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 it's 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 relegated Lois Lane to a plot device Superman would have 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 over the course of a few days (like the audiences of 1950) than watch 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)