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Superman Store - TV's Best Adventures of Superman 2
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $25.00
Your Save: $ ( % )
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Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Phyllis Coates, John Hamilton, Bill Kennedy, Jack Larson, Noel Neill
Directed By: George Reeves, Howard Bretherton, Thomas Carr, Philip Ford, Harry W. Gerstad (II)
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786300273481
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6300273482
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: 1993-05-22
Running Time: 62
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1952-09-19
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Real Superman from T.V.
Comment: This is the way he was featured in the new version:
The First Superman The Nation Loved., September 10, 2006
Reviewer: Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
In the Fifties, we had a real Superman, someone who fought for Truth, Justice and the American Way on television. He wasn't as dapper as Christopher Reeve but George Reeves was the first and foremost Superman. To us teens back then, he looked old and bulky (not sualve as they do today), but that was the way the male actors in the movies were for the most part then. All the kids looked up to our Superman as presented on our home t.v. sets. This kinky film shows the sordid backstage life of a mortal man who had no other roles (he tried in a Sinatra movie and bombed), because of his involvement with a married woman. Her husband even bought him a nice home for $12,000 which he considered a good investment as he had his own foreign paramour living in his mansion. He wanted to keep the little wife happy.
It's just pretend, making shows on television and movies for the big screen. Being directed by the person who did 'Sin in the Big City,' that is the sordid way the Superman icon is presented. Well, he was just plain marvelous as Clark Kent, but his personal identity was humiliating to him and he wanted other things besides being a t.v. performer. She wanted him as he was and refused to help him further a film career. Thus, when he found a younger woman and fell in love, she set out on a murderous path of revenge.
There were perplexing endings so you can take your pick as to who actually killed him in his own house, or if he did indeed kill himself. I always believed you every time, he'd told her; I had no idea I could spread so much joy. There was much more going on that you realize, and the guys were all frauds. Nothing was as it seemed. Before he met his demise, he told her, "You owe me an explanation," which he never got. All he got was a fatal shot in the head. It was depressing. One woman commented to me on the way out, that it was well-done. I repleid that I would have to think about it.
Actually, two stories were woven into one: the ill-mannered investigator played by Sean Penn with his sordid life and that of the major characters which made the movie rambling and disjointed. How's that? Why's that? A good biography of the first Superman on the screen, someone we all admired, was not in this movie. Instead it was like 'Sin in the City' in the Hollywood of the Fifties. No wonder Eddie went wrong, as he believed in that stuff. It was all make-believe and dangerous.
You can skip this one and watch it on late-nite t.v. in the near future. There is not much redeeming value in watching one of your heroes sullied in this manner. Even if he was only a man, not a Superman, in person. He had the right to live out his life, but that one married woman felt differently. She is the villain even if she didn't pull the trigger. It's possible she did it in person, but with this story as presented here, we will always have to wonder.
Customer Rating:
Summary: reeves was the perfect clark kent
Comment: crime wave is probabaly the best episode from the adventures of superman. its clips along at break neck speed, superman kicks bad guy butts, it actually looks grittier in glorious black and white and it has the real lois lane in phyllis coates.
reeves superman may have been padded but he had a grit and non chalance that both the earlier superman (kirk alyn) and the later superman (christopher reeve)lacked.
allans superman was a bit of a goofy jimmy stewart type while christopher reeve overplayed the bumbling nerd part. george reeves kent was a normal, mysterious tough reporter. word was that reeves hated playing the part and if anything it made him give the part an extra dose of efforted dignity it otherwise might have lacked.
too, the first couple of seasons of the adventures of superman were the best. alas, the producers were a little nervous about coate's edgy lane and so they removed her, toned down reeves kick butt attitude and essentialay turned into a little kiddies show. but, even then the series had some decent moments, one of which; the perils of superman, is included here. its a charming homage to the movie serials and deflty directed by reeves himself.
sandwiched in between the two is the incomparable fleischer brothers cartoon mechanical monsters.
appropriately, no celluloid superman best exemplified the fleischer's animated superman better than reeves.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is the best tape in the Adventures of Superman series
Comment: Like the others in this series, Volume 2 of the "Adventures of Superman" series offers up a pair of black & white and color episodes from the syndicated television series starring George Reeves that ran from 1952-1957, along with one of the Fleischer Superman cartoons. "Crime Wave" (Episode #24) finds Superman fighting a crime wave that is sweeps Metropolis only to be exposed to atomic rays. This is one of the absolute classic episodes from this series, but this tape gets even better. "The Perils of Superman" (Episode #103), finds a master criminal planning a series of traps to snare each of Superman's friends: Lois (Noel Neill), Jimmy (Jack Larson), Perry White (John Hamilton, and Clark Kent (George Reeves). Of course, this is a plan that works so well it fails (for obvious reasons). This was the second to last episode of the series and another classic. The Fleischer's Cartoon "The Mechanical Monsters" is from 1941 and the second in the Superman series. The Man of Steel battles an army of giant, flying robots that spew flame in a series of sensational scenes. This is one of the best of the Superman cartoons and the only reason that this best volume in the "Adventures of Superman" series is not #1 is because that tape has the pilot and final episodes on it. But this is the one that will impress you the most from the dramatic opening narration to the final fade out on Reeves and the rest of the cast.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vintage Superman
Comment: Warner Home Video has issued only a few one-hour volumes of television's "Adventures of Superman," but Volume 2 is by far the best - evoking fond memories of the classic series. "Crime Wave" (1951) and "Perils of Superman" (1957) represent some of the finest b&w and color episodes, with George Reeves in great form as the definitive Man of Steel. Sandwiched between the two episodes is "The Mechanical Monsters" (1941), an excellent Superman cartoon from the Fleischer Studios. Since Warner and DC Comics own the original negatives, the Fleischer short looks terrific. It's nostalgic, fast-paced fun for young and old.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best of the TV Show!
Comment: Any Superman fan can't go wrong with this one! "Crime Wave" is one of the most gripping tales of the 1951 season, complete with stock footage of all of the great fight scenes from that year! "Perils of Superman" is one of the best color episodes, and proves that George Reeves had a great future as a director! The Max Fleischer cartoon is beautifully animated, but it's the two TV episodes that MAKE this video! BUY IT, and see why Reeves is remembered so fondly as the TRUE Man of Steel!
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