Noel Neill Movies

The Man of Steel returns to the big screen with this continuation of the icon's film legacy that picks up after the events of the first two Christopher Reeve films. Some time has passed since the events of Superman II and the world has gotten used to life without Superman (Brandon Routh) ever since his puzzling disappearance years earlier. Upon his return, he finds a Metropolis that doesn't need him anymore, while Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has moved on with another young suitor Richard White (James Marsden) in the meantime. As the hero begins to tackle the fact that life on Earth has continued without him, he is forced to face his old arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) and restore the life that was once his. Directed by Bryan Singer from a script by the writing team of X-Men 2, Superman Returns marks a return to the screen for the man in tights, whose production history has seen many failed attempts including a famous near-miss from Tim Burton and Kevin Smith with Nicolas Cage in the lead role, along with another from director McG and writer J.J. Abrams (Lost). Singer eventually won the prestigious gig when he pitched the idea to not tackle the origin story again, but continue with director Richard Donner's original vision. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Richard Donner's big-budget blockbuster Superman: The Movie is an immensely entertaining recounting of the origin of the famous comic book character. Opening on Krypton (where Marlon Brando plays Superman's father), the film follows the Man of Steel (Christopher Reeve) as he's sent to Earth where he develops his alter-ego Clark Kent and is raised by a Midwestern family. In no time, the movie has run through his teenage years, and Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet, where he is a news reporter. It's there that he falls in love with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), who is already in love with Superman. But the love story is quickly sidetracked once the villainous Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) launches a diabolical plan to conquer the world and kill Superman. Superman: The Movie is filled with action, special effects and a surprising amount of humor. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Having filmed its fourth season within the hallowed walls of the old Chaplin Studios, The Adventures of Superman moved into new quarters at the ZIV studios (formerly Eagle-Lion) for its fifth season on the air. Going along for the ride were, of course, the series' popular stars: George Reeves as Clark Kent/Superman, Noel Neill as Lois Lane, Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen, John Hamilton as Perry White, and Robert Shayne as Inspector Henderson. Perhaps inevitably, a bit of creative ennui was setting in as the series entered its fifth year. Phlegmatic episodes like "Tin Hero", "Close Shave" and "Mister Zero" (derided by many fans as the series' most ridiculous entry) are hardly representative of the best that Superman has to offer. On the plus side, Season Five yields such laudatory efforts as "The Phoney Alibi" and "Whatever Goes Up", both featuring Philips Tead as the eccentric Professor Pepperwinkle; "Peril in Paris", wherein Robert Shayne inexplicably drops his familiar "Inspector Henderson" guise to play a French police captain, replete with a broad Pepe Le Pew accent; and "Disappearing Lois", which if nothing else offers the amazing spectacle of Noel Neill flirting outrageously with ubiquitous Superman bad guy Ben Welden! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The redoubtable Johnny Carpenter is producer, author and star of the low-budget western Lawless Rider. Exploiting his slight resemblance to Montgomery Clift to the hilt, Carpenter plays a taciturn sheriff who disguises himself as a notorious gunslinger. His mission: to stem a series of violent raids on local cattle ranchers. As always, Carpenter surrounds himself with such rodeo-circuit cronies as trick roper Texas Rose Bascom and such moderately talented relatives as his brother Frank Carpenter. There are also quite a few seasoned cowboy-flick veterans on hand, including director Yakima Canutt, leading lady Noel Neill, and supporting players Douglass Dumbrille, Frankie Darro, Kenne Duncan and Bud Osborne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For its third season on the air, the popular action series The Adventures of Superman switched over from black and white to color photography, a move designed to boost the series' profitability once color television became the rule rather than the exception. The switch to color put a strain on the show's already attenuated budget, which is one of the reasons that only 13 episodes were filmed this season, rather than the usual 26. By now, producer Whitney Ellsworth had abandoned all pretense of aiming the series at an adult audience, and was gearing the scripts almost exclusively towards the kiddie trade. To their credit, stars George Reeves (Superman/Clark Kent), Noel Neill (Lois Lane), Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen), John Hamilton (Perry White) and Robert Shayne (Inspector Henderson) did not "play down" to their audience, though their tongues were firmly in their cheeks when delivering the more puerile dialogue passages (witness Clark Kent's playful interpretation of the phrase "a hot deck" in the episode "Bully of Dry Gulch"). Otherwise, the series' youthful following was acknowledged by an overemphasis on purely comic episodes, the best of which is "Flight to the North", featuring all-purpose Superman supporting player Ben Welden and a young Chuck Connors. There is also a tendency to lay the series' "fantasy" angle