The Goofy Charm of 1950’s ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN
Kirk Alyn was born 111 years ago! — UPDATED 10/8/21: The late Kirk Alyn, the original screen Superman, was born 111 years ago! Great time to re-present this piece from 2016! — Dan — Hey, it’s a special REEL RETRO CINEMA two-fer! We’re gearing up BATMAN/SUPERMAN WEEK, so it only figured to have Rob Kelly take a look at our heroes’ filmic roots — namely, two of their serials! For 1949’s Batman and Robin, click here! For the complete BATMAN/SUPERMAN WEEK Index, click here! — Dan By ROB KELLY Ever since I was a kid, I have loved “versus” movies: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Freddy vs. Jason. Kramer vs. Kramer. There’s something about a movie just boldly stating—right there in the title–what it’s going to give you that I have always found very exciting. Forget about complicated themes or nuanced character studies, this movie is about two titanic titans squaring off! So as we await Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we’re going all the way back to 1950 to look at that other Superman “vs.” movie, the 15-chapter movie serial Atom Man vs. Superman! Atom Man vs. Superman (why does the Man of Steel always get second billing?) stars Kirk Alyn as Superman/Clark Kent, Noel Neill as Lois Lane, Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen, and Lyle Talbot as Lex Luthor (and the Atom Man—but shhh! It’s a secret). Alyn, Neill and Bond all played these roles before, in 1948’s Superman serial, making Atom Man vs. Superman a sequel of sorts. Also, by its use of Lex Luthor as the bad guy, it’s the first comic book-based movie serial to use a villain from the original source material. Atom Man vs. Superman opens with a series of robberies that are plaguing Metropolis. It is, of course, the work of Lex Luthor, who threatens to destroy a nearby bridge if he and his gang don’t receive all the money from the Metropolis Trust Company. He turns a destruction ray on the bridge, but luckily Superman arrives to keep it in place while police rescue some stranded motorists. The Man of Steel then finds Luthor, arrests him, and the arch-criminal is sent off to jail. A year later, everyone is perplexed by a second crime wave, since Luthor is in solitary confinement! What they don’t know is, Luthor has...
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