King of the Rocket Men
Encyclopedia
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949
Republic
movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
.
A "Rocket Man" character appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released (for contractual reasons) as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes.
of unknown identity
, calling himself "Dr Vulcan," plots to conquer the world, but first needs to eliminate one by one the members of the Science Associates, an organization of the Earth's greatest scientists. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life by Vulcan, one member of Science Associates, Dr. Millard (James Craven), outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin
) with an "atomic powered rocket flying suit."
With the help of the suit, a magazine
photographer named Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke
), and other inventions of Dr. Millard, King battles the minions of Dr. Vulcan for twelve suspenseful episodes. Eventually Vulcan steals one of Millard's more dangerous inventions, the Decimator, and uses it to flood and destroy Manhattan Island
(courtesy of stock footage
from the once-thought-lost film, Deluge
(1933)), before being brought to justice by Jeff King in his jet pack
.
was $165,592 (a $608, or 0.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1949.
It was filmed between 6 April and 27 April 1949. The serial's production number was 1704.
Republic liked calling their heroes "King" in order to use the title "King of..." The studio had found success with this naming scheme following the adaptation of Zane Grey
's King of the Royal Mounted
. The main character in this serial was Jeff King, otherwise known as Rocket Man. The flight gimmickry was inspired by the Buck Rogers "cartoon strip".
King of the Rocket Men is a more cheaply-made than the previous Republic
serials, and the casting is also less starry. Tristram Coffin
was a typical "dress heavy" of the period, complete with pencil-thin mustache, and it was a real stretch even for serial audiences of the day to accept him as the hero. Even stranger was the casting of nearly forty-year-old Mae Clarke
as the damsel in distress
. The serial also lacks a colorful villain
along the lines of The Crimson Ghost
. The Deluge footage, though spectacular, had previously been used by the studio in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941).
Rocket Man in action was played by three different Republic stuntmen. Dave Sharpe performed the leaps into the air and acrobatics necessary to simulate flight. Tom Steele was the second stuntman in the costume and Dale Van Sickel took the role when Steele and Sharpe were unavailable or elsewhere in shot. The first appearance of Rocket Man has him fighting aboard a truck driven by Tom Steele while, in the same scenes, Tom Steele is also the stuntman wearing the Rocket Man costume in the back of the truck. Steele was killed during production after his rocket jetpack exploded. The accident also blinded a young woman who would later unsuccessfully sue the director.
, by running a full-size dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at an angle to the horizontal. The same strategy had produced remarkable flying sequences in the earlier Republic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel
(1941). Dave Sharpe
's take-offs were accomplished with concealed springboards, and his landings by simply jumping down from some raised position into the frame.
The shots of King in his flying suit taking off, flying, and landing were reused in three subsequent Republic productions featuring flying heroes: Radar Men from the Moon
, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
and Zombies of the Stratosphere
.
Rocket Man's raygun "appeared to be a German Luger (acceptable in this post-wartime serial) with a silvery cone propped over the barrel."
The tidal wave
in the last chapter is stock footage
taken from RKO's Deluge
. Stock footage was used for most of the cliffhangers, showing the "downward trend of late 1940s Republic serials".
A 65-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 25 July 1951. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials. The title was changed to Lost Planet Airmen after using the working title
s The Lost Planet and Lost Planetmen. The ending was changed for the feature film version. Instead of New York City
being reduced to rubble by a deluge, as in the serial, those events are dismissed as just the "dream of a mad man" and did not really happen. A similar change was made in the feature version of Drums of Fu Manchu
.
King of the Rocket Men was re-released on 16 July 1956 between the similar re-releases of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
and Federal Operator 99
. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival
in 1955.
Source:
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949
Republic
movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
.
A "Rocket Man" character appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released (for contractual reasons) as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes.
of unknown identity
, calling himself "Dr Vulcan," plots to conquer the world, but first needs to eliminate one by one the members of the Science Associates, an organization of the Earth's greatest scientists. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life by Vulcan, one member of Science Associates, Dr. Millard (James Craven), outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin
) with an "atomic powered rocket flying suit."
With the help of the suit, a magazine
photographer named Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke
), and other inventions of Dr. Millard, King battles the minions of Dr. Vulcan for twelve suspenseful episodes. Eventually Vulcan steals one of Millard's more dangerous inventions, the Decimator, and uses it to flood and destroy Manhattan Island
(courtesy of stock footage
from the once-thought-lost film, Deluge
(1933)), before being brought to justice by Jeff King in his jet pack
.
was $165,592 (a $608, or 0.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1949.
It was filmed between 6 April and 27 April 1949. The serial's production number was 1704.
Republic liked calling their heroes "King" in order to use the title "King of..." The studio had found success with this naming scheme following the adaptation of Zane Grey
's King of the Royal Mounted
. The main character in this serial was Jeff King, otherwise known as Rocket Man. The flight gimmickry was inspired by the Buck Rogers "cartoon strip".