on a bit too thick, as in the season opener "Through the Time Barrier", in which a wispy inventor (Sterling Holloway creates a time machine which thrusts the entire cast back to the Stone Age. And on occasion, the writers succumbed to the temptation to be satirically self-referential-- never more so than in "Great Caesar's Ghost", the title of which invokes the oft-shouted catchphrase of the dyspeptic Perry White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A handful of strangers are suddenly thrown together as America goes face-to-face against the Communist threat in this curious example of Cold War exploitation. A few people are enjoying drinks in a Manhattan cocktail lounge - television reporter Vince Potter (Gerald Mohr), vacationing tractor tycoon George Sylvester (Robert Bice), cattle baron Ed Mulfory (Erik Blythe), Congressman Arthur Harroway) (Wade Crosby), aimless party girl Carla Sandford (Peggie Castle), and cheerfully dunderheaded bartender Tim (Tom Kennedy). As they discuss the state of the world and their disinterest with U.S. defense and paying taxes, one Mr. Ohman (Dan O'Herlihy) begins swirling his brandy snifter, and before long the other patrons are lulled into a hypnotic state, where they're given a sneak preview of what to expect when an unnamed Communist nation invades the West Coast. Mulfory is able to return home just in time to see his ranch flooded by enemy sabotage, armed troops take over Sylvester's factory, the Congressman watches as Reds seize power, and the suddenly patriotic Carla falls in love with Vince as he covers the brave but futile resistance dished out by our ill-equipped and poorly-prepared military forces. Spectacularly paranoid and loaded with often tattered stock footage, Invasion USA was shot in a mere seven days on a budget of $127,000, and ended up earning its producers well over a million dollars upon its initial release in 1952. Superman fans take note: Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill, both of whom played Lois Lane in the 50's television series The Adventures of Superman, appear in Invasion USA's supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The first of several TV series based on the comic-book character "Superman" created by Joe Siegel and Jerome Schuster in 1938, The Adventures of Superman was one of the most popular adventure series of the 1950s, and one of a handful of syndicated programs from that era still in active distribution. Production began in 1951 with a 58-minute pilot film, released theatrically as Superman and the Mole Men. George Reeves, who had launched his movie career as one of the Tarleton twins in the 1939 blockbuster Gone With the Wind, starred as Superman, "strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond mortal men." In other words, Superman could fly through the air, could bend metal and other ductile objects in his bare hands, was impervious to bullets and knives, and possessed X-ray vision (he was vulnerable only to Kryptonite, the radioactive element from his home planet Krypton). When not busy fighting crime and rescuing the helpless victims of dastardly villains, Superman assumed the guise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered, bespectacled reporter for "The Daily Planet," the leading newspaper in the city of Metropolis. Also appearing in Superman vs. the Mole Men was Phyllis Coates as Clark's fellow reporter Lois Lane, who despite her otherwise keen powers of observation never figured out that Superman and Clark Kent were one and the same (nor for that matter did anyone else). Like the pilot film, which was subsequently re-edited into two half hour episodes to be compatible with the series proper, the 24 first-season Adventures of Superman installments were filmed in black and white; they were also faster paced and more adult-oriented and violent than the series' subsequent seasons. Added to the cast were John Hamilton as Perry White, irascible editor of "The Daily Planet"; Jack Larson as cub reporter Jimmy Olsen, a character originally created for the radio version of Superman in the 1940s; and Robert Shayne as police inspector Bill Henderson, the only character that had not previously appeared in any other Superman incarnation. From the outset, The Adventures of Superman cut down production costs by adopting an assembly-line filming method, shooting scenes from several different episodes on the same day, recycling sets (Clark Kent's office was the same as Lois Lane's, albeit with rearranged furniture), utilizing the same costumes in every show, and hiring many of the same supporting actors as often as possible, among them Herb Vigran, Billy Nelson, Tris Coffin and especially Ben Welden. For the series' second season of 26 episodes, Noel Neill took over from Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane, and Whitney Ellsworth inherited the producer's reins from Robert Maxwell. Unlike his predecessor, who preferred serial-like "blood and thunder" melodrama with genuinely frightening bad guys, Ellsworth tended to avoid overt violence, and preferred his villains less menacing and more buffoonish. As a result, the series now appealed more to younger viewers than to adults. By the time the third season went into production in 1954, The Adventures of Superman was for all intents and purposes a kiddie show, with broad, tongue-in-cheek performances and an emphasis on gimmickry, gadgetry and juvenile science fiction. Also beginning with its third season, the series was filmed in color, which would boost its appeal and salability in the decades to come. Although the budget became increasingly tighter in the ensuing years, the series' special effects were generally quite impressive for their time, thanks largely to the canny (and