Superman (1948)

Directors:

Spencer Gordon Bennet
Thomas Carr

Writers:

George H. Plympton (adaptation) and
Joseph F. Poland (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

15 July 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Based on the SUPERMAN adventure feature appearing in SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS magazines, in daily and Sunday newspapers coast-to-coast and on the SUPERMAN radio program broadcast over the Mutual Network (original poster)

Plot:

Superman comes to Earth as a child and grows up to be his home's first superhero with his first major challenge being to oppose The Spider Lady.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Superhero | Part Animation | Big City | Held At Gunpoint

Cast

Kirk Alyn	...	Superman / Clark Kent
Noel Neill	...	Lois Lane
Tommy Bond	...	Jimmy Olsen
Carol Forman	...	Spider Lady
George Meeker	...	Driller
Jack Ingram	...	Anton
Pierre Watkin	...	White
Terry Frost	...	Brock
Charles King	...	Conrad [Chs. 6-15]
Charles Quigley	...	Hackett [Chs. 6-15]
Herbert Rawlinson	...	Graham [Chs. 3, 9-11, 13-15]
Forrest Taylor	...	Leeds [Chs. 3-4]
Stephen Carr	...	Morgan [Chs. 3-4]
Rusty Wescoatt	...	Elton [Chs. 7-15]
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Cop at Museum (uncredited)
Phil Arnold	...	Cabbie (uncredited)
Jimmy Aubrey	...	Wave Tracer (uncredited)
Robert Barron	...	Ro-Zon (uncredited)
Roy Butler	...	Radio Operator (uncredited)
James Carlisle	...	Government Agent (uncredited)
Virginia Carroll	...	Martha Kent (uncredited)
Ed Cassidy	...	Eben Kent (uncredited)
Jack Chefe	...	Dupe (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Tom Coleman	...	Government Agent (uncredited)
George DeNormand	...	Agent with Crandall (uncredited)
Mason Alan Dinehart	...	Young Clark Kent (uncredited)
Frank Ellis	...	Mine Security Guard (uncredited)
William Fawcett	...	Phoney News-Hawker (uncredited)
Eddie Foster	...	Fred Collier (uncredited)
Jack George	...	Railroad Workman (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Car 1 Henchman (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Prison Guard at Siren (uncredited)
Ralph Hodges	...	Teenage Clark Kent (uncredited)
Reed Howes	...	Jackson (uncredited)
I. Stanford Jolley	...	Sheriff (uncredited)
Frank Lackteen	...	Hawkins (uncredited)
Nelson Leigh	...	Jor-El (uncredited)
Tom London	...	Old-Timer at Mine (uncredited)
George Magrill	...	Bank Robber (uncredited)
Knox Manning	...	Narrator (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Spectator at Fire / Police Chief Forman (uncredited)
Wheeler Oakman	...	Dr. Fredrick Larkin (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	...	Truck Driver (uncredited)
Leonard Penn	...	Electronics Store Owner / Henchman (uncredited)
Stanley Price	...	Crandall (uncredited)
Gene Roth	...	Carson (uncredited)
Charles Schaeffer	...	Thug Holding Lois (uncredited)
Charles Sherlock	...	Daily Planet Worker (uncredited)
Paul Stader	...	Irwin (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Man Sent for Help at RR Station (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Secretary of National Security (uncredited)
Luana Walters	...	Lara (uncredited)
Doodles Weaver	...	Metropolis University Administration Building Guard (uncredited)
Wally West	...	Spectator at Fire / State Trooper (uncredited)
Al Wyatt Sr.	...	Thug Holding Lois (uncredited)
Peggy Wynne	...	Gloria (uncredited)

Directed by
Spencer Gordon Bennet		(as Spencer Bennet)
Thomas Carr

Writing credits
George H. Plympton		(adaptation) and
Joseph F. Poland		(adaptation)
Arthur Hoerl		(screenplay) and
Lewis Clay		(screenplay) and
Royal K. Cole		(screenplay) (as Royal Cole)
Joe Shuster		characters (uncredited)
Jerry Siegel		characters (uncredited)

Produced by
Sam Katzman	....	producer

Cinematography by
Ira H. Morgan

Film Editing by
Earl Turner

Art Direction by
Paul Palmentola

Set Decoration by
Sidney Clifford

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
R.M. Andrews	....	assistant director

Special Effects by
Howard Swift	....	special animation effects (uncredited)

Stunts
George DeNormand	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Magrill	....	stunts (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunt double: Kirk Alyn (uncredited)
Wally West	....	stunts (uncredited)
Al Wyatt Sr.	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Gerard Carbonara	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Sidney Cutner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Friedrich Hollaender	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
John Leipold	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Floyd Morgan	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
David Raksin	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Milan Roder	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Miklós Rózsa	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Paul Sawtell	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
William Grant Still	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Mutual Network, The  Superman radio program broadcast on

Also Known As:

Runtime:

244 min (15 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Considered to be the most successful serial of all time.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In Chapter Nine, Lois Lane arrives at the airport. Her shadow is visible on the rear-projection screen on which the image of the airport is projected.

Quotes:

Ro-Zon, leader of Krypton [Ch. 1]:[after vote to remain on Krypton] The counsel has spoken, Jor-El.
Jor-El, father of Superman [Ch. 1]:Not spoken, Ro-Zon. It has pronounced the death sentence for all Krypton.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Action Heroes of Movies & T.V.: A Campy Compilation (1989) (V)

This makes the Superman TV series look like Godfather II.

Despite years of immersion in various aspects of the Superman character, I've only just now seen one of the Kirk Alyn serials. I'm not a huge fan of serials, but I've enjoyed several. This one is shot pretty effectively, but what a chore to get through. Primary culprit: Kirk Alyn. Granted, I'm extremely biased in favor of George Reeves's portrayal of the character. And granted, I think that Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, and Brandon Routh all did fine work in the same role. But I was unprepared for how bad Kirk Alyn was. Much has been made of his "balletic grace," his experience as a dancer, but I found these aspects the most ludicrous when it came to playing Superman. Alyn comes off as unmasculine and sort of child-like, neither of which stands him in good stead as the greatest superhero of all. He kind of bounces around, waving his arms and grinning sort of dopily, coming off more like a horribly miscast Tinkerbell than the Man of Steel. Carol Forman must be the worst actor in the history of serial villains (that's saying something), and she manages to make the actors around her look like the Royal Shakespeare Company. Tommy Bond is a bit tougher and a bit nastier than any subsequent Jimmy Olsen. Noel Neill is cute and perky and easily distinguished from Meryl Streep. Pierre Watkin's Perry White is incredibly one-note (though he does get to have a fistfight and fall out a window!) The story is not complex enough to fill out even one chapter, let alone fifteen. And worst of all, Superman doesn't even do much that's super. Some bullets bounce off him, and he flies (sort of), but even the Fifties TV series, on a fraction of the budget, managed some spectacular effects. This was just boring, and could have been about a big Boy Scout instead of a superhero. Which is kind of the way Alyn plays it.