King of the Rocket Men (1949)

Very disappointing...

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Absolutely Fantastic

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

I wont give a summary of this serial as that has been done very well by some other reviewers. Just want to make a few observations. In this serial,"King of the Rocket Men," we see a gray car with a white top going over a cliff when it turns into an all white car. This same gray car with a white top becoming an all white car when it goes over a cliff can be seen in other serials. The use of stock footage was a staple in making serials as it reduced production costs. Another observation is that "henchmen" played more than one role. Here we wee David Sharpe killed off in one episode only to appear later as another henchman. Seeing this as a kid watching from week to week we didn't notice this as one henchman looked pretty much like another and we didn't know anything about stunt men. Another observation we can make as adults and didn't question as kids. We see this in several serials. The villain has a TV camera that can see anywhere he wants. There is a scene where the Vulcan can see our heroes in an apartment and hear every word they say. Why didn't he have his camera on them all the time and know all of their plans? All in all this is a pretty good serial,but not my favorite.

This is a highly entertaining Republic serial, with some pretty good performances, especially Don Haggerty as the heavy, Dirken, and James Craven as Professor Millard, forever inventing things that must never, and always do, fall into the wrong hands. The real stars, though, are the Lydeckers' special effects, as the flying Rocket Man is excellent.As with any Saturday morning serial, criticism is superfluous. But one is left with some nagging queries. Why do they keep inventing these terrible weapons? If they invented a new type of wheat, or something, wouldn't that be so much more constructive? And, given his extraordinary ingenuity, why doesn't Dr Vulcan simply patent his own brilliant inventions, especially the remote control for cars? He could have made a legitimate fortune.We should also note that Jeff King actually fails at the end. Dr Vulcan destroys New York City. King destroys the decimator about a minute before it would have been destroyed anyway. Isn't that a bit of a failure? And, given New York has been destroyed, isn't everyone a little bit cheerful in the final scene? A more serious criticism is that episode 10, The Deadly Fog, is actually a very tedious rehash, in flashback, of the whole plot. King tells Burt the story, even though he already knows it. Skip to the cliffhanger.Two final quibbles. The title, King of the Rocket Men, is a little misleading, as there is only one Rocket Man. And Rocket Man himself looks remarkably like The Man With The Stick from Vic Reeves' Big Night Out.

King of the Rocket Men is one of the most original movie serials ever produced post-WWII. This is the stuff that dreams are still made of. What kid wouldn't give anything to be able to fly in a sonically propelled rocket pack and kick some bad guys butt? More than 50 years after it was made, this serial still has the pulse-quickening action adventure and really great acting that made it the classic that it is. The acting was serious, which made you believe this could actually happen. These actors were highly under-appreciated, yet were better than many of the celebrity "actors" that demand to be the center of attention today. The Rocketeer was based on this serial, and even though it had great production, it just barely induced the kind of excitement Jeff King gave us for 12 exciting episodes. It's a shame the sequels to this were silly and unbelievable. Allen Duffis hit the nail on the head. This is the standard that ALL of the Saturday morning and prime time adventure shows that came after wished they could be. The only thing that was as good was the first Indiana Jones movie, and that got it's inspiration from show's like this. I still marvel at the flying scenes through the canyons and across the Culver City skyline, which still look so real it's breath-taking. The Liedecker Brothers were geniuses. I wish they could make new serials just as good as this one today. I wish a really good sharp copy of these serials could be professionally put on DVD to preserve these serials forever. This one deserves to be protected for the future.

Dr. Vulcan, a mysterious criminal, has been sabotaging the experiments of a group of scientists at Science Associates (SA), as well as murdering the ones who come close to discovering his identity. He murders Prof. Millard, a rocket expert, who has been suspecting the nature of Vulcan's attacks. Millard is saved from his death by his colleague, Jeff King, a sonic propulsion expert. In order to save the works and surviving members of SA (where Vulcan in his true identity, serves as a member of the board of directors), King assumes the identity of Rocket Man, using a jet rocket pack designed by Millard. For 12 chapters, King/Rocket Man battles the forces of Vulcan and tries to prevents Millard's latest invention, the Sonic Desemator, from falling into the hands of Vulcan. For 1948, KOTR comes off as a good serial, but really you think it could have a been a wee bit better coming out of Republic. Coffin turns in a decent performance as King, after playing mainly villains all his career. Haggerty is great though as Vulcan's henchman Dirken, and makes you wish Republic used him more as a villain in more serials and Bs. Brannon is no Witney, English, or Bennett when it comes to serial directing, but this is one of his better serials. Many errors of logic in the serial, but does it matter in a serial about a scientist fighting crime in a rocket suit? Rating, based on serials, 6.