oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Superman, 1948. An alien baby is sent to Earth and develops superpowers. He hides his identity as a newspaper reporter to do good for his adopted planet and human race.*Special Stars- Kirk Alyn, Noel Neil, Tommy Bond, Pierre Watkin, Carol Foreman, Doodles Weaver.*Theme- American values are good.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, Theatrical serial. 15 episodes. Rocky area locations was courtesy of Iverson Movie ranch, Chatsworth California. Watch for the live action Superman fly through animation. Noel Neil was kept for the famous George Reeves TV show in the 50's.*Emotion- I just found this VHS double tape 40's matinée serial and thoroughly enjoyed viewing it. Great to see the WW2 vintage cars and clothes fashions of this fine show. It was well edited, shot, written and expertly acted. Great and interesting Superman/Kent casting. I always felt that in the 50's Superman TV show, the actor's Clark being the same actor as Superman was a mistake, but it worked. Also I found out that the makers of Superman copyright sued and won against the copyright holders of Captain Marvel. It was a battle against Superman was lost and as part of the Superman winning settlement was that Capt Marvel took a cash settlement to stop making it's projects. Captain Marvel disappeared from the popular minds. Republic Pictures is back and re-releasing their archive of films. The home studio of early John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and other matinée serials was in the present CBS Radford studio lot in Studio City, CA. The flying figure on a wire of CM was done and the same as Republic's 50's Commander Cody's rocket pack shows. The show still manages to hold-up in today's superheroes and was refreshing to see the stunt work and physical special effects and NO over used CGI.

poe426 Looking like the life-model for Curt Swan's (much later) rendition of The Man Of Steel, Kirk Alyn soars in SUPERMAN. The one and only (albeit glaring) fault to be found is, of course, in the flying sequences (in which our hero literally turns into a cartoon); other than that, the first SUPERMAN serial is arguably the best Big Screen treatment so far. Likewise, Noel Neill as the first Big Screen Lois Lane is- by far- the best of the bunch: in Chapter 11, she pulls off one of the great movie coups when she calls the police to report that her car's been stolen and then hands rival reporter Clark Kent the keys. His subsequent incarceration is loud-out-loud funny, but a little thing like steel bars never stopped Superman... In a twist that far predates the limp-wristed BATMAN teleseries of the 1960s, Superman, in Chapter 15, thinking ahead, wears lead-lined underwear to a showdown with The Villain (the sometimes sultry Spider Lady, as good a villainess as any in a serial), who has figured out that Kryptonite can kill him. With all that it has going for it, it's impossible to rate this one lower than a solid ten. Super.

GermanParis I actually have the episodes, and, there are 16, not 15. There are actually TWO Episodes numbered 5. The first episode is Superman comes to earth . 2. depths of the earth 3. the reducer ray 4. man of steel 5. a job for superman 5. Atom man tricks superman etc (and then there are title errors from the previous listing)6. Atom Man's Challenge 7. At The Mercy of Atom Man 8. Into the Empty Doom 9. Superman Crashes Through 10. Atom Man's Heat Ray 11. Luthor's Strategy 12. Atom Man Strikes 13. Atom Man's Flying Saucer 14. Rocket of Vengeance 15. Superman Saves the Universe. I honestly don't know why there were so MANY errors listed in the previous posts, but I do have them copied from VHS now on DVD. So, I can say in all honesty I have the proof. The joke is I had them all written out as they appeared but the silliness of this page said no shouting ... well pardon me, but that is the way they were authored some 60 years ago. I guess back then people weren't so silly. I hadn't seen them since about 1974 or so, and I was actually impressed at the drawings of Superman flying since they didn't have the special effects of today. The acting could have been better, but, it was fun to watch again. I am giving a few copies to some people for nostalgia. They will bring a smile to your face if you get the chance to see them!Turner Classics just recently aired them, so watch for them, they may air them again!

mst86 Superman, the 15-chapter serial, is the best of it's kind. Kirk Alyn is excellent as Superman/Clark Kent, Noel Neill is the best Lois Lane ever to hit the screen, Carol Forman makes Spider Lady one of the most hated serial villains of all time!Some say that the animation is terrible, but I'd prefer it over using real people. The special effects are very amusing, and Mischa Bakaleinikoff's musical score fits the themes of the movie perfectly.The story goes like this, Jor-El is the only scientist who knows that the planet Krypton is going to explode. He builds a rocket and sends his son far off to the planet earth before the doomed planet explodes. Clark grows up and moves to Metropolis, where he becomes better known as Superman. As Superman he fights for "Truth, Justice, and Tolerance", but the evil Spider Lady plans to destroy everything he represents.I give it 10/10 Stars