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THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: FLIGHT TO THE NORTH / George Blair (1955)

January 13th, 2008 by Scott Marks

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Flight to the North (1955)
Directed by George Blair
Written by David T. Chantler
Starring: George Reeves, Chuck Connors, Ben Welden, George Chandler & Marjorie Owens
Aspect Ratio: Flat. Very flat.

Rating: ★★★★★ for Unintentional Laffs

While plowing my way through The Adventures of Superman box sets, I hit the wall hard. Noel Neill notwithstanding, it is pretty much common knowledge that the color episodes, with their focus on comedy and eagerness to showcase secondary characters, were geared more for kids are far inferior to their black and white counterparts.

Flight to the North is beneath the barrel’s bottom.

Talk about suspension of disbelief; Chuck Connors (the best brush-cut in the business) plays a traveling hillbilly named Sylvester J. Superman. He obviously reads The Daily Planet, the great metropolitan newspaper know for it’s coverage of Superman’s expolits, for why else would he show up in answer to a personal ad? Oh, yeah. He’s a hillbilly.

Sylvester checks into a Metropolis dive complete with his beloved mule Lulubelle in tow. The desk clerk (and Lassie’s favorite uncle) George Chandler takes one look at the hotel register and automatically assumes him to be the Man of Steel. Aside from West Hollywood, this is the only place in America where you’ll find a motel that caters to men and their pet donkeys.

Time to set another sub-plot in motion. Enter regular Superman heavy Ben Welden, this time cast as the nefarious, but lovable in a bumbling stupid sort of way, ‘Leftover’ Louie Lyman. ‘Leftover,’ who was just released from prison, shows up at Clark Kent’s office threatening harm if the reporter continues to give him bad press.

Guess what flea-pit ‘Leftover’ is bunking down at? That’s right, the George Chandler Arms. When ‘Leftover’ first enters the room, pay particular attention to the way his bunkmate ‘Buckets’ (Ralph Sanford) is positioned on the bed. Instead of using the headboard to prop him up, ‘Buckets’ rests his noggin on the opposite end of the bed. Artful composition? Nah! The set designer probably didn’t have the time or funds to construct a fourth wall forcing George Blair to block his actors accordingly. The resulting mise-en-scene is extraordinary: They talk on the bed, they stand and continue talking and then sit back down. All in one long take. Jean Renoir eat your heart out!

‘Leftover’ and ‘Buckets’ squabble over who makes the best lemon meringue pie, a subject common among hardened ex-convicts. ‘Leftover’ insists that it’s his old girlfriend Marge (Marjorie Owens) while ‘Buckets’ swears his mother’s pie is the sweetest. The two wager half of their stashed loot and may the best pie win!

‘Leftover’ show’s up on his ex’s doorstep and wouldn’t you know it, Marge (Marjorie Owens) just finished baking a lemon meringue pie! Judging by the conspicuously placed framed portrait of some stud, it’s clear that Marge is an unfaithful tramp. Life in the slammer must have been hard on ‘Leftover.’ After only five years, Marge fails to recognize her former beau. She even refuses her ex a slice of her pie.

Marge was the one that placed the newspaper personal. She wanted Superman to fly the pie to her boyfriend (Richard Garland) stuck in a remote Arctic weather station. Just as ‘Leftover’ is about to abscond with the pie, Sylvester shows up in response to the ad. Yet another Daily Planet reader is quick to accept the yokel imitation for Metropolis’ #1 son. Talk about fighting a never-ending battle with illiteracy…

Somehow, and it’s never explained, Sylvester takes the money Marge donated to the Daily Planet’s children’s fund, rents a plane and, with Lulubelle by his side, heads to the North Pole. Imagine Marge’s boyfriend’s surprise when both Supermen and a pair of asses (Lulubelle and ‘Leftover’) come knocking on his igloo.

All ends happily as the lovers are reunited. With the girl out of the picture, ‘Leftover’ and ‘Buckets’ are free to devote their lives to rough trade. And Marge’s Tundra-tookie gets a taste of home all courtesy of Superman who owes a huge debt of thanks to those Metropolis deviants who took time away from their raping and looting long enough for Superman to play embryonic Fed-Ex driver.

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