King of the Rocket Men

While I don't want to date myself, this is the first film I actually saw made. It's a 13 part chapter play, aka serial, that fifties kids enjoyed on Saturdays at the movies. All serials had a formula. They ended with a cliffhanger, they began with the "take out" of the previous week's episode, and featured lots of action and lame dialog. This one also offered the best human flying effects to that time. In fact, nobody surpassed them until Superman: The Movie. You can thank the Lydecker Brothers who not only created the effect, but nearly sunk NY City with a tidal wave. 4.5 hours of film on a budget of $175,000. You can only shake your head in amazement. I've seen the series a dozen times. I can recall seeing a screening of it in a local theater where they played all 13 episodes back to back. It got so that one section of the audience would cheer the producer and another the director. Everybody booed the actors. When did you last have a movie going experience like that?

"King of the Rocket Men" was the first appearance of the man in the flying suit. In later years it would become associated with the Commando Cody character both in film and on TV.

The "king" of the title is Jeff King (Tristram Coffin) who is trying to unmask the evil Dr. Vulcan who is secretly trying to undermine a desert research project being conducted by Science Associates. Overseeing the project is a board of directors of whom a Dr. Vulcan, his identity unknown, is a member. It seems that one of their number, Professor Millard (James Craven) has developed a powerful machine called "the Decimater" which is capable of mass destruction. The rest of the serial is spent with Dr. Vulcan and his chief henchman Dirken (Don Haggerty) attempting to steal the discovery and Rocket Man's thwarting them at every turn. Mae Clarke as a reporter and House Peters Jr. as Chief of Security assist King.

This serial is one of the better of Republic's post war serials. There is plenty of action throughout, including chases, fights, cliffhangers and an appearance by Rocket Man in every chapter. The stunt work performed mainly by Tom Steele, Dale Van Sickel and David Sharpe (doubling Coffin in the Rocket Man sequences), is up to Republic's usual high standards. You'll spot each of the aforementioned stuntmen appearing in several minor roles as henchmen.

But the real star of the serial are its magnificent special effects created by Theodore and Howard Lydecker. Rocket Man seems to have borrowed his flying ability from Republic's earlier serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941). The Lydeckers employed the use of an oversized dummy running up and down an almost invisible cable and photographing it from different angles to make it appear life-size. It's quite realistic for its time.

The best sequence is saved for the end when Dr. Vulcan attempts to destroy New York City. There are earthquakes, tidal waves and scenes of mass destruction achieved through the skillful use of miniatures.

The acting is better than most serials. Coffin, who usually played oily villains, gives a creditable performance in the lead. Mae Clarke, who had achieved notoriety in "Public Enemy" by having James Cagney push a grapefruit in her face, does her best with limited material as the heroine. Don Haggerty as Dirken makes a formidable villain in what I believe was his only serial. Haggerty can usually be seen in featured roles as a cop or thug. He never got the credit or the roles he deserved.

So who was Dr. Vulcan? To find out, tune into the next chapter of "King of the Rocket Men" at this theatre next week.

1949's "King of the Rocket Men" was the first of three serials from Republic Pictures featuring a man wearing essentially the same rocket suit and helmet. The other two, both released in 1952, were "Radar Men From the Moon" and "Zombies of the Stratosphere." All three have things going for them though, each time, Republic tried to reinvent the character ... Jeff King in "King," Commando Cody in "Radar," and Larry Martin in "Zombies." The first and second serials were later revised for different purposes. "King of the Rocket Men" was edited to remove the cliffhanger sequences and the "remember when" episode (the one which is primarily flashbacks of prior chapters) and re-released it as a feature film titled "Lost Planet Airmen" in 1951. And "Radar Men From the Moon" was released as a 12-episode TV series under the new title, "Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe" in 1953. The third serial, "Zombies," while not remade, is probably the best remembered since it marked the science-fiction feature film acting debut of Leonard Nimoy (later, Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame) playing Narab, a Martian zombie.

But, "King of the Rocket Men" was the best of the three. Especially during 1949 and subsequent years, it was far more believable to envision a potential traitor, blackmailing government entities and possibly selling secrets to a foreign power than to believe in invaders from the Moon or Mars (in "Radar" and "Zombies," respectively). Also, and this is just my opinion, the two later serials seemed a bit contrived ... like they were merely attempting to cash in on the success of "King" ... a very well-acted serial for the time with an iron-clad plot line.

So, why the 8 of 10 rating? Back in 1949, money was tight in the studios. And sometimes, it was cheaper to "buy" special effects than it was to make them. That's exactly what Republic Pictures did. Since they wanted cataclysmic special effects in the last chapter but didn't want to spend the money, they simply bought rights to the 1933 film, "Deluge," for the sole purpose of borrowing the special effects footage for use in "King." And while there's nothing inherently wrong in such a practice (it has been done many times by Hollywood), it almost forced "Deluge" into obscurity. There were very few copies of "Deluge" available and, after Republic borrowed the scenes, they trashed the rest of the footage. Fortunately, one copy (not the Italian one with English subtitles) was discovered in France and it has since been preserved (though not openly released by any studio). In English? Don't know.

This movie serial has been on my mind for years. I finally found it via the internet. What a wonderful find! Not the greatest of acting, just a nice memory from days gone by, from when I was a kid and paying 3d (pennies) old stuff!!, in 1956-7 to go to Saturday morning movies with my brothers and be so excited at having to wait until the following week to see if Jeff King would escape! He always did, but it was never as was portrayed the previous week.... the mind forgets the small details when a week has gone by. Tristram Coffin made hundreds of film and television appearances, none of which were Oscar winners, but he was always presenting himself with a hero presence. As I say, not the greatest acting, but a brilliant step back in time to when all life was really rather innocent. Great stuff!!

This has some of the most convincing flying sequences for its time. The later Superman serial had him "fly" as a cartoon: here, King appears really to fly. I have read that the flying sequences used a lightweight dummy on wires. It looks pretty convincing.

Minor spoiler: There was only one "rocket man": the serial title suggests more. (The hero's name is Jeff King) For that matter, the flight controller is marked, "Slow," "Fast," "Up," and "Down." Not bad, but rough if one had to change direction in flight.

Naturally, the serial uses the standard formula of a colorful villain who's out to steal a secret, whom the hero has to contend with.

Worth viewing, but light entertainment.