''Atom Man vs. Superman'' is a 1950 American

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, ge ...

and the second Superman movie serial featuring

Kirk Alyn Kirk Alyn (born John Feggo Jr.; October 8, 1910 – March 14, 1999) was an American actor, best known for being the first actor to play the DC Comics character Superman in live-action for the 1948 movie serial ''Superman'' and its 1950 sequel '' ...

, credited (as with the previous serial) only by his character name,

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

. When

Lex Luthor Alexander "Lex" Joseph Luthor () is a supervillain in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (published on February 22, 1940, with a cover d ...

blackmails the city of

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

by threatening to destroy the entire community,

Perry White Perry White is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the editor-in-chief of the Metropolis newspaper the '' Daily Planet''. The character maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards and i ...

, editor of the ''

Daily Planet The ''Daily Planet'' is a fictional newspaper appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The newspaper was first mentioned in ''Action Comics'' #9 (November 13, 1939) – Underworld Politics ...

'' assigns

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Superman, Clark Kent ...

and

Clark Kent Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

to cover the story. The first chapter was released in July 1950.

Plot

, 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.

manages to thwart each scheme. Since

Kryptonite Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton (comics), Krypton that emits a u ...

can rob Superman of his powers, Luthor decides to create a synthetic Kryptonite and putters about obtaining the necessary ingredients:

plutonium Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...

radium Radium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in alkaline earth metal, group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, ...

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".

Cast

as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman * Noel Neill as

* Lyle Talbot as Lex Luthor / Atom Man *

Tommy Bond Thomas Ross Bond (September 16, 1926 – September 24, 2005) was an American actor, director, producer and writer. He was best known for his work as a child actor for two nonconsecutive periods in ''Our Gang'' (''Little Rascals'') comedies (fir ...

* Pierre Watkin as

* Jack Ingram as Foster * Don C. Harvey as Albor * Rusty Wescoatt as Carl * Terry Frost as Baer * Wally West as Dorr * Paul Stader as "Killer" Lawson * George Robotham as Earl Noel Neill would return to the role of Lois Lane in 1953, replacing Phyllis Coates in the second through sixth (and final) seasons of '' The Adventures of Superman'', and would be the model for

Metropolis, Illinois Metropolis is a city and the county seat in Massac County, Illinois, United States. It is located by the Ohio River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,969, down from 6,537 in 2010 United States census, 2 ...

' 2010 Lois Lane statue.

Production

Kirk Alyn as Superman in a publicity still from 1948

Lyle Talbot, who had previously starred as Commissioner Jim Gordon in the 1949 Columbia Serial '' Batman and Robin'', here portrays Lex Luthor (and also Luthor's alter-ego "Atom Man"). In his "Atom Man" disguise, Talbot as Luthor, utilizes a vaguely German accent and wears an ominous mask fashioned from a "Metallogen Man" robot costume left over from 1945's '' The Monster and the Ape''. Despite their onscreen personas, Talbot (Lex Luthor), who wore a rubber scalp to create the impression of baldness, and Alyn (Superman) spent much of their time, when not shooting, exchanging recipes, both actors shared an interest in cookery.

Special effects

The final set piece shows Metropolis under attack by "poorly animated" flying saucers and a torpedo. The flying effects were somewhat improved in this film than in the original, by the simple expedient of turning the camera on its side. Kirk Alyn stood with arms raised in front of a cyclorama, while a wind machine and smoke pot were placed above him (out of frame). This gave an inexpensive illusion of flight. Longer shots continued to use cartoon animation of the Man of Steel.

Critical appraisal

In their book ''The Great Movie Serials'', Jim Harman and Donald F. Glut describe the serial as "far more gimmicky and gadget prone" than the first Superman serial. In addition to this, they also found it to be flawed with its cheapness characteristic in Katzman productions.

Home media

In 2006, the ''Atom Man vs. Superman'' serial was still available for purchase on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...

, where it was first released back in 1989 as a double tape box set. The serial was also offered available in two separate VHS tapes as Volume 1 (Chapters 1 - 7) and Volume 2 (Chapters 8 - 15). It was officially released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

by Warner Home Video, along with its predecessor, 1948's ''

'', on November 28, 2006 as ''Superman - The Theatrical Serials Collection''. With the previous 2006 DVD release out of print for a few years, on October 9, 2018 the serials were re-released as manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD from

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

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''

References

External links

* *
Superman.UGO.com
{{Authority control 1950 films Superman films Live-action films based on DC Comics American sequel films Columbia Pictures film serials American black-and-white films Films directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet American science fiction films 1950s science fiction films 1950s superhero films 1950s English-language films Films with screenplays by George H. Plympton Films with screenplays by Joseph F. Poland 1950s American films Films based on DC Comics Flying saucers in film Superhero film serials Films scored by Mischa Bakaleinikoff English-language science fiction films English-language action films Films produced by Sam Katzman