Superman of the Late ‘40s Movie Serials; ‘Manchurian Candidate’ Makes a Comeback

Hip Superman fans are not celebrating the Man of Steel’s 50th anniversary by renting those glitzy Christopher Reeve movies or those low-grade George Reeves TV shows.

What the real Superman freaks are doing is renting those campy, late-’40s Superman movie serials starring Kirk Alyn. Those more closely approximate the bold, B-picture spirit of Superman when he first burst upon the scene.

The ‘50s TV series had some of that spirit too, but there wasn’t enough action in the shows. Also, Reeves was the stiffest of the three Supermans.

The serials feature almost non-stop action and at least one rousing, last-second rescue per chapter--Superman’s always showing up in the nick of time to save Lois Lane (Noel Neill) or Jimmy Olsen (Tommy Bond) from some deadly situation. Neill, by the way, also played Lane in part of the TV series (Phyliss Coates was the other Lois).

Last year Warner Video released 1948’s “Superman: The Serial”--15 chapters worth of his battles with the beautiful but wicked Spider Lady, who was trying to control a lethal ray machine that would help her dominate the world.

What makes these serials such fun is that they’re presented in full, just as they were in the Saturday matinees, without the cliff-hanging endings being neatly edited into the beginning of the next chapter. Some of the special effects are tacky, but that’s partly why these serials are such a delight. For instance, Superman in flight is a cartoon superimposed on the filmed action.

Alyn, by the way, is big but not really muscular--certainly the “softest” of the Supermans.

Recently Warner Video put out an even more thrilling serial, “Atom Man vs. Superman” (1950). In this one, Superman tackles Lex Luthor, another megalomaniac whose goal is world domination. Lyle Talbot, wearing a bald cap, plays Luthor as an evil skinhead--just as he is in the comics. Gene Hackman’s charming, witty Luthor in the Christopher Reeve movies isn’t really true to the original character.

Each 15-chapter serial is divided into two cassettes. The two “Atom vs. Superman” tapes are $59.95 apiece. The first one may be available at various reduced prices by now.

MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE: At a recent UCLA screening of the reissued 1962 thriller “The Manchurian Candidate,” director John Frankenheimer and writer George Axelrod joyously noted that their movie is doing good business at the box office. That was unexpected, since it was a flop originally.

In the past 26 years, the film, which stars Lawrence Harvey and Frank Sinatra, has had almost no exposure. What’s kept it off the market is the politics surrounding a complex financial arrangement involving the film’s profits. In this imaginative thriller, Harvey plays a brainwashed Korean war veteran who, when triggered by a certain stimulus, turns assassin.

Initially, the current release was limited to theaters in a handful of major cities, mainly to stir up interest in the film for its home video debut. But since the reviews have been so good and fan interest so high, the movie will now have a more extensive release.

It’s due out on home video this summer. Because of the surprising demand, MGM/UA will undoubtedly be able to sell a lot more cassettes to retailers and distributors.

ON THE WAY: Academy Award nominees Jack Nicholson and Cher star in “The Witches of Eastwick,” the black comedy due out April 27 on Warner Video. The Oscar tie-in will boost its rental potential, even if neither star wins. Both, incidentally, were nominated for other movies--Nicholson for “Ironweed,” Cher for “Moonstruck.”

Next week: “Beverly Hills Cop II,” “Hellraiser,” “Amazon Women on the Moon,” “Maid to Order” and “North Shore.”

NEW RELEASES: Lorimar’s “Matewan” is writer-director John Sayles’ dramatic account of a real incident--a violent 1920 coal miners’ strike in West Virginia. A union organizer (Chris Cooper) leads the noble workers against the evil “company.” Basically it’s a long, somber, frequently confusing movie that’s too often lumbering when it should be crackling with tension. It’s the battle scenes that give the movie life, but Sayles doesn’t make them comprehensible. The only well-known actor in the movie is James Earl Jones, who plays the proud leader of the black workers.

In Paramount’s “Steele Justice,” an ex-soldier named John Steele (Martin Kove), a Rambo clone, takes on the Vietnam Mafia, which has been polluting Southern California with drugs. Movies like this work if they feature gripping action sequences or a likable macho hero: The action sequences here aren’t much better than what you’d see on TV, and Kove, who plays a cop on TV’s “Cagney & Lacey,” has neither the charisma nor acting skill to carry a movie.

The most interesting thing about HBO’s action comedy “The Squeeze” is the casting. Pairing a white actor (Michael Keaton) with an actress of mixed heritage (Rae Dawn Chong) is daring. It even features rock singer Meat Loaf as a hit man. But the meandering plot, about a con man (Keaton) and a bill collector (Chong) teaming up to abort a Lotto scam, doesn’t do the cast justice.

OLD MOVIES: “The Buddy Holly Story” (1978, RCA/Columbia, $79.95) works because of the exceptional performance by Gary Busey. There’s not much drama in the tale of a young Texan who became a rock ‘n’ roll star in the ‘50s and then died in the same plane crash that killed Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. But Busey, who does his own singing, makes the character so compelling that you don’t really notice the rather flimsy story. It’s hard to believe this is the same actor who plays the sinister Mr. Joshua in “Lethal Weapon.”