Superman (1948) DVD9 - Theatrical Serial - Disk 1 of 2 - Chapter

Superman (1948) DVD9 - Theatrical Serial - Disk 1 of 2 - Chapters 1-10 of 15 [DDR]

Superman (1948) 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 Adventures of 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.

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. Superman, also directed by Bennet, was released in 1950.

CAST:-
Kirk Alyn .............. Superman / Clark Kent
Noel Neill.............. Lois Lane
Tommy Bond........ Jimmy Olsen
Carol Forman........ Spider Lady
George Meeker .... Driller
Jack Ingram ........... Anton
Pierre Watkin ........ Perry White
Terry Frost
Charles King
Charles Quigley
Herbert Rawlinson
Forrest Taylor
Stephen Carr
Rusty Wescoatt

Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr
Produced by Sam Katzman
Written by Lewis Clay, Royal K. Cole, Arthur Hoerl, George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland

CHAPTER TITLES:-
01. Superman Comes To Earth
02. Depths Of The Earth
03. The Reducer Ray
04. Man Of Steel
05. A Job For Superman
06. Superman In Danger
07. Into The Electric Furnace
08. Superman To The Rescue
09. Irresistible Force
10. Between Two Fires
11. Superman's Dilemma
12. Blast In The Depths
13. Hurled To Destruction
14. Superman At Bay
15. The Payoff



MOVIE REVIEW:- Superman (1948) Theatrical Serial
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 Planet 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 Pictures 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.[1] 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 colors photographed better on black and white film.

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 Republic for Captain Marvel were very convincing; even the more routine ones for the Superman TV series, always showing the same pose, were better."[1] While there were other effective special effects, in their opinion, they were undermined by the poorness of the flying sequences.[1] 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

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:-
Video Codec: MPEG-2
Video Bitrate: 4999 kbps
Video Resolution: 720x480
Video Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1
Frames Per Second: 29.970
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 192kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages:English
RunTime 244 mins
Subtitles: ENGLISH, SPANISH, FRENCH
Ripped by: Trinidad [DDR]
Duration: 244 mins