Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Superman (1948)


Columbia Pictures
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and Thomas Carr
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Kirk Alyn stars in this serial, the first Superman on film. Despite being made by Columbia, it's got the usual low budget limitations relegated to serials. Flying scenes are done by animation, actually not a bad effect. The real problem though is the lack of a menacing villain: Carol Froman's Spider Lady won't frighten anyone, least of all Superman. Otherwise, you've got ray guns which threaten to destroy Metropolis, cliffhangers to end every episode, Lois and Jimmy getting saved at the last minute by Superman and of course Clark Kent. The pay off chapter is pretty lame, but I did get a laugh out of the final scene with Clark Kent.

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