Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950)

There have been many Lex Luthor's in cinema/television history, but for my money Lyle Talbot was the absolute best! Gene Hackman was great, but tended to overdo the wisecracks. Ditto Kevin Spacey. Whereas the other actors who portrayed the role never really left much an impression on me. Of course, Lyle Talbot has a distinct advantage over the others, in that he was the first actor to portray Lex Luthor on the big screen. Interestingly, he was also the first actor to portray Commissioner Gordon (another DC character) on the big screen in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin, made by the same team. Talbot is probably best known for his association with the the infamous movie director Edward D. Wood, Jr. Talbot co-starred in three of Woods films: Glen or Glenda?, Jail Bait, and Plan Nine From Outer Space. 
Talbot's Luthor is downright sinister, yet has an air of dignity about him. Clark Kent sums up best when he proclaims, "Luthor has a strange evil genius. Far above any scientist I've ever known."

 In Atom Man vs. Superman, Luthor is released from prison and vows to change his ways; he does so by becoming a respected television producer. This, not surprisingly, turns out to be a front for his criminal deeds. He has television trucks stationed all across the cities and each truck has a secret compartment in which his thugs can hide out after having robbed a jewelry store or some other establishment. He even manages to get the lovely Lois Lane (Noel Neill) to work for him, so she can can do puff pieces about the city. This is just one of many phases in Lex Luthor's agenda; the other is to rid the world of Superman by transporting the Man of Steel into a parallel dimension (The Empty Doom as he calls it) via his teleportation machine. To get Superman into the machine, Luthor creates a synthetic form of Kryponite, which weakens the Superman while he is at a public ceremony. Luthor's henchmen (disguised as ambulance drivers) steal away the Man of Steel to his apparent doom. Will Luthor succeed? Of course not!

Atom Man Vs. Superman was one of the few times (if not the only time) that a movie serial actually used a villain from the comic book it was adapted from. It was common for serial adaptations to invent their own villain. The villains in  serials tended to be masked scientists/criminals out for world conquest; in the first Superman serial, the Man of Steel faced a masked villainess called the Spider Lady. In Batman and  Robin, the villain was a masked scientist called the Wizard. Even Atom Man Vs. Superman follows the masked villain format by having Lex Luthor don the disguise of Atom Man to throw the law and Superman off his scent. Granted, Superman from the get go is convinced that the Atom Man is really Lex Luthor, but everyone else is convinced that Luthor has gone straight.
Despite a few changes the Superman serials remained fairly faithful to the comic book, which was fairly rare for a movie serial. The most famous case of a serial being drastically different from it's comic book source was 1944's Captain America, starring Dick Purcell in the title role. In the comic books, U.S. Army Private Steve Rogers became Captain American after being injected with a super serum that gave him great strength. Most of this adventures happened overseas as he fought Nazis and, most famously, the Red Skull. In the serial adaptation, Captain America's secret identity is Grant Gardner, who is not an army soldier, but a district attorney. His nemesis is a masked villain known as the Scarab, who turns out to museum curator Dr. Cyrus Maldor.  Most adaptations didn't take as many liberties with the source material like Captain America, but often, due to budgetary problems, a lot of compromises had to be made. In Batman and Robin there is no Batmobile, instead the dynamic duo drive around in a 1949 Mercury.
Atom Man Vs. Superman is a fairly ambitious serial, but the problem is that it doesn't have the budget nor the resources to match its scope. In chapter one, Luthor builds a sound ray and threatens to destroy the Metropolis River Bridge if his demands are not met. The authorities scoff at Luthor's demand, so he turns his ray towards the bridge and it begins to sway back and forth. This is achieved through the use of stock footage.....well known stock footage I might add; the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (or the Galloping Gertie as it was called). Much to the horror of the Daily Planet Staff and police there is a woman on the bridge passed out in her car. Just when everything seems lost, Superman flies into frame to save the damsel in distress. Initially, I thought Superman would grab the woman and fly her to safety.......NOPE! Instead he stops the bridge from swaying by grabbing hold of its suspension cable and then calls for the cops to rescue the woman. The cops run in, grab the lady, and then run to safety. Superman lets go of the suspension cable and we then cut to footage of the Galloping Gertie collapsing. After the woman is taken to safety, Lois Lane coos, "Superman saved her! I knew he would do it!"