King of the Rocket Men is a more cheaply-made than the previous Republic
serials, and the casting is also less starry. Tristram Coffin
was a typical "dress heavy" of the period, complete with pencil-thin mustache, and it was a real stretch even for serial audiences of the day to accept him as the hero. Even stranger was the casting of nearly forty-year-old Mae Clarke
as the damsel in distress
. The serial also lacks a colorful villain
along the lines of The Crimson Ghost
. The Deluge footage, though spectacular, had previously been used by the studio in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941).
Rocket Man in action was played by three different Republic stuntmen. Dave Sharpe performed the leaps into the air and acrobatics necessary to simulate flight. Tom Steele was the second stuntman in the costume and Dale Van Sickel took the role when Steele and Sharpe were unavailable or elsewhere in shot. The first appearance of Rocket Man has him fighting aboard a truck driven by Tom Steele while, in the same scenes, Tom Steele is also the stuntman wearing the Rocket Man costume in the back of the truck. Steele was killed during production after his rocket jetpack exploded. The accident also blinded a young woman who would later unsuccessfully sue the director.
, by running a full-size dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at an angle to the horizontal. The same strategy had produced remarkable flying sequences in the earlier Republic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel
(1941). Dave Sharpe
's take-offs were accomplished with concealed springboards, and his landings by simply jumping down from some raised position into the frame.
The shots of King in his flying suit taking off, flying, and landing were reused in three subsequent Republic productions featuring flying heroes: Radar Men from the Moon
, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
and Zombies of the Stratosphere
.
Rocket Man's raygun "appeared to be a German Luger (acceptable in this post-wartime serial) with a silvery cone propped over the barrel."
The tidal wave
in the last chapter is stock footage
taken from RKO's Deluge
. Stock footage was used for most of the cliffhangers, showing the "downward trend of late 1940s Republic serials".
A 65-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 25 July 1951. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials. The title was changed to Lost Planet Airmen after using the working title
s The Lost Planet and Lost Planetmen. The ending was changed for the feature film version. Instead of New York City
being reduced to rubble by a deluge, as in the serial, those events are dismissed as just the "dream of a mad man" and did not really happen. A similar change was made in the feature version of Drums of Fu Manchu
.
King of the Rocket Men was re-released on 16 July 1956 between the similar re-releases of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
and Federal Operator 99
. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival
in 1955.
Source:
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949
Republic
movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
.
A "Rocket Man" character appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released (for contractual reasons) as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes.
of unknown identity
, calling himself "Dr Vulcan," plots to conquer the world, but first needs to eliminate one by one the members of the Science Associates, an organization of the Earth's greatest scientists. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life by Vulcan, one member of Science Associates, Dr. Millard (James Craven), outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin
) with an "atomic powered rocket flying suit."
With the help of the suit, a magazine
photographer named Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke
), and other inventions of Dr. Millard, King battles the minions of Dr. Vulcan for twelve suspenseful episodes. Eventually Vulcan steals one of Millard's more dangerous inventions, the Decimator, and uses it to flood and destroy Manhattan Island
(courtesy of stock footage
from the once-thought-lost film, Deluge
(1933)), before being brought to justice by Jeff King in his jet pack
.
was $165,592 (a $608, or 0.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1949.
It was filmed between 6 April and 27 April 1949. The serial's production number was 1704.
Republic liked calling their heroes "King" in order to use the title "King of..." The studio had found success with this naming scheme following the adaptation of Zane Grey
's King of the Royal Mounted
. The main character in this serial was Jeff King, otherwise known as Rocket Man. The flight gimmickry was inspired by the Buck Rogers "cartoon strip".
King of the Rocket Men is a more cheaply-made than the previous Republic
serials, and the casting is also less starry. Tristram Coffin
was a typical "dress heavy" of the period, complete with pencil-thin mustache, and it was a real stretch even for serial audiences of the day to accept him as the hero. Even stranger was the casting of nearly forty-year-old Mae Clarke
as the damsel in distress
. The serial also lacks a colorful villain
along the lines of The Crimson Ghost
. The Deluge footage, though spectacular, had previously been used by the studio in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941).
Rocket Man in action was played by three different Republic stuntmen. Dave Sharpe performed the leaps into the air and acrobatics necessary to simulate flight. Tom Steele was the second stuntman in the costume and Dale Van Sickel took the role when Steele and Sharpe were unavailable or elsewhere in shot. The first appearance of Rocket Man has him fighting aboard a truck driven by Tom Steele while, in the same scenes, Tom Steele is also the stuntman wearing the Rocket Man costume in the back of the truck. Steele was killed during production after his rocket jetpack exploded. The accident also blinded a young woman who would later unsuccessfully sue the director.
, by running a full-size dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at an angle to the horizontal. The same strategy had produced remarkable flying sequences in the earlier Republic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel
(1941). Dave Sharpe
's take-offs were accomplished with concealed springboards, and his landings by simply jumping down from some raised position into the frame.
The shots of King in his flying suit taking off, flying, and landing were reused in three subsequent Republic productions featuring flying heroes: Radar Men from the Moon
, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
and Zombies of the Stratosphere
.
Rocket Man's raygun "appeared to be a German Luger (acceptable in this post-wartime serial) with a silvery cone propped over the barrel."
