savage Movie Review
- http://content-backend-a.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf2s2004v6&chunk.id=c02-1.8.7.3.4 Listing of George Pal Papers, 1937–1986
- Variety Reviews - Doc Savage - The Man of Bronze - Film Reviews - - Review by Variety Staff Daily Variety review – January 1, 1975
- Obscure Facts About George Pal Obscure Facts about George PalGeorge PálGeorge Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
- DVD Late Show DVD Late Show: Twenty MIA Movies I Want on DVD
- http://www.cinema.de/film_aktuell/filmdetail/film?typ=inhalt&film_id=15504 Cinema.de (German)
- The Doc Savage Movie Doc Savage The Supreme Adventurer
- Doc Savage page @ The Time Machine Project
Sequels & possible remakes
- Doc Savage - Mania.com Mania.com Development Hell – Doc Savage
- Sam Raimi finds more superheroes? - Mania.com Mania.com – Sam Raimi finds more superheroes?
- The Original Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology Part VII Wold Newton Universe
- http://www.vintagelibrary.com/pulp/dent/bib.pdf A Lester Dent Bibliography by Will Murray
- http://www.pjfarmer.com/onekind.htm Philip Jose Farmer's Basement: Original Manuscripts
- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news. Ain't It Cool Cool News – July 7, 1999
- http://www.geocities.com/pulp.master/doc-savage.txt Doc Savage Bibliography – Movies