George Reeves Movies

This 104th and final episode of The Adventures of Superman not only stars George Reeves as the title character, but was directed by Reeves as well. Eccentric inventor Professor Pepperwinkle (Phillips Tead) has created a machine which he claims can produce gold from ordinary metal. And that's not all: Pepperwinkle has also developed a new strain of positive and negative Kryptonite. Whereas negative Kryptonite has the capacity to sap Superman of his strength, positive Kryptonite restores that strength--and also transforms reporters Lois (Noel Neill) and Jimmy (Jack Larson) into superpowered superheroes themselves! Unfortunately, once the inevitable villains arrive to steal the gold-manufacturing apparatus, "Super Lois" and "Super Jimmy" literally awaken to the discovery that they're still plain, ordinary mortals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first of three Adventures of Superman episodes directed by series star George Reeves, reporters Lois (Noel Neill) and Jimmy (Jack Larson) are enjoying a working vacation in a tranquil Mexican village. When Lois sends back a dispatch to the "Daily Planet" about a local burro named Carmelita who apparently has the ability to read minds, Clark Kent (George Reeves) is ordered South of the Border to investigate. It's a darn good thing that Clark and Superman are one and the same, especially when a pair of crooks (Mauritz Hugo, Ken Mayer) hijack the burro to help them rob and bank, and then leave the helpless Lois and Jimmy in one of the series' inevitable "death traps." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Still headquartered in the busy ZIV studios, The Adventures of Superman churned out 13 full-color episodes for its sixth and final season on the air. Though George Reeves may have developed a bit of avoirdupois since launching the series back in 1951, he still cut quite an impressive figure as Superman (and, to a lesser extent, as the Man of Steel's alter ego Clark Kent). Also, Noel Neill is still cute as a button as Lois Lane, Jack Larson is as nebbishy as ever as Jimmy Olsen, John Hamilton remains the quintessence of irascibility as Perry White (though a failing memory required him to rely upon "cue cards" in the form of letters on his editor's desk), and Robert Shayne stalwartly stays the course as the sublimely clueless Inspector Henderson. An enormous improvement over the series' lackluster fifth season, Season Six features a number of above-average outings, several of which were directed by star George Reeves. "Superman's Wife" guest-stars voluptuous cult actress Joi Lansing as a policewoman who goes through a sham marriage to Superman in order to flush out a criminal. "The Big Forget" finds the eccentric Professor Pepperwinkle inventing an "anti-memory" gas which comes in handy when, during a moment of crisis, Clark Kent is forced to reveal his true identity as Superman in full view of Lois, Jimmy and Perry White. "The Perils of Superman" is a campy spoof of old-time serials, replete with Lois tied to the railroad tracks, Perry bound to a buzzsaw, Jimmy locked in a runaway car, and Clark suspended over a vat of acid. And in the series' final episode "All That Glitters", a dose of "positive Kryptonite" endows Lois and Jimmy with amazing Superman-like powers, including the ability to fly! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

This TV special was designed to encourage youngsters to begin collecting defense savings stamps. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

George Reeves plays a triple role in this episode, as reporter Clark Kent, Kent's alter ego Superman, and a lookalike gangster named Boulder. With the help of a plastic surgeon and an acting coach named Hamlet (Percy Helton), Boulder is able to impersonate Superman, committing a series of crimes in this guise in order to disgrace and discredit the real Man of Steel. The plan might have gone off without a hitch had not one of Boulder's cronies (George Chandler) decided to do harm to Clark's reporter pal Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson). An uncredited Hayden Rorke appears as a psychiatrist counseling the confused Clark Kent: twelve years later, Rorke would hang out his shingle as Air Force psychiatrist Dr. Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sir James Barrie's whimsical play Rosalind was updated and urbanized as the 1953 film Forever Female. Ginger Rogers plays a veteran Broadway star who has optioned a play written by William Holden. Though on the less sunny side of 40, Rogers expects to play the leading role, that of a 19 year old girl. Producer Paul Douglas--who also happens to be Rogers' husband--insists that Holden alter the age of the main character. Meanwhile, iron-willed ingenue Patricia Crowley, who is far more suited to the part than Rogers, begins her own campaign to win the role. Far more enjoyable than the plot mechanics of Forever Female are the sly showbiz inside jokes, courtesy of screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein. It's also fun to tick off the familiar faces in the supporting cast, including George Reeves as a stuffy suitor, future Mrs. Bing Crosby Katherine Grant as an auditioning actress, and Gunsmoke and Dragnet villain Vic Perrin as an effeminate set designer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed nearly two years after production shut down on The Adventures of Superman's first season, the series' second season of 26 episodes was completed in mid-1953, and aired in most TV markets in the fall of that year. Because