The tidal wave
in the last chapter is stock footage
taken from RKO's Deluge
. Stock footage was used for most of the cliffhangers, showing the "downward trend of late 1940s Republic serials".
A 65-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 25 July 1951. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials. The title was changed to Lost Planet Airmen after using the working title
s The Lost Planet and Lost Planetmen. The ending was changed for the feature film version. Instead of New York City
being reduced to rubble by a deluge, as in the serial, those events are dismissed as just the "dream of a mad man" and did not really happen. A similar change was made in the feature version of Drums of Fu Manchu
.
King of the Rocket Men was re-released on 16 July 1956 between the similar re-releases of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
and Federal Operator 99
. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival
in 1955.
Source:
1949 in film
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
.
A "Rocket Man" character appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released (for contractual reasons) as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes.
- King of the Rocket Men (1949)
- Radar Men from the MoonRadar Men from the MoonRadar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
(1952) - Zombies of the StratosphereZombies of the StratosphereZombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
(1952) - Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the UniverseCommando Cody: Sky Marshal of the UniverseCommando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
(serial 1953, TV series 1955)
Plot
An evil geniusVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
of unknown identity
Masked Mystery Villain
A Masked Mystery Villain is a stock character in genre fiction. The Masked Mystery Villain was frequently used in the adventure stories of Pulp magazines and Movie Serials in the early twentieth century. They can also appear in Crime fiction to add to the atmosphere of suspense and suspicion...
, calling himself "Dr Vulcan," plots to conquer the world, but first needs to eliminate one by one the members of the Science Associates, an organization of the Earth's greatest scientists. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life by Vulcan, one member of Science Associates, Dr. Millard (James Craven), outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin
Tris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
) with an "atomic powered rocket flying suit."
With the help of the suit, a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
photographer named Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
), and other inventions of Dr. Millard, King battles the minions of Dr. Vulcan for twelve suspenseful episodes. Eventually Vulcan steals one of Millard's more dangerous inventions, the Decimator, and uses it to flood and destroy Manhattan Island
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
(courtesy of stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
from the once-thought-lost film, Deluge
Deluge (film)
Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....
(1933)), before being brought to justice by Jeff King in his jet pack
Jet pack
Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
.
Cast
- Tristram CoffinTris CoffinTristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
as Jeff King/Rocket Man. Kirk AlynKirk Alyn-External links:...
was considered for the lead but the part eventually went to Coffin. - Mae ClarkeMae ClarkeMae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as Glenda Thomas - Don HaggertyDon HaggertyDon Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...
as Tony Dirken - House Peters, Jr.House Peters, Jr.Robert House Peters, Jr. was an American character actor most noted for his roles in 1950s B movies and westerns. He is perhaps best remembered as the face and body of Mr. Clean in the Procter and Gamble cleaning product commercials of the era.- Biography :Peters was born in New Rochelle, New York...
as Burt Winslow - James Craven as Professor Millard
- I. Stanford JolleyI. Stanford JolleyIsaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...
as Professor Bryant - Stanley PriceStanley PriceStanley Price was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was born in Kansas, United States.-Career:...
as Gunther Von Strum
Production
King of the Rocket Men was budgeted at $164,984 although the final negative costNegative cost
Negative cost is the cost of actually producing and shooting a film. It does not include such costs as distribution and promotion.Low-budget movies, for example The Blair Witch Project, can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the negative cost.The term comes from the costs up to the...
was $165,592 (a $608, or 0.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1949.
It was filmed between 6 April and 27 April 1949. The serial's production number was 1704.
Republic liked calling their heroes "King" in order to use the title "King of..." The studio had found success with this naming scheme following the adaptation of Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
's King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted is a fictional series featuring the character Dave King, created by Stephen Slesinger in 1936. Slesinger licensed popular Western writer Zane Grey's byline and marketed the character as Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted....
. The main character in this serial was Jeff King, otherwise known as Rocket Man. The flight gimmickry was inspired by the Buck Rogers "cartoon strip".
King of the Rocket Men is a more cheaply-made than the previous Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
serials, and the casting is also less starry. Tristram Coffin
Tris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
was a typical "dress heavy" of the period, complete with pencil-thin mustache, and it was a real stretch even for serial audiences of the day to accept him as the hero. Even stranger was the casting of nearly forty-year-old Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as the damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
. The serial also lacks a colorful villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
along the lines of The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost is a Republic film serial directed by Fred C. Brannon and William Witney with Charles Quigley and Linda Stirling playing the leads. This was Witney's last serial, after a career that left him one of the most praised of all serial directors...
. The Deluge footage, though spectacular, had previously been used by the studio in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941).
