This is the first ever live action (mostly) adaption of Superman, long one of my favorite characters–a 15 chapter serial (serialized films that were released in cinema matinée screenings over successive weeks) from Columbia pictures in 1948. It starred Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Tommy Bond, and Carol Forman. I’m going through it (and its sequel) chapter by chapter. Read here for where it all starts. It’s been months since my last post in this series. There’s no good reason for that, so let’s get it done.
Superman at Bay (Chapter 14)
Directed by Spencer Bennett and Thomas Carr
Runtime: 17 minutes (I realize that in the version of this that I watched, after Chapter 1 they didn’t include the opening title sequence, so this might be slightly off.
Spoilers!
Super-feats: In the reprise, Superman flies into the Daily Planet file room and then changes back to Clark. As Clark, he punches out Anton and saves Perry from falling to his doom, but neither of those absolutely require his super-powers.
Later Clark changes to Superman in the file room (something which is becoming a regular occurrence) and flies to where Jimmy is being held. He uses his super-hearing to confirm the gas leak, and then smashes through the window and picks up Jimmy and carries him out. Then he flies off to save Lois.
Comments: So this time around, it’s Jimmy that gets to be almost awesome, before he blows it.
Lois and Jimmy catch a low-level stooge that’s been hired by the crooks to look for a cigarette butt to be be tossed out of the window of the jail, which contains a secret message for the Spider Lady, and to deliver it to a particular business location. After being pretty tough with the guy (including giving him a parting kick!) Jimmy bravely decides to take the guy’s place so he can hopefully make progress and the good guys’ never-ending quest to locate the Spider Lady’s hideout.
He does this and manages to hide himself in a closet, overhearing the Spider Lady’s guys making a plan. The message reveals the location in the jail where both Anton (one of the Spider Lady’s top guys) and Hackett (the evil scientist who is getting a bit ambitious for the Spider Lady) are imprisoned together. And Jimmy overhears that the Spider Lady, who is sick of them both, is planning on using the newly completed Relativity Reducer Ray (finally!) to blow up that part of the jail.
Jimmy stays safe long enough for the crooks to leave and for him to warn his Lois…and then he sneezes.
Oh well, we needed drama and we need a cliffhanger, so of course Jimmy can’t actually succeed in his efforts, not totally. The bad guys catch Jimmy, punch hin unconscious (for the fifth time!), and then leave a trap so that whoever opens the door to catch them will set off a gas explosion, killing Jimmy and his would-be rescuer.
Fortunately, of course, his would-be rescuer is Superman, and Superman, who figures out the threat and smashes through the window instead. Jimmy is saved, and Superman is told about the danger that Lois is in, leading to our cliffhanger. Can Superman rescue her in time?
I assume so, of course, but I also hope that the Spider Lady is successful at blowing up the jail and killing her former allies. She’s been portrayed as cunning and evil of course, but most of her criminal activities have been performed through proxies and they haven’t always ended up feeling all that consequential. I like the idea of seeing her outright lie to both Hackett and Anton (via a message) and actually getting away with it (in the short term).
I doubt it, though. There’s a bit of dialogue between Hackett and Anton about meeting at some place called “The Dog’s Eye” if they get out but get separated. I assume that will pay off somehow, eventually?
This is the most significant chapters of the story in terms of showing Superman willing to do helpful things as Clark Kent without needing to change identities. It’s Clark who sees Anton trying to escape the Daily Planet and stops him by wrestling him to the ground and punching him out. And then it’s Clark who finds Perry dangling off the ledge of the building, and pulls him up to safety. Neither of these things require his super powers (at least, not in a definite way) but still, he’s not exactly coming across as “mild mannered” here.
And this makes for a great little moment for Perry White as well. He recovers from his one near-death experience this serial and immediately is back to work: “Let’s not forget, we are still getting out a newspaper.”
Cliffhanger ending:
Superman is flying to the jail when the Reducer Ray activates, knocking him back. In the jail, Lois, Hackett and Anton are shocked as the effects of the ray are felt.
Is the Spider Lady to succeed in her deadly purpose? Is even Superman powerless against her sinister strength? For the amazing climax, see “The Payoff,” the final chapter of “Superman” at this theatre next week!
They called the last chapter “The Payoff!” That’s bold. I’m hoping it comes through!
Other thoughts:
• There’s another newspaper montage, which includes, in addition to the Daily Planet, The Star Dispatch, Record Herald and Star-Herald. Only the Star Dispatch also appeared in the montage back in Chapter 2, where we also had the The Daily Chronicle, Gazette Journal, and The Evening News. Add to that the Globe (the one that the crooks pretended to be from back in Chapter 11), and again, there are a lot of newspapers in this town!
• The hypnotised Dr. Graham is obsequious and full of apologies, which gets on the Spider Lady’s nerves. It’s fun seeing her bark at him to stop apologizing!
• The prison set looks like a slightly redressed version of the little jail that Clark found himself in after being arrested for stealing Lois’ car in Chapter 11.
• There’s a cute moment where Lois jokes with Clark that she’s in jail.
• Toward the end, when Superman lands behind a parked car, it’s evident that there’s no sign of Superman through the car’s windows.
• Jimmy knows Driller’s name. I can’t remember if that’s plausible.
PakarPBN
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.
The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.
