King of the Rocket Men (1949)

Best movie ever!

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Despite the title, this serial has nothing to do with either Leonardo DiCaprio or Elton John. Nonetheless, 'King of the Rocketmen' is a good piece of fun, with good special effects and stunt shots used to create a realistic illusion of actual flight. It moves fast, there are plenty of good fight scenes, and the acting is good. The casting of Tristam Coffin as the hero, Rocketman, is a little strange, since Coffin appeared to be clearly over 45, thin, with a small jaw and a pencil thin mustache: not the classic vision of a matinée hero, he usually played villains. But Coffin was a decent actor and pulled it off. The script is pretty straightforward, moving quick enough that the audience doesn't have too much extra time to think about how ludicrous the whole thing is.This serial was released on June 8, 1949, three weeks prior to the premiere of Captain Video on TV. It is known that the creators of Captain Video looked to movie serials for inspiration, and Rocket Man was the first serial hero whose very name indicated both science fiction and heroics. Beginning with Captain Video, who became one of the first superstars of early TV, and continuing with Tom Corbett (Space Cadet), Commander Cory of Space Patrol, and Rocky Jones (Space Ranger)there was a bona fide craze from 1949 to 1955 for science fiction heroes with super-heroic or militaristic names. Rocket Man was the 1st of these, yet is seldom given credit for starting the trend.The villain of this serial, Dr. Vulcan, is an international thug and dealer in stolen weapons and technology. There is a sequence where Rocketman has to stop a stolen ballistic missile (called an 'air torpedo') from hitting and blowing up LA. We know from recent history, however, that when a flying menace is approaching a city, that the correct thing to do is stand down and let 3,000 people be killed so that Your Party will be able to seize total control of the government and be able to implement a quasi-fascist state. Why Rocketman didn't understand this is a mystery. The other unrealistic thing about this serial is that Rocketman pursues the actual terrorists, as opposed to doing the logical thing: use the terrorists as an excuse to invade an oil-rich nation. But then, serials were never supposed to be very logical. A year after this serial was completed, a Superman serial featured a run away atomic missile. Serials, although ostensibly the province of youngsters, were reflecting some of the collective anxieties of society. This was the era when WMD's (though the word wasn't yet coined) entered mass consciousness. Presciently, a major plot point is Dr. Vulcan's plan for a large scale terror attack on NYC. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so I won't describe how that resolves. Flaws aside, this is one of the last serials where any attempt was made at an illusion of verisimilitude. You can have fun and smile to yourself at how absurd it gets, but it isn't laugh out loud ludicrous or painfully bad like an Ed Wood movie. You can see in later Republic serials, such as 'Commando Cody' and 'Flying Disc Man from Mars', that things went downhill pretty fast after this. If you are a fan of serials or a fan of fast-moving old school cheeze, you should enjoy King of the Rocketmen. Obviously, I did.