Stunts
- David SharpeDave SharpeDave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
as Jeff King/Tony Dirken/Prof Bryant (doubling Tristram Coffin in rocket suit, Don Haggerty & I. Stanford Jolley) - Tom SteeleTom Steele (stuntman)Tom Steele was a stunt man and actor, best remembered for appearing in serials, especially those produced by Republic Pictures, in both capacities.-Early life:...
as Jeff King/Burt Winslow (doubling Tristram Coffin & House Peters, Jr.) - Dale Van SickelDale Van SickelDale Harris Van Sickel was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years...
as Jeff King/Tony Dirken (doubling Tristram Coffin in rocket suit & Don Haggerty) - Carey LoftinCarey LoftinCarey Loftin was an American actor and stuntman. One of his most famous roles was as the truck driver in Steven Spielberg's Duel, although his face was never seen...
as Burt Winslow (doubling House Peters Jr) - Eddie ParkerEddie ParkerEddie Parker was a stuntman and actor who appeared in many classic films, mostly westerns and horror films...
- Bud WolfeBud WolfeRoland 'Bud' Wolfe was an American pilot who parachuted from an RAF Spitfire plane into a peat bog on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland, on November 30, 1941. The incident initiated a diplomatic row between Britain and Ireland....
Rocket Man in action was played by three different Republic stuntmen. Dave Sharpe performed the leaps into the air and acrobatics necessary to simulate flight. Tom Steele was the second stuntman in the costume and Dale Van Sickel took the role when Steele and Sharpe were unavailable or elsewhere in shot. The first appearance of Rocket Man has him fighting aboard a truck driven by Tom Steele while, in the same scenes, Tom Steele is also the stuntman wearing the Rocket Man costume in the back of the truck. Steele was killed during production after his rocket jetpack exploded. The accident also blinded a young woman who would later unsuccessfully sue the director.
Special effects
Several shots in the serial feature the Rocketman character flying across broad vistas of barren landscape, an effect achieved by Howard and Theodore LydeckerLydecker brothers
-Partial filmography:*Darkest Africa *Women in War - Oscar nominated*Adventures of Captain Marvel *Flying Tigers - Oscar nominated*Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe...
, by running a full-size dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at an angle to the horizontal. The same strategy had produced remarkable flying sequences in the earlier Republic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel
Adventures of Captain Marvel
Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 1941 twelve-chapter film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures, adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character then appearing in Fawcett Comics publications such as Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures...
(1941). Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
's take-offs were accomplished with concealed springboards, and his landings by simply jumping down from some raised position into the frame.
The shots of King in his flying suit taking off, flying, and landing were reused in three subsequent Republic productions featuring flying heroes: Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
and Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
.
Rocket Man's raygun "appeared to be a German Luger (acceptable in this post-wartime serial) with a silvery cone propped over the barrel."
The tidal wave
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
in the last chapter is stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
taken from RKO's Deluge
Deluge (film)
Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....
. Stock footage was used for most of the cliffhangers, showing the "downward trend of late 1940s Republic serials".
Theatrical
King of the Rocket Mens official release date is 8 June 1949, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.A 65-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 25 July 1951. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials. The title was changed to Lost Planet Airmen after using the working title
Working title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
s The Lost Planet and Lost Planetmen. The ending was changed for the feature film version. Instead of 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...
being reduced to rubble by a deluge, as in the serial, those events are dismissed as just the "dream of a mad man" and did not really happen. A similar change was made in the feature version of Drums of Fu Manchu
Drums of Fu Manchu
Drums of Fu Manchu is a 15-chapter Republic movie serial very loosely based on the novel by Sax Rohmer, starring Henry Brandon, William Royle and Robert Kellard...
.
King of the Rocket Men was re-released on 16 July 1956 between the similar re-releases of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Adventures of Frank and Jesse James is a 1948 Republic film serial.-Cast:* Clayton Moore as Jesse James AKA John Howard* Steve Darrell as Frank James AKA Bob Carroll* Noel Neill as Judy Powell* George J...
and Federal Operator 99
Federal Operator 99
Federal Operator 99 is a 1945 Republic film serial.-Cast:* Marten Lamont as Jerry Blake, Federal Operator 99* Helen Talbot as Joyce Kingston* George J...
. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival
King of the Carnival
King of the Carnival is a Republic movie serial. It contains a substantial amount of stock footage from the earlier Republic serial Daredevils of the Red Circle. This was the last serial ever made by Republic and is often considered to be one of the worst produced by that company...
in 1955.
Critical reception
Cline describes this serial as "one of Republic's last cliff-hangers with any originality to it." He singles out Clarke's performance, saying that she is "a refreshing note in an otherwise routine proceeding."Chapter titles
- Dr. Vulcan - Traitor (20min)
- Plunging Death (13min 20s)
- Dangerous Evidence (13min 20s)
- High Peril (13min 20s)
- Fatal Dive (13min 20s)
- Mystery of the Rocket Man (13min 20s)
- Molten Menace (13min 20s)
- Suicide Flight (13min 20s)
- Ten Seconds to Live (13min 20s)
- The Deadly Fog (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter
- Secret of Dr. Vulcan (13min 20s)
- Wave of Disaster (13min 20s)
Source:
See also
- The Rocketeer
- Commander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....
- List of film serials by year
- List of film serials by studio
External links
- Detailed Review of King of the Rocket Men
- A discussion of the Rocket Man character in the context of the decline of the movie serial
- A tribute page for all the Rocket Man serials
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949
1949 in film
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
.