the series' owner, National Periodicals, was not pleased with the high violence quotient in Season One, producer Robert Maxwell was replaced by Whitney Ellsworth, who considerably toned down the mayhem. Also, whereas the villains in the Maxwell-produced episodes ranged from vicious to downright insane, the bad guys in the Ellsworth-produced installments tend to be Runyonesque buffoons--especially those played by the ubiquitious Ben Welden and Herb Vigran. As a result, the series lost a lot of its adult appeal during its second season, though it picked up a much larger audience of children and teenagers. While many Superman fans bemoaned this perceived "dumbing down" of the concept, the fact is that The Adventures of Superman would grow more and more popular the younger its target audience became. Beyond these cosmetic changes, Season Two also marks a significant cast change. While George Reeves was still in harness in the dual role of Superman and Clark Kent, as were John Hamilton as Perry White, Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen and Robert Shayne as Inspector Henderson, Phyllis Coates had vacated the role of intrepid girl reporter Lois Lane to pursue other film and TV work. Her replacement is Noel Neill, who'd previously played Lois in a brace of 1ate-1940s Superman theatrical serials starring Kirk Alyn in the title. Compared with Coates' brittle, aggressive portrayal of Lois, Neill came off as more fragile and vulnerable. Though there are some who prefer Phyllis Coates' more self-reliant interpretation of Lois, Noel Neill is the actress who first comes to mind when the character's name is mentioned today; she would remain with the series until its final episode in 1957. Moving production from RKO Pathe to an independent rental outfit called California Studios, The Adventures of Superman was obliged to tighten its budget throughout its second season, meaning fewer location shoots and more interior scenes, recycling furniture, sets and props as often as possible. Credit must go to special-effects wizard Thol "Si" Simonson for doing so much with so little, especially in those scenes wherein Superman was obliged to show off his "powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men." Arguably the season's best episode is "The Face and the Voice", in which George Reeves is seen in three separate characterizations: Clark Kent, Superman, and a doltish Superman lookalike named Boulder. Not actually a part of Season Two, though utilizing the same cast and personnel, is Stamp Day for Superman, a 12-minute public service short subject filmed on behalf of the United States Treasury Department. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adventures of Superman, also sometimes known simply as Superman, went into production in 1951, following the shooting and theatrical release of the feature film Superman And The Mole Men. The latter, produced by Robert Maxwell and directed by Lee Sholem, starred George Reeves in the dual role of Superman and Clark Kent, and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. Superman had already come to the big screen on three occasions in the 1940's, in a series of much-admired cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios in the early part of the decade and two serials from Columbia Pictures starring Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel and Clark Kent during the second half of the decade. In the wake of the second, Superman Vs. Atom Man (1950), the decision was made to do a television series, with a feature film as the "pilot"; unlike the serials, however, which were relatively low-budget productions, the series would break new ground in terms of quality and special effects, mostly because -- in contrast to the serials, in which Superman turned into a cartoon in those scenes in which he flew -- this version of Superman would actually show him flying. That meant that the show would be shot on film, which was then a new concept in television production -- up to that time, virtually all dramatic programming (and almost all programming, for that matter) was done live, and all science fiction-oriented programming and kids programs up to that time had been done live, in front of the camera, as it went out over the air; coupled with the low budgets involved overall, a lot of it looked cheap and it was impossible to do the kinds of special effects to which film audiences had become accustomed, or to properly preserve the material. Shooting on film was much more expensive, but it would allow for a sharper image, proper editing and the insertion of special effects, better sound and superior sound effects, and for the preservation of that program over time. Although it's lost on viewers in the twenty-first century, these were bold decisions for a series in 1951, especially one aimed at kids. Indeed, in those days, no one knew whether there would ever be a marketplace or a value in subsequent plays (what we now call reruns) of this (or any) kind of programming. The first thing that the producers -- radio veteran Robert Maxwell and serial hand Bernard Luber -- had to do was find a new Superman. They were originally intending to use Alyn again, but the actor wanted too much money for the feature film, and his reticence to do the role proved fortuitous -- it gave the producers a chance to recast the role in a tougher manner, which they did in the guise of a 36-year-old film actor named George Reeves. Born in 1914 in Woolstock, Iowa, he had been in Gone With The Wind in a small but prominent role, and also in such