Superman Meets Atom Man! has what ought to be a big scene–Lyle Talbot’s Lex Luthor (in his Atom Man disguise) vanquishing Kirk Alyn to oblivion. Only it’s not a big scene, not even in the moment. Obviously Superman’s not going to be vanquished in the fourth chapter, but still. They could have at least tried for some drama. Not even damsel in distress Noel Neill seems worried about Alyn’s “death” and Talbot doesn’t allow himself any celebration.

It might be because of the sparkly planter Talbot uses for his Atom Man helmet, but whatever. It should be a much bigger deal. The serial could at least pretend we’re suspending enough disbelief.

Overall, it’s a good chapter. There’s some fine character moments for Neill, who has an office birthday party–which boss Pierre Watkin is a jerk about–leading to her teleportation kidnapping by Talbot. Then she gets to face off against Atom Man. It’s nice for Neill to get some material other than beaming at Alyn.

Speaking of Alyn, he comes up with a complicated plan to track Neill down. He fakes a meteor from Krypton to convince Talbot there’s Kryptonite to be had. Then Alyn lets himself be trapped. Not a planner, not nimble when it comes to plans falling through.

The cliffhanger’s decent as well, though I feel like they used it in the first Superman serial.

CREDITS

Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet; screenplay by George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland, and David Matthews, based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster; director of photography, Ira H. Morgan; edited by Earl Turner; produced by Sam Katzman; released by Columbia Pictures.

Starring Kirk Alyn (Superman / Clark Kent), Noel Neill (Lois Lane), Lyle Talbot (Luthor), Tommy Bond (Jimmy Olsen), Pierre Watkin (Perry White), Jack Ingram (Foster), Don C. Harvey (Albor), Paul Stader (Lawson), George Robotham (Earl), and Fred Kelsey (Police Chief Forman).