Superman (1948) on Netflix
NR19484h 4mAdventureCrimeSci-Fi
Sent to Earth as Krypton explodes, Superman grows up as Clark Kent and moves to Metropolis to join the Daily Planet. His first challenge is opposing the Spider Lady.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.7/101,423 votes
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Trailer
Plot summary
When Krypton explodes, Superman is sent to Earth. A farm couple raises him as Clark Kent and discovers his great powers. They encourage him to use those powers to help those in need. After they die, he moves to Metropolis and becomes a reporter at the Daily Planet to stay close to the news. He is assigned to cover a story about a newly discovered rock called Kryptonite and passes out, learning that the mineral weakens him. In emergencies, he responds as Superman. His first major challenge pits him against the villain known as the Spider Lady, whose nefarious plot drives the story.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Superman (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sam Katzman bought the live-action Superman rights in 1947 but found no takers: Universal had stopped making serials, and Republic called a superpowerful flying hero impossible to adapt, even though Republic had already made Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941.
- Kirk Alyn spent an entire day painfully suspended by wires in front of a rear projection of moving clouds for Superman's flight scenes. Displeased with the result, producer Sam Katzman fired the whole flight-sequence production staff and had Superman's flying done with animation instead.
- Stunt double Paul Stader had to do only one stunt in the whole serial, leaping from the back of a truck, and he almost broke his leg doing it and had to leave the production. He came back for the 1950 sequel Atom Man vs. Superman, credited as Killer Lawson.
- Producer Sam Katzman chose Kirk Alyn for Superman after looking through photographs, but had a hard time selling the idea to National Comics' Whitney Ellsworth, made worse when Alyn turned up for his screen test wearing a goatee and mustache from another film.
- Superman's costume was gray and brown rather than blue and red because those colors photographed better on black-and-white film, and it was never explained why the one-sheet posters show the costume as red and green.
- Because the serial mixed animated and live-action footage, Superman's take-offs are almost always shown while his landings happen behind parked cars, rocks and buildings. Hiding the landings meant he often touches down far from where he wants to be and has to run.
- Budget limits forced the constant re-use of flying footage: a shot of Superman soaring over Stoney Point in Southern California's San Fernando Valley was used at least once in almost every episode of the first serial.
- Columbia's 1948 serial was the first live-action appearance of Superman on film, with Kirk Alyn billed on screen only by his character's name, he was credited as Kirk Alyn on the promotional posters, and Noel Neill playing Lois Lane.