high-profile films as Lydia and So Proudly We Hail, the latter in a starring role, but his career had faltered since the end of World War II. In contrast to Alyn, who brought a dancer's agility to the part of Superman, Reeves was a former aspiring boxer, a well-built, powerful looking man, and also an intense actor. In addition to making a more powerful looking version of Superman, he would make a much more substantial Clark Kent, all of which would make the television show more complex than the serials had been. The next cast member in place was Texas-born Phyllis Coates, 11 years younger than Reeves who, in addition to being very pretty, projected a toughness in the role of Lois Lane, and also had one of the great moviescreams of her era -- one never forgot those moments in which Coates' Lois Lane had to let out a shriek for the cameras, as exhibited in the pilot, Superman And The Mole Men. The latter, running just over an hour, was produced and released through Lippert Pictures in early 1951 and was a success, showing what Reeves and Coates could do in the roles in an unusual science fiction-oriented story that also had sinister topical and political overtones, regarding prejudice and mob violence, that made it unusual for a movie aimed at younger viewers. The series itself, with a younger actor named Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen and veteran Hollywood character actor John Hamilton as Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White, plus Hollywood and theater actor Robert Shayne in the new, recurring (and later regular) role or Inspector William J. Henderson of the Metropolis police, went into production in mid-1951, with Adventures Of Superman intended to be offered into syndication in 1952. As it turned out, in most parts of the United States, the series didn't get on the air until 1953, by which time Kellogg's had been lined up as a sponsor. Most elements of the series followed the pattern set up in the comic book. The planet Krypton is destroyed, its race of hyper-advanced, super-powered beings is destroyed with it but not before one scientist, Jorel, and his wife Lara send their newborn child Kalel into space in a rocket of his design; it lands of Earth and the infant is found by a couple, the Kents, who raise him as their own on their farm; he grows up as Clark Kent, and discovers that he possesses extraordinary abilities, including super-strength, the ability to see through objects, and the power of flight. He grows to manhood and assumes the role of Superman to defend the world against evil, ranging from criminal elements to threats from outside of the planet, while in his guise as Clark Kent, becomes a reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet -- his best friend, as Superman or Kent, is Jimmy Olsen, a cub-reporter, while his rival and colleague is reporter Lois Lane; all three of them work for Perry White, the blustery editor-in-chief of the Planet. And Kent's (and Superman's) work frequently brings him into contact with Inspector Henderson of the police department. Through all of this, he maintains his secret dual identity, despite the fact that Kent's only real "disguise" differing him from Superman, other than a seemingly mild-mannered demeanor, is a pair of glasses, the first thing to come off when he switches identities. The first season of Adventures of Superman turned out to be a lot more than a kid's show. In fact, unlike Captain Video or such subsequent science fiction series as Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, it was categorized as a general action-adventure show and scheduled for the early evening, intended as much for parents to watch as for kids, and most of its content and focus came from the radio version of Superman, which Maxwell produced and had been airing for several years; it was actually closer in spirit to detective series of the period than to the Superman comic books or to most children-oriented programs of the era. The filmed shows looked sensational on television, with crisp photography and sound, and the special effects -- mostly the work of Thol Simonson -- did, indeed, show Superman flying with incredible realism that made the preceding serials look pathetic, by comparison. The acting was also exceptionally good, with an array of solid, working character actors supporting the main cast, including many screen veterans and experienced stage performers, including Dick Elliott, Myra McKinney, Dan Seymour, Veda Ann Borg, Jonathan Hale, Rhys Williams, and Peter Brocco. They also began developing a stock company of sorts, including Ben Welden and other character actors in supporting roles, although this wouldn't become standard practice until the second season. The two directors who handled the first season shows, Tommy Carr and Lee Sholem, were also top-notch action filmmakers from motion pictures, who were excellent at establishing pace and dramatic rhythm. From the show depicting the origins of the Man of Steel, "Superman On Earth", everything seemed perfect, and perfectly compelling, retelling the story of the planet Krypton and its destruction, the sole survivor, a baby in a Kryptonian rocket, arriving on Earth, his childhood in small-town America of the 1920's and 1930's, and his subsequent discovery of his super-powers and the responsibility that went with them. The television show's version became the most widely known retelling of the story for many, many years to come, rivalling the ubiquitousness of the account repeated in Superboy comics, and Superman and Action Comics, and George