SUMMARY: Running Time: 26 Min. (Black & White)
Directed by George Blair, this unaired half-hour episode entitled “Rajah’s Ransom” long pre-dates the 1988-1992 syndicated Superboy TV series. Meant as a prequel of sorts, it’s a homage to the late George Reeves’ The Adventures of Superman TV series.
Smallville high school students Clark Kent and Lana Lang express compassion for classmate Jimmy Drake’s embarrassment that his blue-collar dad is a movie theater doorman. A subsequent jewel heist at the theater by three armed crooks sets up Jimmy’s father as the crime’s pivotal eyewitness. Of course, it’s up to Superboy to save Mr. Drake from retribution from these ruthless thugs.
Clark Kent / Superboy: John “Johnny” Rockwell Mr. Drake: Ross Elliott
Lana Lang: Bunny Henning Shifty: Richard Reeves
Martha Kent: Monty Margetts Miss Gibson: Yvonne White
Police Chief Parker: Robert Williams Jimmy Drake: Jimmy Bates
Theater Manager: Ray Walker Donna: Trudy “True” Ellison
Jake: Stacy Harris Gunner Ferde: Charles Maxwell
Notes: Supposedly, a dozen additional scripts were created – just in case. A live-action Superboy and Lana Lang make their first on-screen appearances — five years before their animated counterparts debuted on television in 1966 with Filmation’s same-named cartoon series.
REVIEW:
Decades before Superboy and Smallville, this Superboy’s sole flight wobbles on the cheap. Lacking any semblance of a dazzling opener, “Rajah’s Ransom” is evidently an ordinary episode of what might have been. Inexplicably, this teenage Clark Kent (despite star John Rockwell’s twenty-something looks) is repackaged as the adoptive son of a suburban grocery store manager and a housewife. As Superboy, he easily makes time for crime-fighting, including the use of an underground Super-cave, no less. There’s no point even comparing this loose adaptation to the Silver Age Superboy and the rural Smallville already established in DC Comics. Relying on TV clichés (i.e. stolen jewels), this plot is strictly paint-by-the-numbers.
Evidently set in present-day 1961, this super-mundane adventure deliberately tries to evoke Reeves’ TV series by deploying the same primitive flying effects. It’s no coincidence that the same producer (Whitney Ellsworth) spearheaded this project. Adapting an actual comic book script, the wholesome “Rajah’s Ransom” admirably retains its mid-1950’s Boy Scout-style charm to no end. In that sense, its low-budget production values are at least forgivable.
Ironically, Rockwell’s bland Clark Kent/Superboy persona is a precursor to actor Gerard Christopher, who thirty years later displayed similar mannerisms in the role. Yet, by making this future Superman so milquetoast, it should have been imperative for Rockwell to enjoy repartee with likable actors — like Noel Neill & Jack Larson did with George Reeves. Christopher’s own starched portrayal benefited from that kind of chemistry with Stacy Haiduk and Ilan Mitchell-Smith. That’s really the detriment of this dud pilot: Rockwell’s supporting cast evidently wasn’t encouraged to express an iota of charisma playing off his decent imitation of Reeves.
For Superman fans, this historical curiosity is solely worth perusing to see the first live-action Boy of Steel.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 3 Stars
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