Atom Man vs. Superman

Favorite Movie Quote: "The kindest thing that I ever did was not bumping you off right away, Miss Lois Lane."

This classic Superman flick from 1950 contains some of the most hilarious, unintentional humour that I've ever come across.

In this flick things get blown up, real good, especially trucks and cars. And with the added bonus of super-cheap special effects, it all serves to heighten every minute of the B-Grade Fun.

In Atom Man Vs. Superman we find Lex Luthor (secretly Atom Man) once again blackmailing the city of Metropolis. This time Luthor threatens to destroy the entire community by carefully aiming his powerful Thermo Gun (with its suction ray) on the city's skyscrapers.

Perry White, editor of The Daily Planet Newspaper, assigns Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent to cover the story. Naturally, it's our hero Superman who ends up saving the day.

I've always been a bit prejudiced against the serials produced by Columbia. They just seemed a little tawdry when compared to the production values of the typical Republic chapter play. Certainly "Atom Man..." is no exception especially in the special effects department. The animated version of Superman that takes over every time that character flies is simply laughable. The actual animation itself is fine, reminiscent of the old Fleischer Superman cartoons of the 40's in fact, but it just doesn't key in with the live action sequences. The rocket, featured in the final episode, from which Luthor plans to dominate the Earth is a joke. The model is very amateurish when compared to the ones produced by the Lydecker brothers over at Republic while the interior simply doesn't make sense. It wouldn't look out of place in an Ed Wood movie. What does save this serial however are the lead performances, particularly those of Kirk Alyn as Superman/Clark Kent and Noel Neil as Lois Lane. Alyn plays his role with almost total conviction and unbounded enthusiasm. As an actor he's clearly aware that this is all pure nonsense and there is a definite hint of a tongue in cheek approach in his performance but not enough to detract from the action. He seems totally unable to be embarrassed, for instance, being caught leaping around in an outfit that is clearly adapted from a set of mens long underwear. Noel Neil is equally enthusiastic in her portrayal of Superman's "girlfriend". Visually she is a dead ringer for the actual comic book Lois from the 40's and early 50's and I was almost convinced that she couldn't actually see that Superman and Clark Kent ("mild mannered reporter") where one in the same. As I catch up with more and more of the old Columbia serials I realise that it is with these lead performances that they score over the Republic product. Warren Hull gives colourful interpretations of both The Spider and Mandrake. Lewis Wilson is an enthusiastic Batman. Victor Jury brings a real touch of class to his role of The Shadow. With one or two exceptions the Republic heroes tend to be rather colourless. Dennis Moore, hero of "The Purple Monster..." virtually defines this. Even Kane Richmond in "Spysmasher", an undisputed classic, often does little more than look granite jawed and mildly concerned in the face of potentially fatal situations. Luckily Republic did have Ralph Byrd but simply not long enough due to his early death. So have a look at "Atom Man..." and revel in both it's weakness' (laughably cheap production values) and strengths (admirably enthusiastic performances) and simply have a good time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am a 29-year-old serial fan and 'Atom Man vs. Superman' is one of my all-time favorites. This serial is a big improvement over the first one, and it gives Superman many things to do to show why he is the World's Greatest Super-Hero. Much has been made over the fact that animation was used to depict Superman flying. 'Atom Man' at least tries to improve upon it's predecessor by having close-ups of Kirk Alyn in flight to off-set the animated footage used in the long shots. As for the use of animation at all, I think we as audiences can tell what is used for an effect (stop-motion, CGI, miniatures, et al), and I would say that at least the animation was used creatively. Take the scene where Superman lifts the truck out of the path of the oncoming flood; I think the creative staff did a remarkable job at giving Superman fantastic things to do, and is probably the only chapterplay hero to do as many things in one serial as he does in 'Atom Man...'.

This serial gives the audience a pretty good story and is true to the characters regarding their comic-book origins. Whereas many serials (and modern films) completely change or contradict what has been told in the comic they're based on ('Captain America' for example), the Superman serials are completely faithful to their comic book origins.

If you have never seen a serial, this might be a good place to start. Superman is one of the most widely-recognized characters of all time, and will only help a beginner who is entering his (or her) first serial. Just remember not to watch more than one chapter a day (it'll add to the suspense if you wait a day or two).

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

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

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

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