Reeves' portrayal defined the character for several generations of television viewers, thanks to the original decision to shoot it all on film -- its crisp, sometimes glittering images made reruns of the series viable for a half-century and counting, long after live, kinescope-preserved shows like Captain Video were consigned to history. The only problem -- and there was a serious one -- lay with the violence. Producer Robert Maxwell, who was primarily responsible for the tone of the series, had patterned the show after the radio series, even adapting many scripts from the latter, and many of those scripts, as well as the whole tone of the series, came out of 1940's radio crime shows. That was fine for adults, and overlapped nicely in look and feel with the booming field of film noir in movies, but for a program whose sponsor aimed at entertaining children, it created shudders -- there were bodies everywhere in that first season, not just of people but of dead dogs in one episode, and people getting knifed, hit over the head with shovels and other implements, and generally pummeled and serious hurt -- Coates herself had been accidentally knocked cold in shooting one scene in an episode, "Night Of Terror"; and there were stories involving lunatics imprisoning people, apparently suicides, and torture being depicted on screen, and even an old lady in a wheelchair being pushed down a flight of stairs, and (in a scene that is still painful to watch in the twenty-first century) a crippled young girl's leg brace being forcibly and painfully removed by a villain; Superman even manages to kill two people, albeit not intentionally, who discover his secret identity in one episode. A handful of episodes were even recut at the insistence of the sponsor in order to make them less violent. Kellogg's loved the ratings but hated these moments in the series, and found far too many of them, and decided that a change had to be made in subsequent shows, in both the content and the producer behind it. This made the first season of the series unique, as a show with a level of violence that would be unthinkable in any program of that era, or of any subsequent time. It gave the resulting series a dark, threatening, film noir-like tone -- one episode, the season finale, "Crime Wave", would assemble many of the most violent scenes from the rest of the season plus an array of violent shots taken out of film noir of the period, into a pair of harrowing and downright scary montages. The effect was especially startling and memorable with the scoring to the eerie canned music used for the production that first year, which, although used in many filmed shows of the period -- thanks to the fact that the Musicians' Union made it all but impossible for producers of early filmed shows to commission their own background scores -- became uniquely associated with Adventures of Superman thanks to the fact that it was rerun, decade after decade, while the other series in which it was used (Terry And The Pirates, Dick Tracy etc.) disappeared from view. Subsequent seasons, which would see one key role recast and major changes in the focus of action and stories, plus the addition of color filming (in anticipation of color television), would extend the run of the series across the decade, but it was this first season that would prove the most memorable to longtime fans. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

During the Civil War, Colonel Kern Shafter (played by Ray Milland) and Captain Edward Garnett (played by Hugh Marlowe) become embroiled in a conflict, the cause of which is somewhat cloudy. As a result, Shafter leaves the Eastern Cavlary and moves West, where he is able to re-enlist. Ten years later, Shafter is reassigned to an outpost in the Dakota Territory -- one that is commanded by his old nemesis Garnett. Garnett takes advantage of his authority to assign Shafter to the most dangerous missions, clearly hoping that he will not return from one of them. Things are not made any easier by the fact that both men fall in love with the same woman (played by Helena Carter). The situation comes to a climax during the Battle of Little Big Horn, when both men attempt to put an end to their personal war as hundreds of others are slaughtered around them. Victorious, Shafter manages to survive the massacre and return to claim the woman he loves. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

In the tradition of Red Skelton's The Fuller Brush Man and The Yellow Cab Man comes The Good Humor Man, with Jack Carson subbing for Skelton this time out. Carson plays Biff Jones, who when not peddling Good Humor ice cream carries on a romance with perky Margie Bellew (Lola Albright). Through a series of incredible circumstances, poor Biff is set up for a fall guy by a gang of holdup men. Ingredients essential to the action is a juvenile "Captain Marvel Fan Club," a dead woman who isn't dead, an above-suspicion business executive who turns out to be a criminal mastermind, and a room full of very versatile musical instruments. If the sight gags have a slightly cartoonish feel to them, it's because they were cooked up by Frank Tashlin, a graduate of the Warner Bros. animation factory. The best is reserved for the end, wherein hero, heroine, villain, henchmen, cops and kids all converge in a high-school auditorium for an uninhibited orgy of slapstick. Comic book fans will get a kick out of seeing George "Superman" Reeves come to grief at the hands of a bunch of "Captain Marvel" devotees! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi