Superman (serial)
Encyclopedia
Superman is a 15-part black-and-white
Columbia
film serial based on the comic book character Superman
. It stars an uncredited Kirk Alyn
(billed only by his character name, Superman; but credited on the promotional posters) and Noel Neill
as Lois Lane
. It is notable as the first live-action appearance of Superman on film and for the longevity of its distribution. The serial was directed by Thomas Carr
, who later directed many early episodes of the Superman television show, and Spencer Gordon Bennet
, produced by Sam Katzman
and shot in and around Los Angeles, California
. It was originally screened at movie matinées and after the first three scene-setting chapters, every episode ends in a cliffhanger
. The Superman-in-flight scenes are animations, in part due to the small production budget.
in order to be close to the news. Whenever emergencies happen, he responds in his true identity as Superman. This first serial revolves around the nefarious plot of a villain who calls herself the Spider Lady.
tried twice to produce a Superman serial. The first attempt was replaced by Mysterious Doctor Satan
(1940), when licensing negotiations with Superman publisher National Comics
(later called DC Comics
) failed. A second attempt was advertised for a 1941 release; but this time, two obstacles doomed production. National Comics insisted on absolute control of the script and production; and, the rights to Superman were already committed to the Paramount
cartoon series
. Sam Katzman
acquired the live-action rights in 1947. He tried to sell them to Universal
, but they no longer made serials by then. He also tried to sell to Republic; but, they claimed that "a superpowerful flying hero would be impossible to adapt" -- despite having already successfully done just that in 1940 with The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Also, Republic was no longer buying properties for adaptation by 1947. Columbia accepted.
Sam Katzman found Kirk Alyn
after looking through photographs, but had a hard time selling the idea of casting Alyn to Whitney Ellsworth
, National Comics' representative on the project. This was made even worse when Alyn came in for a screen test, sporting a goatee and moustache (as he was also shooting another project, a historical film). These initial reservations were eventually overcome, and Alyn got the part. Columbia's advertising claimed that it could not get an actor to fill the role, so it had "hired Superman himself"; and, Kirk Alyn was merely playing just Clark Kent.
George Plympton added a joke to script, substituting the Lone Ranger's "Hi-Yo Silver!" for the traditional "Up, Up and Away". This did not survive in the script long enough to actually be filmed. The Superman costume was grey and brown, instead of blue and red, because those colours photographed better on black and white film.
for Captain Marvel
were very convincing; even the more routine ones for the Superman TV series
, always showing the same pose, were better." While there were other effective special effects, in their opinion, they were undermined by the poorness of the flying sequences. The film crew did test an alternate method of filming the flying sequences: Kirk Alyn spent an entire day painfully suspended by visible wires in front of a rear projection of moving clouds. Displeased with the results, Katzman fired the entire flight sequence production staff and used the animated method instead.
A peculiar characteristic of the mix of animated and live-action footage is that Superman's take-offs are almost always visible in the foreground, while his landings almost always occur behind objects, such as parked cars, rocks, and buildings. It was easier to shift from live footage of Kirk Alyn starting to take off, to animated footage, than it was to shift from an animated landing to live footage of the actor. As a consequence of the need to hide Superman's landings, Superman frequently lands at some distance from where he wants to be, and must run to arrive on-scene.
Budget limitations also dictated the frequent re-use of film footage, especially scenes of Superman flying. For example, one sequence showing Superman flying over a rocky hill (shot in the hills of Chatsworth
in Southern California's San Fernando Valley
) was used at least once in almost every episode of the first serial.
. He had to perform only one stunt in the entire serial, leaping from the back of a truck. He almost broke his leg during this stunt and had to leave the production.
in 1987. It was officially released on DVD by Warner Home Video, along with its sequel Atom Man vs. Superman
, on November 28, 2006 as Superman - The Theatrical Serials Collection. Warner released the serials rather than Columbia as Warner's subsidiary DC Comics
acquired the rights to the serials several years beforehand.
, also directed by Bennet, was released in 1950.
Source:
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
film serial based on the comic book character Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
. It stars an uncredited Kirk Alyn
Kirk Alyn
-External links:...
(billed only by his character name, Superman; but credited on the promotional posters) and Noel Neill
Noel Neill
Noel Neill is an American actress in motion pictures and television. She is best known as her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs...
as Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
. It is notable as the first live-action appearance of Superman on film and for the longevity of its distribution. The serial was directed by Thomas Carr
Thomas Carr (director)
Thomas Carr was an American film director of Hollywood movies and television programs.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1907, Carr was born into an acting family. His father was the actor William Carr and his mother was the actress Mary Carr. Thomas Carr followed the family...
, who later directed many early episodes of the Superman television show, and Spencer Gordon Bennet
Spencer Gordon Bennet
Spencer Gordon Bennet was an American film producer and director. Known as the "King of Serial Directors", he directed more film serials than any other director.-Biography:...
, produced by Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...
and shot in and around Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. It was originally screened at movie matinées and after the first three scene-setting chapters, every episode ends in a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
. The Superman-in-flight scenes are animations, in part due to the small production budget.
Plot
Superman is sent to Earth by his parents just as the planet Krypton blows up and is later raised as Clark Kent by a farm couple. After his foster parents die, the Man of Steel heads to Metropolis under the bespectacled guise of Kent and joins the staff of the Daily PlanetDaily Planet
The Daily Planet is a fictional broadsheet newspaper in the , appearing mostly in the stories of Superman. The building's original features were based upon the AT&T Huron Road Building in Cleveland, Ohio...
in order to be close to the news. Whenever emergencies happen, he responds in his true identity as Superman. This first serial revolves around the nefarious plot of a villain who calls herself the Spider Lady.
