John W Chance This serial has some great positives, but also some very strong negatives as well. First, its relation to the source material. It's based on a comic book (and supposedly the radio serial). For a movie serial, it is fairly true to its source. We have a good Superman who shows us many of his special talents -- stopping bullets, holding a bridge and building to keep them from collapsing, inhaling toxic fumes to save Lois and Jimmy (who are given actual real parts not just being 'follow behind the hero' non entities), smashing thru mountains, etc. etc. Good! We get a strong Lex Luthor (Lyle Talbot) who every chapter is displaying his evil genius for scientific inventions, nefarious activities and desire to destroy Superman. Great! It gets a plus for being close to the source like the great 'Flash Gordon' (1936).Unfortunately the 'Atom Man' theme, except for the name, has nothing to do with the original radio Atom Man. According to Anthony Tollin, an authority on broadcast history, the evil Nazi scientist Der Teufel ("the Devil") created the kryptonite-powered Atom Man, who became Superman's greatest foe during the radio serial run. In fact, Superman needed Batman and Robin's help to finally defeat Atom Man. Perhaps here in 1950 the script writers were trying to capitalize on the radio version's popularity, but the whole concept is totally misused, confusing and needless. From his earliest appearance, we have no doubt that Luthor is Atom Man, a fact off handedly confirmed in later chapters when Luthor refers to himself as Atom Man. Atom Man has no reason for being, story wise, since he is given no rationale for his presence or purpose, and does nothing but stand around giving orders to his henchmen. The presence of Atom Man is a glaring weak point of the serial--what do we need him for since Luthor is already so capably evil? A big negative, like the 'Captain America' (1944) or 'Dick Tracy' serials (1937,1938, 1939, 1941) that also bear name only similarities to their source material.Secondly, in movies in which the villain has a double identity, there has to be some reason for it. Beginning with Fritz Lang's 'Spies' (1928), the super criminal mastermind who wanted to ruin German's economy, was disguised as a bank president, but also as a circus clown. Usually in the serials the villain plays a double role to gain information access to the doings of the hero, often as member of a council as in 'Zorro's Fighting Legion' (1939), 'The Adventures of Captain Marvel' (1941), 'The Crimson Ghost' (1946) or 'Dick Tracy Vs. Crime Inc.' (1941). In this serial the double identity of Luthor has no convincing rhyme or reason.A real strong point of the serial is Luthor's attempt to destroy Superman by sending him into "The Empty Doom." In other serials where the villain has a dastardly device that you know he will try to put on the hero, it operates as a cliff hanger only, with the hero escaping at the beginning of the next chapter, as in 'Buck Rogers' (1939), 'Batman' (1943) and the heroine in 'The Crimson Ghost' (1946). But not here! Luthor sends Superman into "The Empty Doom" and he's stuck there! Not until Marvel Comics in the 60s when the Red Skull captures the Cosmic Cube and uses it to miniaturize Captain America to fit in the palm of his hand do we get such a "Now how is he ever going to get out of this?" heroic predicament. The entire development of "The Main Arc" and its use to eliminate Superman takes six chapters (chapter 4-9)! This story 'arc' is clearly the best part of the serial, and is why I'd rate the serial highly despite its other glaring faults.Some other glaring faults include: no hand to hand combat with the villain, and needless chapters (10-15) that have no continuity or purpose. You only get climaxing hand to hand battles between the hero and villain in the western and police serials. When Superman finally captures Luthor in the last chapter, it takes him about two seconds to rush over, grab and put the cuffs on him. Very weak. We have Marvel Comics to thank for re-introducing and basing their whole post 50s output on making hand to hand battles with super villains the main theme of virtually all their stories, so that now we expect to see epic battles between the Fantastic Four vs. Dr. Doom, Spider Man vs. Dr. Octopus, or the X-Men vs. Magneto. But in the old science fiction genre serials, we never see it.Finally, since the serial really climaxes in Chapter 9, when Superman after having spent the whole chapter "Lost in the Empty Doom" finally escapes, where else is this serial to go? The 'Atom Man' theme is going nowhere, the Empty Doom is dropped, so we get Lois Lane covering a flood! Then suddenly we have the appearance of Luthor's 'flying saucers,' and an A-bomb to destroy Metropolis. The last five chapters seem like time fillers, since there is no clear continuity between them as we had in chapters 4-9.Too bad it couldn't have been as well scripted for the entire serial as it was for the "Lost in the Empty Doom" chapters. Well, we can't get everything; especially in serials and particularly those from Columbia. So we can just be thankful that almost half of it is really high standard. I give it a 7 (as a serial).

Brian Camp ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (1950) is a 15-chapter follow-up that represents a vast improvement over the first Superman serial, SUPERMAN (1948). The original cast members who played Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White all return, but they are joined by a new villain, Lex Luthor, Superman's archnemesis from the comic book. Luthor's evil genius gives Superman far more opportunities to use his superpowers than did Spider Lady, the stodgy femme fatale from the first serial who did little more than dress in black satin and sit at a table issuing orders from a desk via oversized mike to an army of standard-issue thugs in suits, ties and fedoras.Luthor (played by Lyle Talbot) is quite busy here. Paroled early on, he supposedly goes straight and takes charge of a Metropolis TV station, in the early days of television, and even hires Lois Lane away from the Daily Planet at one point. By night, however, he sends robbery gangs to crack the safes of stores his TV trucks have cased. He also unleashes a variety of ingenious inventions including a "space transporter" which teleports his henchmen from police custody back to his cave headquarters (16 years before "Star Trek"'s "beam me up" technology) and a "directional cyclotron" which causes earthquakes in Metropolis. In the final chapters he unveils even greater stuff as the action heats up. Every episode offers a new element and a clever twist or two to keep things interesting right up until the spectacular climax in outer space. While the first serial devolved into standard cliffhanger formula fairly quickly and gave Superman few superheroic things to do, this one gives him lots of super feats to perform. In addition to fending off Luthor and his thugs, he always pops up at various disasters to rescue people. These include a bridge collapse, a fire on a cruise liner, and a flood. Interestingly, all disasters depicted use actual newsreel film footage, including the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse of 1940. As in SUPERMAN (1948), the effects of Superman flying are created through animation so that whenever Superman takes off he becomes a fluidly animated cartoon. The difference here is that the cartoon shots are intercut with live close shots of Kirk Alyn as Superman in flight. Also, the animation is used to depict a greater range of activities here. Superman is frequently seen carrying people (especially Lois) in cartoon form. In one spectacular shot an animated Superman lifts a live-action truck (shot in miniature) from a raging torrent of water on a miniature set. And there is one whole sequence in outer space that relies heavily on animation.Having worn the same outfit throughout all 15 chapters of the first serial, Lois (played by Noel Neill) gets a lot of costume changes here. She's less spunky and less cheery, more determined and no-nonsense, and dressed and coiffed more severely. She doesn't plunge into fights as much, but when she's chased by crooks in one scene after grabbing a notepad containing evidence, she runs through streets, hallways, and alleys and up and down staircases and fire escapes like an old pro and eludes her pursuers. We also get to see Lois in a new light in a new job when she goes to work as an on-the-street TV reporter for Lex Luthor's TV station. ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN is arguably one of the best serials ever made and certainly the finest example of live-action filmed Superman in the forty years preceding Richard Donner's SUPERMAN (1978).

davidgregorymeek I know that this movie/serial is better than the first. First of all, some of the flying sequences are more realistic and actually involve Kirk Alyn. Unlike the Captain Marvel serial where a dummy is used in flying sequences. Out of 10 stars, I give this movie 11. :)

mst86 There are few sequels that are ever as good as the original. This is one of them. The only real difference between the two is that the special effects in this one are better. The story leaps right into the action, with the city of Metropolis being hit by a crime wave. One man is behind all this crime, the evil Lex Luthor. Superman battles Lex Luthor and his alter ego the Atom Man through 15 fun and exciting chapters.Superman does a lot in this serial. Can he save Metropolis from a deadly flood? Can Superman escape the Empty Doom? Will Superman's real identity be released to the public? Will Lois Lane go to work for the Lex Luthor? Find out this and more in ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMANI give it 10/10. It's perfect.(Note: Look at the close-up shots of Kirk Alyn flying as Superman. The 'S' on the Superman uniform is backwards.)