Chapter seven is a re-cap of Superman's origin, narrated by Luthor, with footage lifted from the first Superman serial. Jor-El (Superman's Krypton father) managed to send out radio waves in his Kryton language and Luthor was some how able to translate them, thus making him an expert on everything Superman - with the exception of Superman's secret identity.
When Superman flies he turns into an animated figure and then will land behind a landmark, where Kirk Alyn will then emerge from. This was done because the wire work on Kirk Alyn was so bad that the footage had to be scrapped and the producers, rather hastily, decided to settle on animation. Of course, the problem with the animation is that not only is it jarring at times, but it often kills the urgency that is required in the scene. Superman will often land behind a huge boulder, or some other landmark, and then run the rest of the way to his destination, hence wasting precious time.

It is these lapses in budget and plotting that prevent Atom Man Vs. Superman from being a classic.  Too often the plot is set up by complete coincidence; Lois and Jimmy have a knack for running into Luthor's henchmen, who then proceed to kidnap them just so Superman can save them at the last second. The perils tend to be a bit redundant as well; twice Jimmy is saved from an exploding car. Granted, these flaws are more apparent to the modern day viewer with a DVD player than a movie goer of the 50s, especially little children.
Yet, there are a couple of genuinely clever ideas scattered throughout the serial, the most compelling being "The Empty Doom." Lex Luthor builds a machine that transports Superman to another dimension  that he christened "The Empty Doom." The ghostly image of Superman often pops into frame and attempts to stop a crime from happening, but is forced into the role of a spectator, helpless to do anything about it. He, through sheer will power, is able to communicate with Lois Lane through her electronic typewriter and sets up a plan that will set him free. It also finally dawns on the Daily Planet staff that Clark Kent and Superman just might be the same person.  Perry White orders Lois Lane to write an article that asks the question, "Is Clark Kent Superman?" Lois is hesitant to do so, but obeys White's orders. However, she conspires with Jimmy Olsen to keep the story from every being printed by having him call White and pretending to be Clark Kent. The fairly convincing imitation fools White and he orders the story to be scrapped. However, once Superman is released from "The Empty Doom" the "Is Clark Kent Superman" subplot is completely discarded; Lois and Jimmy never seem interested in finding out the answer for themselves. Luthor becoming a successful TV producer in many way anticipates DC reboot of Superman in the 80s, in which Lex Luthor went from being mad scientist to a respected multi-millionaire with a sinister side.
Kirk Alyn's Superman is appropriately bland; he's pretty much a boy scout with super hero strength. This was essentially how Superman was depicted in the comics at the time and Alyn plays it to perfection. His Clark Kent is way more interesting character, in that he's not nearly as wimpy and bumbling as Clark was in the comic books. Alyn's Clark Kent is slightly clumsy (or pretending to be clumsy), but he's an excellent reporter and is fairly handy in a fight as well. Lois Lane thinks him a coward for always disappearing when danger is near, but we know better.  In TV Show The Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, there were very little difference between the Clark Kent and Superman personas, the only thing that really separated them was that Clark wore glasses and suit, while Superman wore a leotard costume. In the two Superman serials starring Kirk Alyn, there is just enough of difference between the two personas that makes it plausible (if not entirely believable) that no one would suspect Clark Kent of being Superman.
My favorite part of the serial is how it doesn't shy away from showing off Superman's strength; in one of the early chapters Luthor's henchmen fire bullets at Superman and they bounce off him, while he grins off the entire thing like it's nothing. This is done with animation, but it's a neat moment nonetheless  At another point, Superman effortlessly lifts up two henchmen, raises them above his head, and bangs their heads together, knocking them out cold.
I've never been a fan of Noel Neill's "Golly Gee Whiz" approach to the role of Lois Lane, granted, it's not nearly as bad in the movie serials as it was in the television show. In season one of The Adventures of Superman, Lois Lane was played by Phyllis Coates, who's interpretation of the role was far and a way my favorite. Coate's Lois Lane was a no nonsense reporter who took her job seriously and often put it ahead of her own safety. Secondly, she didn't have a school girl crush on Superman, like all the other Lois Lanes, but rather admired him and was grateful for his help. In the first season, there was a sense that Lois and Clark were beginning to bond as friends; initially Lois resented him for joining the Daily Planet, but by season's end she grew to appreciate him. However, when season two began filming Coates was no longer available and was replaced by Noel Neill, because of her appearance in the serials. Lois Lane went from being a professional trying to create her own breaks to being a fairly clueless reporter more interested in swooning over Superman than doing her actual job. In the serial, there's is very little sense of growth between Clark Kent and Lois Lane, even when he keeps constantly bailing her out; she constantly talks about him in a very condescending manner and is fairly resentful of his success. When it is suggested that Clark Kent might be Superman, Lois Lane has this to say, "If Clark Kent is Superman, we have no right in revealing in his secret. If he isn't, then why give a dope such a big build up."  Half the time, I was almost hoping the villains would succeed in bumping off Lois Lane, just so it would finally shut her up. Neill certainly isn't aided by the writing, which often relegates  Lois Lane to a plot device  so Superman has an excuse to fight the villains. Lois gets capture, Superman saves her. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Not to mention her dialogue is fairly cringe worthy as well, practically ever other sentence has her referencing Superman. "Not even Superman himself could do such a thing."
Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen main function is comic relief, but to his credit, he's not nearly as annoying as Jack Larson's portrayal on The Adventures of Superman. At least, Bond's Jimmy Olsen was occasionally useful in capturing the villains, whereas Larson stumbled through the scenery and practically killed every scene he was in.
Atom Man vs. Superman is fairly entertaining serial, despite it's many limitations. However, it's best to view it over the course of a few days (like the audiences of 1950) than in one sitting, otherwise you might go insane.