A "Rocket Man" character appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released (for contractual reasons) as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes.
- King of the Rocket Men (1949)
- Radar Men from the MoonRadar Men from the MoonRadar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
(1952) - Zombies of the StratosphereZombies of the StratosphereZombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
(1952) - Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the UniverseCommando Cody: Sky Marshal of the UniverseCommando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
(serial 1953, TV series 1955)
Plot
An evil geniusVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
of unknown identity
Masked Mystery Villain
A Masked Mystery Villain is a stock character in genre fiction. The Masked Mystery Villain was frequently used in the adventure stories of Pulp magazines and Movie Serials in the early twentieth century. They can also appear in Crime fiction to add to the atmosphere of suspense and suspicion...
, calling himself "Dr Vulcan," plots to conquer the world, but first needs to eliminate one by one the members of the Science Associates, an organization of the Earth's greatest scientists. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life by Vulcan, one member of Science Associates, Dr. Millard (James Craven), outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin
Tris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
) with an "atomic powered rocket flying suit."
With the help of the suit, a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
photographer named Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
), and other inventions of Dr. Millard, King battles the minions of Dr. Vulcan for twelve suspenseful episodes. Eventually Vulcan steals one of Millard's more dangerous inventions, the Decimator, and uses it to flood and destroy Manhattan Island
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
(courtesy of stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
from the once-thought-lost film, Deluge
Deluge (film)
Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....
(1933)), before being brought to justice by Jeff King in his jet pack
Jet pack
Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
.
Cast
- Tristram CoffinTris CoffinTristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
as Jeff King/Rocket Man. Kirk AlynKirk Alyn-External links:...
was considered for the lead but the part eventually went to Coffin. - Mae ClarkeMae ClarkeMae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as Glenda Thomas - Don HaggertyDon HaggertyDon Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...
as Tony Dirken - House Peters, Jr.House Peters, Jr.Robert House Peters, Jr. was an American character actor most noted for his roles in 1950s B movies and westerns. He is perhaps best remembered as the face and body of Mr. Clean in the Procter and Gamble cleaning product commercials of the era.- Biography :Peters was born in New Rochelle, New York...
as Burt Winslow - James Craven as Professor Millard
- I. Stanford JolleyI. Stanford JolleyIsaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...
as Professor Bryant - Stanley PriceStanley PriceStanley Price was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was born in Kansas, United States.-Career:...
as Gunther Von Strum
Production
King of the Rocket Men was budgeted at $164,984 although the final negative costNegative cost
Negative cost is the cost of actually producing and shooting a film. It does not include such costs as distribution and promotion.Low-budget movies, for example The Blair Witch Project, can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the negative cost.The term comes from the costs up to the...
was $165,592 (a $608, or 0.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1949.
It was filmed between 6 April and 27 April 1949. The serial's production number was 1704.
Republic liked calling their heroes "King" in order to use the title "King of..." The studio had found success with this naming scheme following the adaptation of Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
's King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted is a fictional series featuring the character Dave King, created by Stephen Slesinger in 1936. Slesinger licensed popular Western writer Zane Grey's byline and marketed the character as Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted....
. The main character in this serial was Jeff King, otherwise known as Rocket Man. The flight gimmickry was inspired by the Buck Rogers "cartoon strip".
King of the Rocket Men is a more cheaply-made than the previous Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
serials, and the casting is also less starry. Tristram Coffin
Tris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
was a typical "dress heavy" of the period, complete with pencil-thin mustache, and it was a real stretch even for serial audiences of the day to accept him as the hero. Even stranger was the casting of nearly forty-year-old Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as the damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
. The serial also lacks a colorful villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
along the lines of The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost is a Republic film serial directed by Fred C. Brannon and William Witney with Charles Quigley and Linda Stirling playing the leads. This was Witney's last serial, after a career that left him one of the most praised of all serial directors...
. The Deluge footage, though spectacular, had previously been used by the studio in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941).
Stunts
- David SharpeDave SharpeDave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
as Jeff King/Tony Dirken/Prof Bryant (doubling Tristram Coffin in rocket suit, Don Haggerty & I. Stanford Jolley) - Tom SteeleTom Steele (stuntman)Tom Steele was a stunt man and actor, best remembered for appearing in serials, especially those produced by Republic Pictures, in both capacities.-Early life:...
as Jeff King/Burt Winslow (doubling Tristram Coffin & House Peters, Jr.) - Dale Van SickelDale Van SickelDale Harris Van Sickel was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years...
as Jeff King/Tony Dirken (doubling Tristram Coffin in rocket suit & Don Haggerty) - Carey LoftinCarey LoftinCarey Loftin was an American actor and stuntman. One of his most famous roles was as the truck driver in Steven Spielberg's Duel, although his face was never seen...
as Burt Winslow (doubling House Peters Jr) - Eddie ParkerEddie ParkerEddie Parker was a stuntman and actor who appeared in many classic films, mostly westerns and horror films...
- Bud WolfeBud WolfeRoland 'Bud' Wolfe was an American pilot who parachuted from an RAF Spitfire plane into a peat bog on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland, on November 30, 1941. The incident initiated a diplomatic row between Britain and Ireland....
