Adventures of Superman (TV Series) The Town That Wasn't (1957) User Reviews

Give The Writers An 'A' For Originality

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 1 December 2006]

Trucks with valuable merchandise are disappearing and no one has a clue what's going on. (That's a pretty sad statement about the law enforcement in the area.) What is happening is that a small group of guys has figured out a plan to not only rob trucks of their merchandise but bilk local motorists through unfair and high speeding ticket fines.

It all involves a fake town of several buildings that these guys put up quickly, and then move to other spots when they hear of big shipment on its way. However, as the story develops we see a diner, a jail, a courthouse and personnel, so it couldn't have been that easy to move as it's said in the story. However, I try to nitpick these stories none of them ever make a bit of suspense.

The question only remains: is it an entertaining episode? In this case, the answer is "yes," even though there is no action/no Superman until the final minute, so I give the writers credit for an original story that kept my interest even though very little happened. Note: Dick Ellliott, who usually plays an eccentric scientist, plays a crooked judge in here!

It Used to Be a Good Source of Revenue

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 12 February 2015]

This is one of those memorable episodes. Jimmy is traveling a rural highway when he is pulled over by a town cop. He is taken to a judge and it costs him fifty dollars (probably quite a bit of money in 1958). A group of crooks have put up a portable town (yes, a portable town). They have two sources of income. Picking up speeders and charging them exorbitant fines and a bigger game, hijacking trucks and throwing the drivers in jail. Once the heat is on, they move the town down the road. This is a bit hard to swallow when you look at the complexity of the buildings (including a diner). Of course, the trucks are the real focus of the police. Drivers are being blamed for the disappearance of their trucks and cargoes. Lois goes to investigate and because she is asking too many questions, she is also thrown in the slammer. Jimmy, Kent, and Henderson go to check things out and are also thrown in jail. The implication is that this is big money and they will not see the next day, literally. This is one of those episodes where each of us could sense the helplessness of our plight. We long for a satisfactory conclusion.

Bringing Us a mixed Bag of Fun & good, old fashioned Super-Hero Action that's sure to please all, even me buddy, Schultz!

[redryan64 · 7/10 · 14 November 2008]

WE can't be sure, but doggone it; this sure seems like one of those made for TV ½ Hour Episodes that were made into Series Installments after having been adapted from the original medium of the Comic Book stories from ACTION COMICS, SUPERMAN and WORLD'S FINEST COMICS. The Superman Feature appeared in all three publications and we've seen examples of scripts having been spun-off from them all; though this one we ain't so positive about!*

OWING to the very original plot line, one which we don't recollect seeing any similar plots, it has that wildly creative comics type story; which knows little, if indeed any, bounds. Far-fetched, yet plausible, the story manages to find receptive human emotions on man a front. From the out and out villainy displayed by a ruthless pack of common sociopathic career criminal types (We all called 'em just plain old "Crooks"!), to the near absurdity of the portable, bogus municipality, finally to the realization that maybe, just maybe such occurrences were possible. After all, we're reminded of the old adage that "Truth is Stranger than Fiction!"

OUR STORY………………….In the proverbial nutshell, Cub Reporter, Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson) , while on return from an assignment at a nearby locale, is arrested for Speeding by a Uniformed Cop in a Markeed Police Car. He is taken before a Judge in the Town; who exacts what seems to be an excessive fine; levied against the young journalist under some obvious one sided "Home Town" conditions. Olsen vows to write an expose about the town's being a "Speed Trap"; but is cautioned about not getting personally involved by Daily Planet Editor-in-Chief, Perry White (John Hamilton).

BECAUSE a pair of truckers vanished and were reported in the vicinity of where Olsen said "the Town" was on the Highway, Daily Planet reporters Lois Lane (Noel Neil), Clark Kent (Mr. George Reeves, himself) and Jimmy all set out to investigate. They are joined by Inspector William Henderson (Robert Shayne) of the Metropolis P.D. A sight that seemed to have been the sight of some wooden facades and portable buildings is found and the scam is eventually cleared up; with the phony cops, judge and grill owner all winding up in the Hoosegow.

BEING the 3rd Episode offered in the 5th season, it was and remains a top entry of the Series, regardless of what season. It was an early directorial effort of writer Harry Gerstad and a stunning example of his abilities in the Director's Chair. It was also one of the earliest examples of Color Photography use in a TV Series, as that season began the application of color; although B & W prints were sent out to the affiliate stations of the Superman Syndicated broadcast lineup.