Cast: Lyle Talbot (Lex Luthor), Kirk Alyn (Clark Kent/Superman), Noel Neill (Lois Lane), Tommy Bond (Jimmy Olsen), Pierre Watkin (Perry White), Jack Ingram (Foster), Don C. Harvey (Albor), Rusty Wescoatt (Carl), Terry Frost (Baer).
Director: Spencer Bennett.
Screenplay: George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland, David Mathews.
Running Time: 252 minutes (15 episodes)

Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)

One of the disadvantages about having Turner Classic Movies is that they play so many movies I want to watch that I constantly find myself firing up the VCR, as a consequence I have a huge back log of movies that I have to watch. After nearly two years, I finally got around to watching Get Yourself a College Girl and thought it would serve as an interesting companion piece to my A Hard Day's Night/ Girl Happy review.
Get Yourself a College Girl was made in 1964 and as a result it often gets lumped in with the Beach Party genre that was popular during the period. While the similarities are there, the truth is, it has more in common with films like Rock Around the Clock (1956), and it's semi-sequel Don't Knock the Rock (1956), than it does with the Frankie and Annette films that were popular at time. This isn't too surprising when one considering that not only does Get Yourself a College Girl have the same producer as those two films (Sam Katzman), but the same screenwriter as well (Robert E. Kent). Katzman was a legendary producer of low budget films and most famously brought not one, but two DC comic book heroes to the screen, Batman and Superman, in serial form. Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock both would serve as templates for rock n' roll films of the future, including Get Yourself a College Girl.

Rock Around the Clock is officially the first Rock N' Roll film ever produced and it follows band manager, Steve Hollis (Johnny Johnston), as he attempts to bring Bill Haley and the Comets to the mainstream. One day, while driving across country with his musician friend, Steve stumbles upon Bill Haley and the Comets playing a dance in a small town located in the middle of nowhere. Steve his amazed at the amount of excitement Bill Haley and his band are generating among the locals; at point Steve's friend taps a dancing girl on the shoulder and asks, "What do you call that exercise you're getting?" She replies with, "It's rock n' roll, brother. And we're rocking tonight!"

Steve is convinced rock n' roll is the wave of the future and sets about getting Bill Haley national exposure. The only thing standing in his way is a manipulative, domineering music agent named Corinne Talbot (Alix Talton), who also has her heart set on marrying Steve, despite his lack of interest. When she finds Steve has become smitten with the female half of a brother/sister dancing act that accompanies the Comets, she sets about trying to sabotage Steve's chances. First, she books the Comets to play at a high school prom, thinking that the Comets "wild music" will get them booed offstage, but is utterly shocked when the youth respond in a wildly enthusiastic manner. After her first plan has failed, she attempts to have Steve and the Comets blackballed from the music industry by calling up her friends at other agencies. Steve circumvents her by calling upon popular DJ, Alan Freed, who owes Steve a favor. Finally, Corinne concedes defeat and offers the Comets are huge three year contract. A few other contrivances follow, but it ends on a happy note, with the Comets and other rock n' roll acts getting national exposure on a televised musical jamboree.

Two thoughts about Rock Around the Clock:
1) As a movie it is relatively worthless; the characters and acting (with the exception of Talton) are fairly bland. Bill Haley, despite his top billing, is relegated to the sidelines for the most of the film. But as time capsule for the period (mid 1950s) it is absolutely invaluable; it gives modern day viewers an opportunity to see rock n' roll acts of that time in their absolute prime. (Bill Haley, The Platters, The Bellboys, etc). 

2) The character of Corinne; she's a highly successfully, intelligent career woman, yet the filmmaker's imply that she can never be happy unless she's married to a man. Throughout the film, she tries hard to break down Steve's will, so he can come crawling back to her, begging her to marry him. At the end, when she has failed, she seems content on settling for the next best thing (her assistant, Mike Dobbs). This theme of the highly successfully, but lonely woman gets revived in Get Yourself a College Girl. 

Don't Knock the Rock, the semi-sequel to Rock Around the Clock, takes a defensive stance towards rock n' roll music; in it a successfully rock singer, Arnie Haines, returns to his hometown to find that he has fallen out of the favor with the elders. Their concern is that rock n' roll leads to juvenile delinquency, so he takes it upon himself (with help from Bill Haley and the Comets and other music acts) to put their fears to rest. After a couple of mishaps, he eventually wins over the elders and everything is peachy keen at film's end.

Flash forward to 1964, and the focus gets shifted from successful male rock star to successful female songwriter, Terry Taylor, who is still attending college at Wyndham. It is revealed that Wyndham is a fairly conservative musical college that looks down upon rock n' roll; to keep herself from being expelled, Terry has her songs published under a pseudonym. However, the cat is let out of the bag, when her publisher, Gary Underwood, calls the college in regards to ideas he has for promoting her album. This naturally infuriates the Board of Directors, which consists mostly of old men, who demand that Terry be expelled. The student body marches in on the proceedings and objects to Terry's possible suspension, stating that she's been like a "Joan of Arc" to them with her progressive attitude towards women. However, the Dean, being a woman, is sympathetic towards Terry and asks that the Board wait until after Christmas Break  to make their final decision.  One of the board members is Senator Hubert Morrison, who is up for reelection and whose grandmother founded the college. He is, at first, naturally appalled by Terry's music, but the Dean tells him he's old fashioned and should try to get to know the girl before he passes judgment on her. Morrison takes this advice to heart, and by sheer coincidence happens to be vacationing at the same ski resort as Terry and her friends. All sorts of hilarity ensues!