Rocket Man in action was played by three different Republic stuntmen. Dave Sharpe performed the leaps into the air and acrobatics necessary to simulate flight. Tom Steele was the second stuntman in the costume and Dale Van Sickel took the role when Steele and Sharpe were unavailable or elsewhere in shot. The first appearance of Rocket Man has him fighting aboard a truck driven by Tom Steele while, in the same scenes, Tom Steele is also the stuntman wearing the Rocket Man costume in the back of the truck. Steele was killed during production after his rocket jetpack exploded. The accident also blinded a young woman who would later unsuccessfully sue the director.
Special effects
Several shots in the serial feature the Rocketman character flying across broad vistas of barren landscape, an effect achieved by Howard and Theodore LydeckerLydecker brothers
-Partial filmography:*Darkest Africa *Women in War - Oscar nominated*Adventures of Captain Marvel *Flying Tigers - Oscar nominated*Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe...
, by running a full-size dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at an angle to the horizontal. The same strategy had produced remarkable flying sequences in the earlier Republic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel
Adventures of Captain Marvel
Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 1941 twelve-chapter film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures, adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character then appearing in Fawcett Comics publications such as Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures...
(1941). Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
's take-offs were accomplished with concealed springboards, and his landings by simply jumping down from some raised position into the frame.
The shots of King in his flying suit taking off, flying, and landing were reused in three subsequent Republic productions featuring flying heroes: Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
and Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
.
Rocket Man's raygun "appeared to be a German Luger (acceptable in this post-wartime serial) with a silvery cone propped over the barrel."
The tidal wave
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
in the last chapter is stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
taken from RKO's Deluge
Deluge (film)
Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....
. Stock footage was used for most of the cliffhangers, showing the "downward trend of late 1940s Republic serials".
Theatrical
King of the Rocket Mens official release date is 8 June 1949, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.A 65-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 25 July 1951. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials. The title was changed to Lost Planet Airmen after using the working title
Working title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
s The Lost Planet and Lost Planetmen. The ending was changed for the feature film version. Instead of 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...
being reduced to rubble by a deluge, as in the serial, those events are dismissed as just the "dream of a mad man" and did not really happen. A similar change was made in the feature version of Drums of Fu Manchu
Drums of Fu Manchu
Drums of Fu Manchu is a 15-chapter Republic movie serial very loosely based on the novel by Sax Rohmer, starring Henry Brandon, William Royle and Robert Kellard...
.
King of the Rocket Men was re-released on 16 July 1956 between the similar re-releases of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Adventures of Frank and Jesse James is a 1948 Republic film serial.-Cast:* Clayton Moore as Jesse James AKA John Howard* Steve Darrell as Frank James AKA Bob Carroll* Noel Neill as Judy Powell* George J...
and Federal Operator 99
Federal Operator 99
Federal Operator 99 is a 1945 Republic film serial.-Cast:* Marten Lamont as Jerry Blake, Federal Operator 99* Helen Talbot as Joyce Kingston* George J...
. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival
King of the Carnival
King of the Carnival is a Republic movie serial. It contains a substantial amount of stock footage from the earlier Republic serial Daredevils of the Red Circle. This was the last serial ever made by Republic and is often considered to be one of the worst produced by that company...
in 1955.
Critical reception
Cline describes this serial as "one of Republic's last cliff-hangers with any originality to it." He singles out Clarke's performance, saying that she is "a refreshing note in an otherwise routine proceeding."Chapter titles
- Dr. Vulcan - Traitor (20min)
- Plunging Death (13min 20s)
- Dangerous Evidence (13min 20s)
- High Peril (13min 20s)
- Fatal Dive (13min 20s)
- Mystery of the Rocket Man (13min 20s)
- Molten Menace (13min 20s)
- Suicide Flight (13min 20s)
- Ten Seconds to Live (13min 20s)
- The Deadly Fog (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter
- Secret of Dr. Vulcan (13min 20s)
- Wave of Disaster (13min 20s)
Source:
See also
- The Rocketeer
- Commander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....
- List of film serials by year
- List of film serials by studio
External links
- Detailed Review of King of the Rocket Men
- A discussion of the Rocket Man character in the context of the decline of the movie serial
- A tribute page for all the Rocket Man serials
King of the Rocket Men is a 1949
1949 in film
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
movie serial, in twelve chapters, notable for introducing the "Rocketman Character" who reappeared under a variety of names in later serials Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
and the semi-serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
.
A "Rocket Man" character appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived of as a Republic TV series, was first released (for contractual reasons) as a theatrical serial. Two years later, it was finally syndicated on TV as twelve 25-minute episodes.
- King of the Rocket Men (1949)
- Radar Men from the MoonRadar Men from the MoonRadar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
(1952) - Zombies of the StratosphereZombies of the StratosphereZombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
(1952) - Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the UniverseCommando Cody: Sky Marshal of the UniverseCommando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
(serial 1953, TV series 1955)
Plot
An evil geniusVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
of unknown identity
Masked Mystery Villain
A Masked Mystery Villain is a stock character in genre fiction. The Masked Mystery Villain was frequently used in the adventure stories of Pulp magazines and Movie Serials in the early twentieth century. They can also appear in Crime fiction to add to the atmosphere of suspense and suspicion...