BUDGETS being what we could fairly refer to as 'frugal', the look of the finished project looks pretty durn good on the screen. The usual interior shots of the Daily Planet Offices, as well as the truck stop, the "courtroom" and the bogus jail cell are balanced by some fine, bright outdoor scenes of the "Town" and the Highway; doubtlessly staged on the Studio Back Lot. The Cast is well used and thoughtfully assembled with faces familiar from "B" Pictures, Juvenile Western Series and the old, then dying genre of the Saturday Afternoon Matinée Cliffhanger Serials. In this case, the names included were the likes of: Dick Elliot ("Judge"), Terry Frost & Charles H. Gray (Fake Cops), Michael Garrett (Mr. Harris), Jack Littlefield (Joe), Phillip Barnes & Frank O'Connor (victimized Truck Drivers) and Bill Kennedy doing the unbilled announcer's chores.

"THE TOWN THAT WASN'T" manages to 'touch all the bases' in bringing us what we expected in a good Superman Adventure. It was a well crafted set of circumstances that was a most perfect setting for the Man of Steel and his friends to display their talents in. It was kept walking that tightrope between being exciting yet amusing and being predictable and laughable.

DURING this season, production was cut in half from the previous 26 installments to the quarter year supply of a measly 13 episodes. Although this was doubtless an economic consideration and Series Producer Whitney Ellsworth of National Comics/Superman-D.C. definitely had no crystal ball with which to see how the future would acclaim ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN as being perhaps THE greatest of all 'cult' series; it's still a damn shame! Judging by the quality of 'The Town That Wasn't', we're sure that there would have been some really fine little Super Gems produced!

THAT would bring us to those four fateful words: What Could Have Been!

NOTE: * Some stories we know to have been adapted from the Comic Books' printed medium were: "The Dog Who Knew Superman" (Season 2, Episode # 9), "Panic In The Sky" (Season 2, Episode # 12) and The Lucky Cat (Season 3, Episode 3); which interestingly enough was adapted from a BATMAN Comic Book Story about "The Anti-Superstition Society.".

POODLE SCHNITZ!!

"Olsen, you better let Kent drive."

[at-05037 · 8/10 · 1 December 2020]

In one of the better episodes from later in the series, vacationing Jimmy Olsen runs low on cash after receiving a speeding ticket. And after he returns to the Daily Planet a few days early, Perry White has yet another opportunity to teach him about the business -- reporters cannot use newspapers to write vengeful columns based on bad personal experiences.

A refreshing plot twist... The criminals in this case have cleverly found a new means to obtain cash. And the bad guys in this episode are not the usual suspects (i.e. character actors) like John Eldredge, Herb Vigran and Ben Welden. What a coincidence that "Young" Olsen's early-on police encounter is connected to criminal trouble, eventually placing him, Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Inspector Henderson behind bars. Not to worry, in the end, justice is sweet.

It sticks in the memory

[videonly · 28 August 2007]

I'm watching Rainbow Over Texas (a Roy Rogers picture) on TMC and a small part -- a yachtsman, complete with silly hat and striped sleeves -- is played by character actor Richard Elliot, who, as IMDb reveals also played the Judge in this episode. I mention this only because I got nailed speeding in West Virginia in a true speed trap earlier this summer, and as we were waiting for the State Trooper to return with my souvenir, I told my 10 year old son as much as I could recall about this, one of my very favorites, which I haven't seen in 20 years at least and haven't been able to get this episode out of my head for weeks. And I agree - for a town that was supposed to be mobile, it had an awful lot of stability; I remember Clark Kent finding nails in the ground where the buildings were supposed to have been.I do recall this episode as very tension filled and scary and it spooked me (a born and bred New Yorker) from ever wanting to ever speeding through any small desert outposts.

The Episode That Every New Driver Took To Heart

[djfone · 9/10 · 11 February 2024]

A wonderfully creative and entertaining episode, fully believable when America was still largely rural, and still relevant today. While a phony pickup 'n leave small town banking on the booty from hijacked trucks is fictional, small town speed traps are not. Take the case of the tiny Lake of the Ozarks speed trap town of Macks Creek MO, which made the mistake of entrapping a motorist who was a state legislator, who returned to work hell-bent on dismantling it. His investigation revealed a huge chunk of the town's revenue came from dubious "speeding violations", resulting in state laws forcing similar speed-trap schemes in small towns in Missouri to also go straight. Similarly, another tiny Missouri town, St. George just outside St. Louis, was dissolved entirely due to sketchy police officers abusing their power. I lived just 3 miles from St. George, and applauded its demise.