As I mentioned before Robert E. Kent was a screenwriter on all three films and I suspect a good majority of his screenplays contained the phrase, "Insert musical number here." These films are a more or less an excuse to showcase the musical talent of the day, while the "story" mainly functions to bridge the musical numbers together. The actual story for Get Yourself a College Girl doesn't begin until nearly twenty minutes into the movie; the beginning has a few bits of exposition (Terry being a songwriter), but the majority of it is musical acts (The Dave Clark Five, The Animals) accompanied with shots of various college students dancing. One of the musical acts is Terry singing her new song, "Get Yourself a College Girl."

What I find interesting about this sequence (and the end as well) is that the two headlining bands (The Animals, The Dave Clark Five) were part of the British invasion. Get Yourself a College Girl maybe the first American film to openly embrace the British invasion, whereas most Beach Party films were either condescending toward it (Bikini Beach, The Girls on the Beach), or didn't bother to acknowledge its existence. Like A Hard Day's Night, I'm sure getting these bands was an attempt by Sam Katzman to cash in on their fame before it waned, but nonetheless, it's interesting that Katzman willingly jumped on this trend, while Samuel Z. Arkoff and other producers thumbed their nose at it. In fact, despite being labeled a "Beach Party Movie," there is absolutely no surf rock to be found in Get Yourself a College Girl. It is also interesting to note that many of the rock n' roll scenes often take a Direct Cinema approach to film making;  often there will be shots of college students dancing done with hand held cameras to give it a more immediate look. This was obviously influenced by shots of the screaming audience at the end of A Hard's Day Night. 

Mary Ann Mobley is a far more engaging lead than the two stiffs (Johnny Johnston, Alan Dale) who sleepwalked through Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock. Her character, Terry Taylor, is a woman who is trying to get ahead on her terms and takes offense when a man, Gary Underwood (Chad Everett), tries to run her life for her.  When Gary shows up at the ski resort, she is infuriated and threatens to sue him for breaching her contract; it was stipulated that the music publisher would never telephone Terry at Wyndham College. Gary's idea for promoting her new single is a painting of her holding an acoustic guitar and wearing a revealing nightgown; he then plans to have it plastered on billboards across the country. He has brought an artist along with him, Armand, to capture her likeness. Terry naturally takes offense to this and kicks Gary out of her room. Gary isn't defeated yet, he connives to use the body of another woman while painting Terry's face on top. He approaches various shapely woman at the ski resort, tells them his idea, and is met with a slap in the face. However, before the face slapping commences the audience is treated to an "Insert musical number here" moment with Astrud Gilberto singing "Girl From Ipanema."

While Get Yourself a College Girl features a relatively strong, independent woman in the lead, it's feminism is shaky at best. In the beginning, Terry stresses that a woman should be able to chose her path in life, without the interference of men; be it a career or romance. In the Frankie/Annette Beach Party films of the sixties, the main tension between the two of them was in regards to matrimony; Annette wanted to settle down and have a family, while Frankie wanted to have fun and avoid responsibility at all costs. In Get Yourself a College Girl, Terry's education and singing career come first, while a steady relationship is the last thing on her mind; she plays the field (as the lyrics to her songs suggest), but she's not quite ready to fall for any man. Of course, that all changes when Terry meets Gary. It's true that Terry initially resents Gary, but the audience knows that it's only a matter of time before the two fall in love. The romance is handled in an incredibly clumsy and lazy manner; Terry and Gary happen to be skiing on the same slope and Terry gives him the cold shoulder. She skis down the slope with Gary following her, she looks back to see where he is, and crashes into a snowbank. Her arms are stuck inside the snowbank and Gary takes advantage of the situation to kiss Terry on the lips. Rather than protest the situation, Terry gives in and after they are done kissing she comments that his kiss has melted the snow. She then frees her arms from the snow bank and embraces him.

