Atom Man vs Superman
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Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), Columbia's 43rd serial, finds Lex Luthor (Lyle Talbot), secretly the Atom Man, blackmailing the city of Metropolis by threatening to destroy the entire community. Perry White (Pierre Watkin), editor of The Daily Planet, assigns Lois Lane (Noel Neill), Jimmy Olsen (Tommy Bond) and Clark Kent (Kirk Alyn) to cover the story.
In 2006, the Atom Man vs. Superman serial was still available for purchase on videotape, where it was first released back in 1989. It was officially released on DVD by Warner Home Video, along with its predecessor, 1948's Superman, on November 28, 2006 as Superman - The Theatrical Serials Collection.
Plot
Lex Luthor, the Atom Man, invents a number of deadly devices to plague the city, including a disintegrating machine which can reduce people to their basic atoms and reassemble them in another place. But Superman manages to thwart each scheme. Since Kryptonite can rob Superman of his powers, Luthor decides to create a synthetic Kryptonite and putters about obtaining the necessary ingredients: plutonium, radium and the undefined 'etc.' Luthor places the Kryptonite at the launching of a ship, with Superman in attendance. He is exposed to the Kryptonite and passes out. Superman is taken off in an ambulance driven by Luthor's henchmen, and he is now under the control of Luthor. Superman is placed in a device, a lever is pulled, and the Man of Steel vanishes into "The Empty Doom" (which bears a similarity to the Phantom Zone of the comic books. With eight chapters remaining, the odds are high he will return. Most of chapter 7 is a repeat of the origin story from chapter 1 of Columbia's first "Superman" serial, and this serial also finds a way to work in stock footage from Ken Maynard's 1936 Avenging Waters (also directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet [1]). The serial features several elements re-used in later Superman features: the Man of Steel is exposed to synthetic Kryptonite during a public function, as he is the motion picture Superman III. When he escapes from "The Empty Doom", the headline of the Daily Planet proclaims: "Superman Returns", the title of the most recent Superman movie.
Cast
Kirk Alyn ... Superman/Clark Kent
Noel Neill ... Lois Lane
Lyle Talbot ... Lex Luthor/The Atom Man
Tommy Bond ... Jimmy Olsen
Pierre Watkin ... Perry White
Jack Ingram ... Foster (dapper henchman)
Don C. Harvey ... Albor (lab henchman)
Rusty Wescoatt ... Carl (beefy henchman)
Terry Frost ... Baer (medium henchman)
Wally West ... Henchman Dorr [Chs. 1, 6, 9]
Paul Stader ... 'Killer' Lawson [Chs. 1-4] (as Paul Strader)
George Robotham ... Earl, TV truck cameraman-driver [Chs. 11-12]
Chapter titles
- Superman Flies Again
- Atom Man Appears
- Ablaze In The Sky
- Superman Meets Atom Man
- Atom Man Tricks Superman
- Atom Man's Challenge
- At The Mercy Of Atom Man
- Into The Empty Doom
- Superman Crashes Through
- Atom Man's Heat Ray
- Luthor's Strategy
- Atom Man Strikes
- Atom Man's Flying Saucers
- Rocket Of Vengeance
- Superman Saves The Universe
