Adventures of Superman (TV Series) The Case of the Talkative Dummy (1952) User Reviews

Voice Over and Cover Up

[biorngm · 7/10 · 17 October 2017]

Review S 1 Ep 3 The Case of the Talkative Dummy 8 The premise is dubious but it worked for a while with these crooks speaking over a ventriloquist's voice to relay information key to the successful hijacking of loaded armored cars. Our intrepid reporters get wise to the nature of the voice-overs, Clark connects the remaining pieces upon eavesdropping a phone conversation with a theater usher and the armored car company president. Superman's feats are used to save Jim Olson, to shield bullets making the owner give up his scheme and seeing through a safe again the horde of stolen currency. The entire recurring cast is present in this third episode and working well together with the guest cast in their roles as Superman intervenes to foil the perpetrators. The benefit of the doubt is extended to the stories as they will improve as the writers become more seasoned in writing for a television drama in the early fifties, television very early years. The actors have literally hundreds of credits under their respective belts, but have to rely on some weak scripts early on in the series.

Double Talk

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 27 January 2015]

Sometimes movie criminals go to great lengths to complicate their lives. The method of using a ventriloquist to send messages to prospective hijackers, seems a bit of a hard way to do somethings simple. As the Planet group celebrate Jimmy's birthday by seeing a lame guy with his equally lame dummy act, voices overlay the voice of the ventriloquist, seeming non-sequiters. When an armored car is hijacked, the reporters realize it's at a location that was indicated by the random statements from the audience. The boss of the armored car company is making a big stink to Inspector Henderson (his first appearance in the show) about police incompetence. Jimmy, who has been free-lancing (that idiot Olsen) and finds himself in a safe being lowered from a twenty story window. Lois and Clark come to the scene and Clark shouts out, "Jimmy's in that safe." Clark takes off and you- know-who appears and catches the safe. When the question is asked why Clark frequently disappears before Superman appears, someone says, "Maybe he takes his glasses off, changes his clothes, and becomes Superman." A little humor there. This is a very ordinary episode but typical of what is to come.

Talking Out Of Both Sides Of The Mouth

[redryan64 · 7/10 · 6 November 2014]

MUCH AS OTHER Episodes in the first season of the SUPERMAN Series, this one had a plot that could well have been a "B" Movie Detective picture in the 1930's or '40's. The hero in the picture could well have been Charlie Chan, Boston Blackie, Simon Templar or whoever.

BUT THE GUY in charge of this story was the Man of Steel and we're sure glad he was. The story fits very well in with the other entries of season one & two. There was very little out and out comedy and a serious treatment of the events of the day was the rule. The comic relief came from cantankerous and blustery Perry White (John Hamilton ) and his running gag of losing temper with the antics of 'young' Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson).

AS FOR THE story, we have a baffling mystery that has a ventriloquist's dummy apparently speaking on his own. The inexplicable occurrences have even the great ventriloquist, Marco (Syd Saylor) totally baffled and on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

WHEN THE THREE Daily Planet reporters, Kent (Mr. Reeves) Lois (Phyllis Coates) and Olsen (Larson) get to the theatre to investigate, they discover it to be a clever way for a criminal enterprise to transmit info about armored car routes to their minions!

FAR FETCHED AND less than efficient as this method may seem, it was indeed clever and made for an excellent installment of the series.

THE EPISODE Benefited from the inclusion of many reliable players in the cast. In addition to regulars George Reeves, Phyllis Coates, John Hamilton, Jack Larson and Robert Shayne; we have Tris Coffin, Syd Saylor, Pierre Watkin*, Robert Kent and Phillip Pine.

NOTE: * The prolific Mr. Watkin did at least one other SUPERMAN Episode and did portray Editor Perry White in both Columbia Serials. SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1948) and ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (Columbia, 1950).