While I don't want to date myself, this is the first film I actually saw made. It's a 13 part chapter play, aka serial, that fifties kids enjoyed on Saturdays at the movies. All serials had a formula. They ended with a cliffhanger, they began with the "take out" of the previous week's episode, and featured lots of action and lame dialog. This one also offered the best human flying effects to that time. In fact, nobody surpassed them until Superman: The Movie. You can thank the Lydecker Brothers who not only created the effect, but nearly sunk NY City with a tidal wave. 4.5 hours of film on a budget of $175,000. You can only shake your head in amazement. I've seen the series a dozen times. I can recall seeing a screening of it in a local theater where they played all 13 episodes back to back. It got so that one section of the audience would cheer the producer and another the director. Everybody booed the actors. When did you last have a movie going experience like that?
Review of King of the Rocket Men
