| Superman | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Spencer Gordon Bennet Thomas Carr |
| Written by | Lewis Clay Royal K. Cole Arthur Hoerl George H. Plympton Joseph F. Poland |
| Based on | |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Starring | Kirk Alyn Noel Neill Carol Forman Tommy Bond Forrest Taylor |
| Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
| Edited by | Earl C. Turner |
| Music by | Mischa Bakaleinikoff |
| Color process | Black and white |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 15 chapters (244 minutes) |
| Language | English |
Superman is a 1948 15-partColumbia Picturesfilm serial based on the comic book characterSuperman. It stars an uncreditedKirk Alyn (billed on-screen only by his character's name, Superman; but credited as Kirk Alyn on the promotional posters) andNoel Neill asLois Lane. It was the firstlive-action appearance of Superman on film.[1] The serial was directed byThomas Carr (who later directed many early episodes of theAdventures of Superman television series[1]) andSpencer Gordon Bennet, produced bySam Katzman, and shot in and aroundLos Angeles, California. It was originally screened at moviematinées, and after the first three scene-setting chapters, every episode ends in acliffhanger. The Superman-in-flight scenes are animations, in part due to the small production budget.
A tremendous financial success,[2] the serial 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.
Superman is sent toEarth by his parents just as the planet Krypton blows up and is later raised asClark Kent by a farm couple. They discover that he has great powers so they send him off to use his powers to help those in need. After his foster parents die, the Man of Steel heads to Metropolis under the bespectacled guise of Kent and joins the staff of theDaily Planet in order to be close to the news. Soon after he is sent out to get the scoop on a new rock that a man has found that he callsKryptonite, and Clark passes out; then and there Superman discovers that his weakness is Kryptonite. 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.[3]
Alyn, Neill, Watkin, and Bond reprised their roles in the 1950 sequel,Atom Man vs. Superman.
Republic Pictures tried twice to produce a Superman serial. The first attempt was replaced byMysterious Doctor Satan (1940), when licensing negotiations with Superman publisherNational 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 theParamountcartoon series.[2]Sam Katzman acquired thelive-action rights in 1947. He tried to sell them toUniversal, 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 withAdventures of Captain Marvel in 1941. Also, Republic was no longer buying properties for adaptation by 1947. Columbia accepted the offer.[2]
Sam Katzman foundKirk Alyn after looking through photographs, but had a hard time selling the idea of casting Alyn toWhitney 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 Clark Kent.[2]
George Plympton added a joke to script, substituting theLone 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.[2] The Superman costume was grey and brown, instead of blue and red, because those colors photographed better on black and white film. It was never explained why his costume is shown as red and green on the one-sheet posters.[2]
For Superman's flight sequences, Kirk Alyn spent an entire day painfully suspended by wires in front of a rear projection of moving clouds. Displeased with the results, Katzman fired the entire flight sequence production staff, and used an animated method to create Superman's flight sequences instead.[2]
Due to the mix of animated and live-action footage, 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, a sequence showing Superman flying over a rocky hill (a shot ofStoney Point in Southern California'sSan Fernando Valley) was used at least once in almost every episode of the first serial.
Kirk Alyn's stunt double was Paul 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.[2]
Superman achieved a wide distribution, even playing in theatres that had never booked a serial before.[1]
TheSuperman serial was first made available for purchase onVHSvideotape in 1987 as a two tape box set. The serial was also released in two separate VHS tapes as "Volume 1" (Chapters 1 to 7) and "Volume 2" (Chapters 8 to 15).
It was released onDVD byWarner Home Video, along with its sequelAtom Man vs. Superman, on November 28, 2006 asSuperman: The Theatrical Serials Collection. Warner released the serials rather than Columbia, as Warner's subsidiaryDC Comics acquired the rights to the serials several years beforehand. The serials were re-released as manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD fromWarner Archive Collection on October 9, 2018.[4]
Source:[5]
Authority control databases: National |
|---|