, calling himself "Dr Vulcan," plots to conquer the world, but first needs to eliminate one by one the members of the Science Associates, an organization of the Earth's greatest scientists. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life by Vulcan, one member of Science Associates, Dr. Millard (James Craven), outfits another member, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin
Tris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
) with an "atomic powered rocket flying suit."
With the help of the suit, a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
photographer named Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
), and other inventions of Dr. Millard, King battles the minions of Dr. Vulcan for twelve suspenseful episodes. Eventually Vulcan steals one of Millard's more dangerous inventions, the Decimator, and uses it to flood and destroy Manhattan Island
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
(courtesy of stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
from the once-thought-lost film, Deluge
Deluge (film)
Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....
(1933)), before being brought to justice by Jeff King in his jet pack
Jet pack
Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
.
Cast
- Tristram CoffinTris CoffinTristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
as Jeff King/Rocket Man. Kirk AlynKirk Alyn-External links:...
was considered for the lead but the part eventually went to Coffin. - Mae ClarkeMae ClarkeMae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as Glenda Thomas - Don HaggertyDon HaggertyDon Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...
as Tony Dirken - House Peters, Jr.House Peters, Jr.Robert House Peters, Jr. was an American character actor most noted for his roles in 1950s B movies and westerns. He is perhaps best remembered as the face and body of Mr. Clean in the Procter and Gamble cleaning product commercials of the era.- Biography :Peters was born in New Rochelle, New York...
as Burt Winslow - James Craven as Professor Millard
- I. Stanford JolleyI. Stanford JolleyIsaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...
as Professor Bryant - Stanley PriceStanley PriceStanley Price was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was born in Kansas, United States.-Career:...
as Gunther Von Strum
Production
King of the Rocket Men was budgeted at $164,984 although the final negative costNegative cost
Negative cost is the cost of actually producing and shooting a film. It does not include such costs as distribution and promotion.Low-budget movies, for example The Blair Witch Project, can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the negative cost.The term comes from the costs up to the...
was $165,592 (a $608, or 0.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1949.
It was filmed between 6 April and 27 April 1949. The serial's production number was 1704.
Republic liked calling their heroes "King" in order to use the title "King of..." The studio had found success with this naming scheme following the adaptation of Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
's King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted
King of the Royal Mounted is a fictional series featuring the character Dave King, created by Stephen Slesinger in 1936. Slesinger licensed popular Western writer Zane Grey's byline and marketed the character as Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted....
. The main character in this serial was Jeff King, otherwise known as Rocket Man. The flight gimmickry was inspired by the Buck Rogers "cartoon strip".
King of the Rocket Men is a more cheaply-made than the previous Republic
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
serials, and the casting is also less starry. Tristram Coffin
Tris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
was a typical "dress heavy" of the period, complete with pencil-thin mustache, and it was a real stretch even for serial audiences of the day to accept him as the hero. Even stranger was the casting of nearly forty-year-old Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was an American actress most noted for playing Frankenstein's bride, chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and having a grapefruit smashed into her face by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, both released in 1931.-Early life and career:Clarke was born Violet Mary Klotz in...
as the damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
. The serial also lacks a colorful villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
along the lines of The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost is a Republic film serial directed by Fred C. Brannon and William Witney with Charles Quigley and Linda Stirling playing the leads. This was Witney's last serial, after a career that left him one of the most praised of all serial directors...
. The Deluge footage, though spectacular, had previously been used by the studio in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941).
Stunts
- David SharpeDave SharpeDave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
as Jeff King/Tony Dirken/Prof Bryant (doubling Tristram Coffin in rocket suit, Don Haggerty & I. Stanford Jolley) - Tom SteeleTom Steele (stuntman)Tom Steele was a stunt man and actor, best remembered for appearing in serials, especially those produced by Republic Pictures, in both capacities.-Early life:...
as Jeff King/Burt Winslow (doubling Tristram Coffin & House Peters, Jr.) - Dale Van SickelDale Van SickelDale Harris Van Sickel was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years...
as Jeff King/Tony Dirken (doubling Tristram Coffin in rocket suit & Don Haggerty) - Carey LoftinCarey LoftinCarey Loftin was an American actor and stuntman. One of his most famous roles was as the truck driver in Steven Spielberg's Duel, although his face was never seen...
as Burt Winslow (doubling House Peters Jr) - Eddie ParkerEddie ParkerEddie Parker was a stuntman and actor who appeared in many classic films, mostly westerns and horror films...
- Bud WolfeBud WolfeRoland 'Bud' Wolfe was an American pilot who parachuted from an RAF Spitfire plane into a peat bog on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland, on November 30, 1941. The incident initiated a diplomatic row between Britain and Ireland....
