StuOz Superman is back!The animated effects of Superman in flight do damage to this serial, made worse by the fact that you know (well, I know) better effects were available in this period! This is a Columbia serial and over at Republic they had better flying man effects that did not involve animation! At Republic they would have used a dummy of a man and made him glide down wires: don't laugh, it looked great!However, Atom Man Vs Superman is still a lot of fun to watch and better than all the Superman versions that came out after 1987.

classicsoncall Most reviewers appear to give this serial the edge over it's forerunner, 1948's "Superman" with most of the same principals involved. Quite honestly, I found little difference between the two except for the inclusion of Superman's arch-enemy Lex Luthor, ably portrayed by Lyle Talbot, who takes on a dual role as the title character Atom Man. With his shaved head, Talbot epitomized the classic look of Luthor from the Silver Age comic book era, and just like Clark Kent and Superman, you never saw Luthor and Atom Man in the same place at the same time.But gee, wasn't Atom Man just the goofiest looking screen villain ever? I mean he was just laughably ridiculous looking with no hint of menace whatsoever to my thinking. The opening chapter had the head of Atom Man superimposed over newspaper headlines of various crimes being committed across Metropolis, along with images of atomic bomb blasts to further heighten the connection with the character.Just as in the first serial, animation is used to simulate Superman's power of flight but the film makers also used close-ups of Kirk Alyn to simulate various flying poses. What cracked me up however were some of the decisions regarding Superman's heroics in the story. In the first chapter for example, Superman prevents a bridge from swaying so a woman in her car can be rescued by the police when he could just as well have saved her himself. The bridge wound up falling down anyway.Perhaps even funnier, at least to me and it happened a couple of times, was when there would be the usual group of reporters in Perry White's (Pierre Watkin) office, and with his phone within arm's reach, Perry would ask Jimmy Olsen (Tommy Bond) to dial a number. So Jimmy would walk all the way around the desk and bystanders to make the call. You really had to wonder what the rationale was for decisions like this to be made.Moving from chapter to chapter, one would be hard pressed to make sense of any continuity in the story. The over riding concept here had to do with some type of special coin Luthor invented that allowed for the transmission of solid objects and people over short distances, a neat precursor to TV Star Trek's transporter beam a couple decades later. Atom Man himself fades from the scene well before the final chapter so the ultimate battle against the Man of Steel one might have expected never comes to pass. By then though, so much goofy stuff happened already you might not even notice.

BatStarIndyFreak The film actually has its clever moments, mainly in how Clark manages to make a good case to deter suspicion concerning him and his alter-ego. You do come to realize that Chris Reeves Superman carrying Mariel Hemingway in space and her having no trouble breathing was not a first. We actually get that same scenario here (that's all I'll say).You get plenty of run-of-the-mill serial gimmicks here. And with all of Superman's abilities, many of the cliffhangers leave you with little, if any, doubt that he will have no trouble saving all the lives in danger in the next episode. I know a lot of people were really bothered (I know some have used the word, 'disoriented') by the animation of Superman's flight (except in close ups), and while I don't quite understand why they had no trouble morphing Supes into the cartoon when he took off and then have him land behind some hill or building before he'd walk out live action, the animation itself didn't bother me too much.When you see snapshots of Kirk Alyn you want to think he's a complete wuss, but seeing him in action, and hearing impressive baritone voice leaves you quite convinces he's the Man of Steel. The rest of the cast and acting is solid by serial standards./ Overall a worthwhile artifact to experience and story to watch.

poe426 While it's not quite as tightly done as the first SUPERMAN serial, ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN boasts even better fx (although he still turns into a cartoon when he flies, this time around there are shots of Kirk Alyn "in flight" to balance things out a little- including a beautifully done shot where he removes a smoking bomb from the wing of a plane). The storyline gets a little convoluted from time to time (Lex Luthor, working on some top secret stuff for the U.$. Government, a la concentration camp overseer Werner Von Braun, is actually the "Atom Man" of the title- an early indication that this one isn't going to be all smooth sailing), but it's still great fun, nonetheless, and harks back to the comics in a way that most cinematic ventures never manage (like when we see the ghostly image of our hero superimposed over the day-to-day activities of his colleagues as he tries desperately to communicate with them). Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White actually deduce that Clark Kent is Superman at one point (I told you this one got convoluted), but turn around and conveniently overlook the fact thereafter. Still, another triumph for The Man Of Steel.