1949's "King of the Rocket Men" was the first of three serials from Republic Pictures featuring a man wearing essentially the same rocket suit and helmet. The other two, both released in 1952, were "Radar Men From the Moon" and "Zombies of the Stratosphere." All three have things going for them though, each time, Republic tried to reinvent the character ... Jeff King in "King," Commando Cody in "Radar," and Larry Martin in "Zombies." The first and second serials were later revised for different purposes. "King of the Rocket Men" was edited to remove the cliffhanger sequences and the "remember when" episode (the one which is primarily flashbacks of prior chapters) and re-released it as a feature film titled "Lost Planet Airmen" in 1951. And "Radar Men From the Moon" was released as a 12-episode TV series under the new title, "Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe" in 1953. The third serial, "Zombies," while not remade, is probably the best remembered since it marked the science-fiction feature film acting debut of Leonard Nimoy (later, Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame) playing Narab, a Martian zombie.But, "King of the Rocket Men" was the best of the three. Especially during 1949 and subsequent years, it was far more believable to envision a potential traitor, blackmailing government entities and possibly selling secrets to a foreign power than to believe in invaders from the Moon or Mars (in "Radar" and "Zombies," respectively). Also, and this is just my opinion, the two later serials seemed a bit contrived ... like they were merely attempting to cash in on the success of "King" ... a very well-acted serial for the time with an iron-clad plot line.So, why the 8 of 10 rating? Back in 1949, money was tight in the studios. And sometimes, it was cheaper to "buy" special effects than it was to make them. That's exactly what Republic Pictures did. Since they wanted cataclysmic special effects in the last chapter but didn't want to spend the money, they simply bought rights to the 1933 film, "Deluge," for the sole purpose of borrowing the special effects footage for use in "King." And while there's nothing inherently wrong in such a practice (it has been done many times by Hollywood), it almost forced "Deluge" into obscurity. There were very few copies of "Deluge" available and, after Republic borrowed the scenes, they trashed the rest of the footage. Fortunately, one copy (not the Italian one with English subtitles) was discovered in France and it has since been preserved (though not openly released by any studio). In English? Don't know.

This has some of the most convincing flying sequences for its time. The later Superman serial had him "fly" as a cartoon: here, King appears really to fly. I have read that the flying sequences used a lightweight dummy on wires. It looks pretty convincing.Minor spoiler: There was only one "rocket man": the serial title suggests more. (The hero's name is Jeff King) For that matter, the flight controller is marked, "Slow," "Fast," "Up," and "Down." Not bad, but rough if one had to change direction in flight.Naturally, the serial uses the standard formula of a colorful villain who's out to steal a secret, whom the hero has to contend with. Worth viewing, but light entertainment.

"King of the Rocket Men" was the first appearance of the man in the flying suit. In later years it would become associated with the Commando Cody character both in film and on TV. The "king" of the title is Jeff King (Tristram Coffin) who is trying to unmask the evil Dr. Vulcan who is secretly trying to undermine a desert research project being conducted by Science Associates. Overseeing the project is a board of directors of whom a Dr. Vulcan, his identity unknown, is a member. It seems that one of their number, Professor Millard (James Craven) has developed a powerful machine called "the Decimater" which is capable of mass destruction. The rest of the serial is spent with Dr. Vulcan and his chief henchman Dirken (Don Haggerty) attempting to steal the discovery and Rocket Man's thwarting them at every turn. Mae Clarke as a reporter and House Peters Jr. as Chief of Security assist King. This serial is one of the better of Republic's post war serials. There is plenty of action throughout, including chases, fights, cliffhangers and an appearance by Rocket Man in every chapter. The stunt work performed mainly by Tom Steele, Dale Van Sickel and David Sharpe (doubling Coffin in the Rocket Man sequences), is up to Republic's usual high standards. You'll spot each of the aforementioned stuntmen appearing in several minor roles as henchmen. But the real star of the serial are its magnificent special effects created by Theodore and Howard Lydecker. Rocket Man seems to have borrowed his flying ability from Republic's earlier serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941). The Lydeckers employed the use of an oversized dummy running up and down an almost invisible cable and photographing it from different angles to make it appear life-size. It's quite realistic for its time. The best sequence is saved for the end when Dr. Vulcan attempts to destroy New York City. There are earthquakes, tidal waves and scenes of mass destruction achieved through the skillful use of miniatures. The acting is better than most serials. Coffin, who usually played oily villains, gives a creditable performance in the lead. Mae Clarke, who had achieved notoriety in "Public Enemy" by having James Cagney push a grapefruit in her face, does her best with limited material as the heroine. Don Haggerty as Dirken makes a formidable villain in what I believe was his only serial. Haggerty can usually be seen in featured roles as a cop or thug. He never got the credit or the roles he deserved. So who was Dr. Vulcan? To find out, tune into the next chapter of "King of the Rocket Men" at this theatre next week.