Superman

A few days ago, I came upon a five minute video clip, posted onto Facebook, from the first episode of a 1948 movie serial, Superman. The serial starred Kirk Alyn as Superman/Clark Kent, Noel Neill as Lois Lane, and Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen. Neill would later be cast as Lois Lane in the T.V. series, Adventures of Superman. As a child, Bond was best known for his work as Butch in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedies.

After watching the short video clip, I went in search for the entire 15 episode serial online. The serial isn't available on Youtube, but it is available on the dailymotion.com website. A link to episode one is found here.

In 1950, another 15 part serial, starring the same characters was released. This serial, Atom Man vs Superman also starred Lyle Talbot as Lex Luthor. This serial can be found on dailymotion.com as well.

I've watched the entire 30 episodes and found the serials entertaining in their own way. The only negative I can say, is that special effects being what they were during the late 40's - early 50's, animation was used to show Superman in flight and the effect is a bit cheesy.

After watching the two serials, I searched for videos of the Adventures of Superman TV series. Season one is the only season available online, and unfortunately, not all the original 26 episodes are to be found.

In season one, Phyllis Coates played the part of Lois Lane, Noel Neill taking over beginning with season two.

 I want to make special mention of episode 13 from season one of the TV series, The Stolen Costume. The early episodes of the TV series were unusual in that characters were seen dying on screen. In The Stolen Costume, Superman is actually responsible for the deaths of two characters who had discovered his identity as Clark Kent.