There is a similar moment in Rock Around the Clock in which the band manager Steve Hollis is met with initial resistance by Lisa Johns (Lisa Gaye), the female half of the brother/sister dance act that performs with Bill Haley and the Comets. When Steve offers to manage that band he proposes a 60/40 split, meaning he'll get 40% of the earning. Lisa, acting as the spokes person for the band, insists that he should be only given 10% and tells him to call back later when he's changed his mind. Steve decides he will seduce Lisa into seeing his way. Later, the two of them are on the beach in bathing suits and Steve is about to make his move, but Lisa completely takes him off guard by kissing him first. The two kiss for a few minutes; Lisa tries to use her womanly charms to persuade Steve into taking 10%, while Steve uses his manly swagger into keeping the entire 40%, eventually they settle on 25%.  By the scene's end, they are hopelessly in love with one another. With the whole romantic subplot settled, the film can now focus on Steve's attempt to land the Bill Haley and The Comets a gig.

The most inexplicable moment that happens in Get Yourself a College Girl is when the character of Sue Ann (Chris Noel), the sexpot out of the group, starts to dance around in the girl's hotel room, clad in a bikini. It's real a head scratching moment...hell even Teresa and their friend Madge (Joan O' Brien) are confused by what is going on. This is a moment that is ripped from the many Beach Party films of the decade, except that it takes place at a ski resort in the WINTER! Which leads me to believe that the screenwriter, after having watched a marathon of earlier Beach movies, decided there needed to be at least one scene in which a busty blonde shakes her booty for all the world to see, regardless as to whether or not it made any sense. Granted, Chris Noel looks great in a bikini.

The best thing about Get Yourself a College Girl is the subplot involving Senator Hubert Morrison (Willard Waterman). At the beginning of the film, the Senator is fairly prudish in regards to the younger generation and finds Terry's songs offensive but, after the Dean of Wyndham tells him he's "old fashioned" in his view points and needs to be more open minded, he actually soaks in what she has to say and takes her advice. When he arrives at the ski resort, he makes it a point to introduce himself to Terry, so he can get to know her better. As the film progresses, his attitude begins to soften towards Terry and the younger generation, and they, in turn, begin to warm up towards him, to the point that they are willing to back him in his upcoming election. It's even implied that the Senator and the girl's beautiful dance teacher, Madge (Joan O' Brien), develop romantic feelings toward one another.

The older vs. younger generation is the staple of most rock n' roll pictures, and usually it's resolved in a fairly unconvincing manner (or in the case of A Hard Day's Night, not at all). In most rock n' roll pictures, the older generation remain firm on their preconceived idea that rock n' roll music is bad for society, and then, through some absolute miracle, have a change of heart at the film's end.  Yet, in Get Yourself a College Girl, because the Senator discards his presuppositions about the younger generation, it makes his conversion at the end all the more believable. The Senator is quite possibly the most likable character in the film; this is largely due to Willard Waterman's funny and engaging performance. 

Finally! In an interesting bit of trivia, all four leading actresses (Mary Ann Mobley, Joan O' Brien, Nancy Sinatra, Chris Noel) all co-starred with Elvis Presley at some point in their career.  Mobley would co-star with Elvis in Girl Happy and Harum Scarum. Joan O' Brien was his leading lady in the fairly well done It Happened At the World's Fair. Sinatra wouldn't be so fortunate, as her leading lady gig was in Speedway. And Noel played one of Shelley Fabares spring break friends in Girl Happy. Joan O' Brien was easily the best actress out of the bunch and had a fairly interesting career, co-starring with Cary Grant in Operation Petticoat and John Wayne in The Alamo, but after this film her career came to a complete halt. 

Cast: Mary Ann Mobley (Teresa "Terry" Taylor), Joan O' Brien (Marge Endicott), Chad Everett (Gary Underwood), Willard Waterman (Senator Hubert Morrison), Nancy Sinatra (Lynne), Chris Noel (Sue Ann),
Fabrizio Mioni (Armand), Dorothy Neumann (Martha Stone, Dean of Wyndham College), Astrud Gilberto (Herself), The Dave Clark Five, The Animals, The Standells, The Bell Boys.

Director: Sidney Miller
Screenplay: Robert E. Kent, Robert G. Stone.
Running Time: 86 min.