Rocket Man in action was played by three different Republic stuntmen. Dave Sharpe performed the leaps into the air and acrobatics necessary to simulate flight. Tom Steele was the second stuntman in the costume and Dale Van Sickel took the role when Steele and Sharpe were unavailable or elsewhere in shot. The first appearance of Rocket Man has him fighting aboard a truck driven by Tom Steele while, in the same scenes, Tom Steele is also the stuntman wearing the Rocket Man costume in the back of the truck. Steele was killed during production after his rocket jetpack exploded. The accident also blinded a young woman who would later unsuccessfully sue the director.
Special effects
Several shots in the serial feature the Rocketman character flying across broad vistas of barren landscape, an effect achieved by Howard and Theodore LydeckerLydecker brothers
-Partial filmography:*Darkest Africa *Women in War - Oscar nominated*Adventures of Captain Marvel *Flying Tigers - Oscar nominated*Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe...
, by running a full-size dummy on internal pulleys along a very long, taut wire tilted at an angle to the horizontal. The same strategy had produced remarkable flying sequences in the earlier Republic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel
Adventures of Captain Marvel
Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 1941 twelve-chapter film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures, adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character then appearing in Fawcett Comics publications such as Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures...
(1941). Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe
Dave Sharpe was an American actor and stunt performer.He was called the "Crown Prince of Daredevils" and ranks alongside Yakima Canutt as one of Hollywood's all time greatest stuntmen...
's take-offs were accomplished with concealed springboards, and his landings by simply jumping down from some raised position into the frame.
The shots of King in his flying suit taking off, flying, and landing were reused in three subsequent Republic productions featuring flying heroes: Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon
Radar Men from the Moon is the first Commando Cody serial, in 12 chapters, starring newcomer George Wallace as Cody and Aline Towne as his sidekick Joan Gilbert, with serial veteran Roy Barcroft as the evil Retik, the Ruler of the Moon. The director was Fred C...
, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a...
and Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere
Zombies of the Stratosphere was intended as the second serial featuring "new hero" Commando Cody and the third 12-chapter serial featuring the rocket-powered flying suit introduced in King of the Rocket Men...
.
Rocket Man's raygun "appeared to be a German Luger (acceptable in this post-wartime serial) with a silvery cone propped over the barrel."
The tidal wave
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
in the last chapter is stock footage
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
taken from RKO's Deluge
Deluge (film)
Deluge is an apocalyptic science fiction film, released by RKO Radio Pictures, about a group of worldwide natural disasters which lead to the destruction of the earth....
. Stock footage was used for most of the cliffhangers, showing the "downward trend of late 1940s Republic serials".
Theatrical
King of the Rocket Mens official release date is 8 June 1949, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges.A 65-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 25 July 1951. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials. The title was changed to Lost Planet Airmen after using the working title
Working title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
s The Lost Planet and Lost Planetmen. The ending was changed for the feature film version. Instead of 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...
being reduced to rubble by a deluge, as in the serial, those events are dismissed as just the "dream of a mad man" and did not really happen. A similar change was made in the feature version of Drums of Fu Manchu
Drums of Fu Manchu
Drums of Fu Manchu is a 15-chapter Republic movie serial very loosely based on the novel by Sax Rohmer, starring Henry Brandon, William Royle and Robert Kellard...
.
King of the Rocket Men was re-released on 16 July 1956 between the similar re-releases of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Adventures of Frank and Jesse James
Adventures of Frank and Jesse James is a 1948 Republic film serial.-Cast:* Clayton Moore as Jesse James AKA John Howard* Steve Darrell as Frank James AKA Bob Carroll* Noel Neill as Judy Powell* George J...
and Federal Operator 99
Federal Operator 99
Federal Operator 99 is a 1945 Republic film serial.-Cast:* Marten Lamont as Jerry Blake, Federal Operator 99* Helen Talbot as Joyce Kingston* George J...
. The last original Republic serial release was King of the Carnival
King of the Carnival
King of the Carnival is a Republic movie serial. It contains a substantial amount of stock footage from the earlier Republic serial Daredevils of the Red Circle. This was the last serial ever made by Republic and is often considered to be one of the worst produced by that company...
in 1955.
Critical reception
Cline describes this serial as "one of Republic's last cliff-hangers with any originality to it." He singles out Clarke's performance, saying that she is "a refreshing note in an otherwise routine proceeding."Chapter titles
- Dr. Vulcan - Traitor (20min)
- Plunging Death (13min 20s)
- Dangerous Evidence (13min 20s)
- High Peril (13min 20s)
- Fatal Dive (13min 20s)
- Mystery of the Rocket Man (13min 20s)
- Molten Menace (13min 20s)
- Suicide Flight (13min 20s)
- Ten Seconds to Live (13min 20s)
- The Deadly Fog (13min 20s) - a re-cap chapter
- Secret of Dr. Vulcan (13min 20s)
- Wave of Disaster (13min 20s)
Source:
See also
- The Rocketeer
- Commander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenCommander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen is an American country rock band founded in 1967. Core members included founder George Frayne, John Tichy, Billy C. Farlow, Bill Kirchen, Andy Stein, Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, Lance Dickerson, and Bobby Black....
- List of film serials by year
- List of film serials by studio