Production
Republic PicturesRepublic 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....
tried twice to produce a Superman serial. The first attempt was replaced by Mysterious Doctor Satan
Mysterious Doctor Satan
Mysterious Doctor Satan is a 1940 film serial named after its chief villain. Doctor Satan's main opponent is The Copperhead, a masked mystery man secretly Bob Wayne....
(1940), when licensing negotiations with Superman publisher National Comics
National Comics
National Comics may refer to:* National Comics: An early name for the comic book publisher known later as DC Comics.* National Comics : a 1940's comic book series published by Quality Comics....
(later called DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
) failed. A second attempt was advertised for a 1941 release; but this time, two obstacles doomed production. National Comics insisted on absolute control of the script and production; and, the rights to Superman were already committed to the Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
cartoon series
Superman (1940s cartoons)
The Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman....
. Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...
acquired the live-action rights in 1947. He tried to sell them to Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, but they no longer made serials by then. He also tried to sell to Republic; but, they claimed that "a superpowerful flying hero would be impossible to adapt" -- despite having already successfully done just that in 1940 with The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Also, Republic was no longer buying properties for adaptation by 1947. Columbia accepted.
Sam Katzman found Kirk Alyn
Kirk Alyn
-External links:...
after looking through photographs, but had a hard time selling the idea of casting Alyn to Whitney Ellsworth
Whitney Ellsworth
Fredric Whitney Ellsworth was an American comic book editor, and sometime writer and artist for DC Comics during the period known to historians and fans as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
, National Comics' representative on the project. This was made even worse when Alyn came in for a screen test, sporting a goatee and moustache (as he was also shooting another project, a historical film). These initial reservations were eventually overcome, and Alyn got the part. Columbia's advertising claimed that it could not get an actor to fill the role, so it had "hired Superman himself"; and, Kirk Alyn was merely playing just Clark Kent.
George Plympton added a joke to script, substituting the Lone Ranger's "Hi-Yo Silver!" for the traditional "Up, Up and Away". This did not survive in the script long enough to actually be filmed. The Superman costume was grey and brown, instead of blue and red, because those colours photographed better on black and white film.
Special Effects
Superman's flight sequences were animated instead of live-action or model work. Harmon and Glut consider this to be the "weakest point of the serial", explaining that the "effects created by RepublicRepublic 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....
for 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...
were very convincing; even the more routine ones for the Superman TV series
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
, always showing the same pose, were better." While there were other effective special effects, in their opinion, they were undermined by the poorness of the flying sequences. The film crew did test an alternate method of filming the flying sequences: Kirk Alyn spent an entire day painfully suspended by visible wires in front of a rear projection of moving clouds. Displeased with the results, Katzman fired the entire flight sequence production staff and used the animated method instead.
A peculiar characteristic of the mix of animated and live-action footage is that Superman's take-offs are almost always visible in the foreground, while his landings almost always occur behind objects, such as parked cars, rocks, and buildings. It was easier to shift from live footage of Kirk Alyn starting to take off, to animated footage, than it was to shift from an animated landing to live footage of the actor. As a consequence of the need to hide Superman's landings, Superman frequently lands at some distance from where he wants to be, and must run to arrive on-scene.
Budget limitations also dictated the frequent re-use of film footage, especially scenes of Superman flying. For example, one sequence showing Superman flying over a rocky hill (shot in the hills of Chatsworth
Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California
Chatsworth is a district of Los Angeles, California, United States; in the northwestern San Fernando Valley. The district is bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and unincorporated Los Angeles County lands to the north, Porter Ranch to the northeast, Northridge to the east, West Hills, Canoga...
in Southern California's San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
) was used at least once in almost every episode of the first serial.
Stunts
Alyn's stunt double was Paul StaderPaul Stader
Paul B. Stader, sometimes known as Manny Stader , was an American actor best known for having performed stunts for Johnny Weismuller, Lex Barker, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne. He was also the underwater director of the 1978 film The Return of Captain Nemo.-Working with Weismuller and Barker:Stader...
. He had to perform only one stunt in the entire serial, leaping from the back of a truck. He almost broke his leg during this stunt and had to leave the production.
Home media
The Superman serial was first made available for purchase on videotapeVideotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
in 1987. It was officially released on DVD by Warner Home Video, along with its sequel Atom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman , Columbia's 43rd serial, finds Lex Luthor , secretly the Atom Man, blackmailing the city of Metropolis by threatening to destroy the entire community...
, on November 28, 2006 as Superman - The Theatrical Serials Collection. Warner released the serials rather than Columbia as Warner's subsidiary DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
acquired the rights to the serials several years beforehand.
Critical reception
Superman was a "tremendous financial success" and played in "first-run theatres that had never before booked a serial." The serial was a popular success that made Kirk Alyn famous and launched Noel Neill's career. A sequel serial, Atom Man vs. SupermanAtom Man vs. Superman
Atom Man vs. Superman , Columbia's 43rd serial, finds Lex Luthor , secretly the Atom Man, blackmailing the city of Metropolis by threatening to destroy the entire community...
, also directed by Bennet, was released in 1950.
Chapter titles
- Superman Comes To Earth
- Depths Of The Earth
- The Reducer Ray
- Man Of Steel
- A Job For Superman
- Superman In Danger
- Into The Electric Furnace
- Superman To The Rescue
- Irresistible Force
- Between Two Fires
- Superman's Dilemma
- Blast In The Depths
- Hurled To Destruction
- Superman At Bay
- The Payoff
Source: