Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest things I have ever seen!, August 17, 2003
A week ago I bout the 1948 Superman serial here from Amazon and I loved it! It is powerfully charming and fun to watch! There is a total of 15 chapters on the tapes and they are each 20 minutes long and end with a very suspenseful cliff hanger! I have showed it to my friends and there families my family and everyone loves it! I think you should buy it today! No one should have to live and not watch this! It is a must have! Now I'm going to give you a summary of the first three chapters:
Chapter 1 - Superman Comes To Earth: Galaxies far from ours there is the blue planet Krypton. Krypton is a world of advanced science and mystery. One day Jor-EL a member of Krypton's council board and one of the brilliant scientist on Krypton, makes a startling discovering! He learns that the mighty Krypton is coming upon its last hours, Krypton is being drawn into its red sun and will explode! He tells the rest of Krypton's council leaders this and tells them that all of Krypton's population must flee to the planet Earth, in spacecraft! The council leaders laugh at his discovery and vote to stay on Krypton; Jor-EL calls them fools and leaves! At Jor-EL's home he tells his wife what just happened, they both agree to send their baby boy Kal-EL on Jor-EL's experimental rocket and send it to Earth. After Kal-El is put into the rocket and lunched into space, the planet Krypton explodes, killing all of its people except Kal-EL! On Earth in a small town a farmer and his wife witness some sort of spacecraft come out of the sky and land on the ground! The farmer opens the spacecraft and finds a baby boy raped in fireproof blankets, the farmer and his wife adopted the boy that came out of the sky and name him Clark Kent. It's not long after Clark starts to grow, he learns he is no ordinary boy and can perform impossible deeds! When Clark grows up he vow's to his foster parents that he will use his powers for truth justice and the American way! His foster mother give's him a suit that she made from the blankets Clark was raped in when he first came to Earth. He tells them he will wear it only when he is SUPERMAN!
Chapter 2 - Depths Of The Earth: There is a mine disaster and reporters from the Daily Planet in Metropolis are sent on a train to cover the story. But a track is broken and the engineer of the train is not warned in time and is going to crash! Before a train goes over the broken track, a man in a cape and a giant "S" symbol on his shirt, comes out of the bushes and fixes the track with his bare hands. The train is safe but the queer man who help has run off. In Metropolis Clark Kent is in a cab and asks to go to the Daily Planet, on the way Clark sees a building on fire and asks the cabby to pull over! Clark gets out and use's his x-ray vision and sees a women inside the building, Clark say's to himself, "This looks like a job for Superman!" and changes into a suit with a cape and a giant "S" symbol on it. In an instant flies into the building grabs the women flies back out with her in his arms, next he drops her off safely and runs off. At the Daily Planet Clark asks Perry White the chief editor at the Daily Planet, if he can have a job. Perry is about to say no but gets a phone call instead. On the phone are Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen they were sent to do a story on the mine disaster but the police won't let them in. Clark say's to Perry that if he could get in and get the story, if he could have a job, Perry agrees. At the mine disaster Lois finds a way into the mine but gets caved in and now is left to die by dangerous fumes!
Chapter 3 - The Reducer Ray: Superman comes to the rescue and brakes through the mine and saves Lois and the miners and then runs off again! When Lois and Jimmy get back to the Daily Planet they are mocked because someone else got the story and Lois is really mad! Next her and Jimmy meet the newest member at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent! In a secret hideout the Spider Lady ruler of the underworld of crime want's to steal a very powerful weapon called the Reducer Ray, it can blow up any thing with a blast bigger then a the atomic bomb. Her first plot to steal it is unsuccessful for Superman stops her. That night a meteor crashes near Metropolis. At the Metropolis Museum Professor Leeds wants show reporter Clark Kent the meteor. It is in a lead box, Leeds tells Clark that it is very strange and thinks that it comes from the planet Krypton that exploded many years ago! When Leeds takes off the lid the meteor glows green and Clark falls down dead!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Tale of Two Studios, March 9, 2001
Once upon a time the Serial was an extremely popular form, and 2 studios were the major producers who stuck with it the longest- Republic and Columbia. Republic had the writers, actors directors and, most importantly, the stuntmen who knew how to make them. Columbia had the more popular characters(Batman,The Phantom, The Shadow...etc).And while they would spend the money to acquire the rights, they were incredibly cheap when it came to production. Superman is a Columbia Serial, with all the shortcomings that that entails. Bad writing, bad acting, cheap effects, bad costumes (Hell, the only time somebody changes outfits is when Clark Kent becomes Superman. Otherwise they wear the same clothes throughout, including an unfortunate choice of hat for Lois Lane that makes her look like one of the dancing mushrooms from "Fantasia" for 15 chapters) Still, Superman: The Serial is not without it's charms...Kirk Alyn's adoption of Bud Collyer's voice trick on (Tenor)"This looks like a Job (Basso Profundo)for Superman" allows you to hear the testosterone levels rising...Tommy "Butch from Our Gang" Bond as Jimmy Olsen...Noel Neill's first shot at Lois Lane (sans anger management)...and the opportunity to play spot the stock footage during the destruction of Krypton. It's all good fun...Still, I think the secret wish of every serial fan is to imagine what Republic would have done with the Big Blue Guy...Hmmm...Kane Richmond as Superman...Linda Stirling as Lois Lane...*SIGH*
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SuperMovie for a Superman SuperFan, May 10, 2001
All right Superman fans. For those of you who are really into the Superman mythology, then this nostalgic piece of work is for you. As like the modern (Chris Reeve) Superman, we see in the beginning chapter the origins of Krypton and it's untimely demise as the sun draws it closer to it. Then the origin of Superman is pretty much the same, which follows the George Reeves and modern Superman origins with Superman being raised by foster parents who teach him Godly morals and to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.For those of you who like the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons or the Hanna-Barberra Superman cartoons of the seventies and eighties, this is also a film for you. The reason, whenever Superman flies, jumps from a building, or crashes into walls, he turns animated, thus making any stunt possible. And no actors were hurt, which is even better. Sadly, the man that played Superman, Kirk Alyn, died in 1999 at age 88. However, we will always have the Superman serials and the memorories will never die. All in all, I must give this movie 5 out of 5 stars. Any Superman fan or Kirk Alyn fan needs this piece in their collection.... A Super Fan, David Meek
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