frugal) expertise of technical wizard Thol "Si" Simonson. After 104 episodes, The Adventures of Superman shut down production in 1957. There was talk a few years later that the series would begin turning out new episodes, but this became a moot point when, on June 16, 1959, star George Reeves was found shot to death in his home. For many years, the conventional wisdom was that Reeves committed suicide, despondent over being so typecast as Superman that he could not find any other work. More recently, however, it has been revealed that the actor had just signed a lucrative contract to direct several films; also, new evidence has opened up the possibility that Reeves was murdered, possibly as the result of a love triangle involving a powerful and influential Hollywood executive. Making its national TV debut in the fall of 1952, The Adventures of Superman was seen exclusively in off-network syndication and later on cable TV -- except during the 1957-58 season, when 52 episodes were run as part of ABC's weekday-afternoon lineup. The program was sponsored by Kellogg's cereals during its original run (1952-59), and footage still exists of the cast members promoting various Kellogg's products in commercials. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Kelly does his patented Pal Joey bit as Jerry Mulligan, an opportunistic American painter living in Paris' "starving artists" colony. He is discovered by wealthy Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), who becomes Jerry's patroness in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Jerry plays hookey on this setup by romancing waif-like Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron) -- who, unbeknownst to him, is the object of the affections of his close friend Henri (Georges Guetary), a popular nightclub performer. (The film was supposed to make Guetary into "the New Chevalier." It didn't.) The thinnish plot is held together by the superlative production numbers and by the recycling of several vintage George Gershwin tunes, including "I Got Rhythm," "'S Wonderful," and "Our Love Is Here to Stay." Highlights include Guetary's rendition of "Stairway to Paradise"; Oscar Levant's fantasy of conducting and performing Gershwin's "Concerto in F" (Levant also appears as every member of the orchestra); and the closing 17-minute "American in Paris" ballet, in which Kelly and Caron dance before lavish backgrounds based on the works of famed French artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Submarine Command reunites the romantic leads from Sunset Boulevard, William Holden and Nancy Olsen. Holden is cast as Commander White, who during an enemy attack orders that his submarine dive to avoid destruction. Though his action saves his crew, it results in the death of the machine-gunner left topside during the attack. With the exception of vindictive chief torpedo-man Boyer (William Bendix), no one holds White to task for his decision -- save for White himself, who is plagued with guilt and doubt ever afterward. Helping to alleviate White's self-flagellation is his fiancee Carol (Olsen). The thrill-packed climax finds White's submarine engaged in a sabotage action against communist forces off the coast of Korea. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 12-part serial concerns the efforts of the infamous James brothers (of which Jesse was a prominent member) to become normal everyday citizens. Of course, there's no room in the Wild West for reformed outlaws, and the duo inevitably find themselves caught up in showdowns and robberies. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Taken (as far as possible) from the Cole Porter musical comedy of the same name, Red, Hot and Blue stars Betty Hutton as an ambitious chorus girl. Hutton gets a job with a musical comedy bankrolled by gangsters, and is the wrong girl at the wrong place when one of the show's backers (William Talman) is bumped off. She is arrested for suspicion of murder, then is kidnapped by the villains to keep her from spilling the beans. The plot requires that she be rescued by hero Victor Mature, though many disgruntled audience members may have been rooting for the boisterous Hutton to be dumped in the East River. The stage version of Red Hot and Blue starred Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope. Hutton is no Merman, but she gives her all to the brassy production numbers and the self-absorbed ballads--written not by Cole Porter, whose score was dispensed with, but by Paramount's in-house tunesmith Frank Loesser, who also plays a small role as one of the gangsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Film historian Leonard Maltin has labelled this final entry in Monogram's "Charlie Chan" series as "embarrassing," but it's not quite as bad as its reputation would indicate. True, star Roland Winters steadfastly refuses to take his characterization of Charlie Chan seriously, but that's part of the fun. Much of the action takes place on an airliner, where someone has drugged the passengers and crew and killed a courier who was carrying a quarter of a million dollars. The suspect list is a dream-come-true for movie buffs, populated with such reliable supporting players as Iris Adrian, Eleana Verdugo, Tim Ryan, Milburn Stone, Lyle Talbot, Paul Maxey and John Eldredge. Noel Neill, everyone's favorite Lois Lane, is also on hand as a stewardess. And of course, Charlie Chan is aided and abetted by Number One Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke) and pop-eyed chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland). Though out of favor with dyed-in-the-wool Charlie Chan fans, Sky Dragon opened to good business and better-than-average reviews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide