JLRVancouver
King of the Rocket Men is an entertaining serial featuring the iconic flying suit with the minimalist controls (off/on, up/down, fast/slow) worn (usually) by the heroic Jeff King. For 12 chapters King, his less competent colleagues, and the inevitable plucky female reporter battle the intrigues of "Dr. Vulcan", a typical megalomaniac super-villain who seems to like the sound of his own voice. The cliff hangers are a bit predictable (jump out of the runaway car at the last minute, turn on the jet back while falling at the last minute, etc) but the flying scenes are great (for the time and budget). The climax is the destruction of New York City (courtesy of the 1933 proto-disaster film "Deluge") as Vulcan uses his decimator ray to generate an undersea earthquake. The final scenes seem a bit upbeat under the circumstances as the mayor of New York steals the credit for stopping Vulcan (he seems in a pretty good mood considering millions must be dead or homeless, and billions of dollars' worth of real-estate destroyed). Despite the premise of a flying suit and the vivid destruction of the nation's most populous city, the most amazing part of the movie is the ability of men to keep their hats on while fighting. A great time-passer if not taken too critically. The suit and the flying scenes were recycled in a series of subsequent serials that are generally seen as inferior to this, the original.
kmoh-1
This is a highly entertaining Republic serial, with some pretty good performances, especially Don Haggerty as the heavy, Dirken, and James Craven as Professor Millard, forever inventing things that must never, and always do, fall into the wrong hands. The real stars, though, are the Lydeckers' special effects, as the flying Rocket Man is excellent.As with any Saturday morning serial, criticism is superfluous. But one is left with some nagging queries. Why do they keep inventing these terrible weapons? If they invented a new type of wheat, or something, wouldn't that be so much more constructive? And, given his extraordinary ingenuity, why doesn't Dr Vulcan simply patent his own brilliant inventions, especially the remote control for cars? He could have made a legitimate fortune.We should also note that Jeff King actually fails at the end. Dr Vulcan destroys New York City. King destroys the decimator about a minute before it would have been destroyed anyway. Isn't that a bit of a failure? And, given New York has been destroyed, isn't everyone a little bit cheerful in the final scene? A more serious criticism is that episode 10, The Deadly Fog, is actually a very tedious rehash, in flashback, of the whole plot. King tells Burt the story, even though he already knows it. Skip to the cliffhanger.Two final quibbles. The title, King of the Rocket Men, is a little misleading, as there is only one Rocket Man. And Rocket Man himself looks remarkably like The Man With The Stick from Vic Reeves' Big Night Out.
Allen J. Duffis (sataft-2)
This was a fantastic serial with great special effects for it's time. Unfortunately, many who review such fare today do so from feature length versions. One must always remember that these serials were meant to be viewed, chapter by chapter, on a weekly basis. It was the draw that got you back to the theater and a five cent bag of fresh popcorn with real butter, not butter substitute. This cherished specialized cinema of the 1940's and early 50's, produced mainly for kids, was known widely as "Saturday Mornings At the Movies".To understand and appreciate such cinema, one really needs to have the inventive mind of a child, growing up during such exciting times of pioneering new technology. There was no 24 hour television in color or black and white, VCR's, or anything to get in the way of a child's greatest attribute, their imagination. This was the generation that would grow up to make all of these modern day wonders come true.It is also fair to mention that stars like Tristram Coffin, deserved to be remembered for the fine actors they were; despite the limited range of the roles they played. After all, it takes a fine actor to make even a child believe that a man can strap two powerful flaming rockets to his back, attached to a flimsy leather jacket with four simple control knobs in front, and fly convincingly - without being killed. How many of our high paid, so-called actors of today can effectively accomplish such a feat?
Yin-Co
"King of the Rocketmen" (which would become the inspiration for "The Rocketeer") was an average serial, with decent special effects being its only strong point, and a good performance by Tristram Coffin. My biggest problem with it is that it seems to be a remake of the "Captain Marvel" serial (one member of a group of scientists is really the evil mastermind after a certain destructive prize. However, I can't tell one from another, and I don't know who ANY of them are, so I can't be shocked or surprised when I find out who Dr. Vulcan is). The dialogue is REALLY lame (for a serial), the fights are static (Coffin's hat NEVER comes off in a fight scene!), and the Rocketman suit is hilariously lame! The ending is pretty exciting though, and it's one of the very few times the hero gets into a fistfight with the mastermind himself. If you REALLY like serials (or like serials that are so bad they're good), give it a shot.I give this serial C-.
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