If you watched these when you were a kid, especially if you did so back in the 50s or 60s, watching the episodes on DVD may surprise you.
The production values of the black and white episodes during the first two years were very good. The resolution of the images was sharp as a tack, and the black and white tonal gradation and lighting was very professional. Yet on the old black and white sets, much of that would have been lost.
On the other hand, they took some cheap shortcuts, such as inserting stock footage that was surprisingly out of date, sometimes it seems from the 30s or even 20s.
In the third season they moved to color, even though according to the commentary, the show was not actually broadcast in color until 1965. (Color broadcasting began in 1954, but most people could not afford the $1,000 color television sets in a time when cars cost about $2,000.) The old black and white episodes are more geared to adults than the later color versions, which go with a more comic book approach. Some BW episodes are more like Perry Mason mysteries, though the quality and type of approach varies all over the place in those early years.
This is also the beginning of television, and the producers were pioneering a new medium, not always quite sure what approach to take, or which would work. There is an obvious influence of the old radio dramas, seen especially in the announced opening. Some of the early episodes seem to follow the format of the old Hardy Boys boy's book series of mysteries, complete with hidden stairways to secret basements, haunted lighthouses, and secret tunnels to boathouses. I wonder if any of the Superman writers had been ghost writers for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which actually wrote the Hardy Boys books.
The commentaries are fairly interesting, though often redundant, and sometimes inaccurate. The commentator does not appear to be good with numbers. The consensus seems to be that the series began filming in 1951, but began airing in 1952. The commentator says that the show has been broadcast from every presidential administration since Eisenhower, yet Truman was president in 51, 52 and into early 53. He also keeps going on and on about how little boys would have been watching the shows on tiny 8 or 10 inch black and white TVs in 1951. Not if they weren't on the air. And he says Jack Larson was a very young 17 (or did he say 19?) when the series began, yet IMDb shows he was 23.
What would be more telling about those old TVs is that they cut off portions of the image, especially the corners, but also tops and bottoms. So the occasional moment when Superman's springboard is visible today, would not have shown up on anything but professional TV monitors.
The commentator also remarks on how it seems Clark Kent didn't have such a large office. I've got news for you, viewers, I have never seen a newspaper that had offices for reporters. The publisher gets an office, the managing editor gets an office, with windows onto the newsroom, but just about everyone else is in one big room. The writers show a certain amount of insight into newspaper work, many writers having been reporters at some point, but the show obviously didn't want to pay for extras standing around in a newsroom, I presume.
But the best part, in my opinion, of the first year, was Phyllis Coates, who played Lois Lane for one year. She was (is) a fine actress, who seemed to give the show a certain gravitas lacking in later episodes. And she was a babe!
The move to color was a stroke of genius. This enabled them to keep reselling the series many years down the line. And the color holds up quite well.
The production values of the black and white episodes during the first two years were very good. The resolution of the images was sharp as a tack, and the black and white tonal gradation and lighting was very professional. Yet on the old black and white sets, much of that would have been lost.
On the other hand, they took some cheap shortcuts, such as inserting stock footage that was surprisingly out of date, sometimes it seems from the 30s or even 20s.
In the third season they moved to color, even though according to the commentary, the show was not actually broadcast in color until 1965. (Color broadcasting began in 1954, but most people could not afford the $1,000 color television sets in a time when cars cost about $2,000.) The old black and white episodes are more geared to adults than the later color versions, which go with a more comic book approach. Some BW episodes are more like Perry Mason mysteries, though the quality and type of approach varies all over the place in those early years.
This is also the beginning of television, and the producers were pioneering a new medium, not always quite sure what approach to take, or which would work. There is an obvious influence of the old radio dramas, seen especially in the announced opening. Some of the early episodes seem to follow the format of the old Hardy Boys boy's book series of mysteries, complete with hidden stairways to secret basements, haunted lighthouses, and secret tunnels to boathouses. I wonder if any of the Superman writers had been ghost writers for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which actually wrote the Hardy Boys books.
The commentaries are fairly interesting, though often redundant, and sometimes inaccurate. The commentator does not appear to be good with numbers. The consensus seems to be that the series began filming in 1951, but began airing in 1952. The commentator says that the show has been broadcast from every presidential administration since Eisenhower, yet Truman was president in 51, 52 and into early 53. He also keeps going on and on about how little boys would have been watching the shows on tiny 8 or 10 inch black and white TVs in 1951. Not if they weren't on the air. And he says Jack Larson was a very young 17 (or did he say 19?) when the series began, yet IMDb shows he was 23.
What would be more telling about those old TVs is that they cut off portions of the image, especially the corners, but also tops and bottoms. So the occasional moment when Superman's springboard is visible today, would not have shown up on anything but professional TV monitors.
The commentator also remarks on how it seems Clark Kent didn't have such a large office. I've got news for you, viewers, I have never seen a newspaper that had offices for reporters. The publisher gets an office, the managing editor gets an office, with windows onto the newsroom, but just about everyone else is in one big room. The writers show a certain amount of insight into newspaper work, many writers having been reporters at some point, but the show obviously didn't want to pay for extras standing around in a newsroom, I presume.
But the best part, in my opinion, of the first year, was Phyllis Coates, who played Lois Lane for one year. She was (is) a fine actress, who seemed to give the show a certain gravitas lacking in later episodes. And she was a babe!
The move to color was a stroke of genius. This enabled them to keep reselling the series many years down the line. And the color holds up quite well.