Superhero F
Not as good as the sequel serial: "Atom Man vs Superman" but a good starter to Kirk Alyns career as Superman! The only thing I didn't really like is the villain. Could've had better. But other than that, it's a nice serial that deserves a rewatch.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
08/14/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This serial, the first live action version of Superman, is great entertainment. Kirk Alyn stars as Superman and Noel Neill as Lois Lane. Neill really sets a high bar for Lois and Alyn is good as Clark Kent and passable as Superman. Some good action and stunt work... They do a weird thing in this version where they switch to animation for the flying sequences, which is a bit odd .. and they recycle that footage repeatedly.. a sign of the low budget,,, The villain, "Spider-Lady", is kinda silly but still.... This serial is the first one that I've seen that wasn't a grainy You Tube copy... I watched this on the DC Universe streaming service in pretty good quality. I'll give it 3 stars.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Superman is not even Russian and he wears blue!!!!!!
Who in their right mind would make this in Russian, absolute box office flop. The Russian superman was an alcoholic and drug addict, not the best role model if you ask me.
The role is cursed. Death is so confused at all the men in superman costumes coming to see him but the superman in red was the final straw. 🧩🖕🏾👎🏿👊🏿
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
dustin d
The old Superman serial is goofy, but it is also fun on a visceral level. In this first series, we get Superman's origin story before it goes into a plot about the Spider Lady trying to construct a "reducer ray" that is supposedly more powerful than an atomic bomb. (It looks like a flashlight when it is actually fired.) Most of the episodes follow a similar format: wrap up the cliffhanger from the previous episode, continue the plot of the Spider Lady trying to construct a reducer ray, end with a cliffhanger. The story is repetitive and broken up to keep people coming back week after week, but also not to punish audience members if they missed an episode back in the day before recordings and binge watching. Every episode feels like the same few henchmen doing the same thing in the same few settings. The bad guys are so wrapped up in a single-minded obsession to make a reducer ray they break into a university to steal a component from a working reducer ray. Why not just steal the entire ray? One has to laugh every time Superman shows up in front of Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen after Clark Kent has just left them and they don't recognize him. Carol Forman is basically playing the same villain she played in The Black Widow. She's a little too cute to be entirely believable, and comes off as a little girl playing dress-up. What sells it though is the laughable dialogue is delivered with a sincerity modern performers would have trouble pulling off, and modern audiences wouldn't accept. There is no irony to undercut the inherent silliness that would make the whole thing fall apart.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
more like the comic books than any other live Superman adaption
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
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Audience Member
It plays out like many old-but-good hero serials, but this one plays more seriously and smartly. Some of the characters are timely and cliche, and the action is pretty bland compared to what we see today, but seeing Superman take flight (even if it's animated) makes this a landmark to the franchise.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
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