I talked with Kirk Alyn at a comic show back in the '70s, and he said he'd never seen this 15-chapter serial. At the time it came out he was too busy working, and he finally got around to asking Columbia to show it to him they denied having a copy. He had it on good authority, though, that they had it locked away in their vault.
Well, somebody sure had a copy, because it was finally released on VHS in 1987. Alyn was around until 1999, so it's pretty likely he finally got to see it. Anyway, here's the whole dang thing. This one's for you, Kirk.
Saw many episodes of this one in the theater. Am I old? Durn tootin'.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few episodes on Youtube. In general, I would say it was well done, except for some cheesy special effects. The scenes of Superman flying were done with line-drawn animated cartoons that did not match up well with the live action. Republic Pictures' Captain Marvel and Rocket Man/Commando Cody serials had much more convincing flying scenes.
ReplyDeleteRepublic reportedly wanted Kirk Alyn for "King of the Rocket Men" in 1949, but he was unavailable, presumably because he was under contract at Columbia.
BTW, IIRC, Alyn also played Blackhawk in a not-bad Columbia serial.
Kirk Alyn did star in at least two Republic serials, "Radar Patrol vs. Spy King," and "Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc." The latter was edited into a feature film and was shown on TV as "The Golden Hands of Kurigal."
ReplyDeleteWhich con was that? He was never at any of the cons I attended but I did get to meet Buster Crabbe.
ReplyDeletePortland, mid-70s. Before I knew ye.
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