jamesrupert2014 Review of King of the Rocket Men

King of the Rocket Men (1949)

"I'm not the man they think I am at home I'm a rocket man"

[7/10 · 4 April 2017]

King of the Rocket Men is an entertaining serial featuring the iconic flying suit with the minimalist controls (off/on, up/down, fast/slow) worn (usually) by the heroic Jeff King. For 12 chapters King, his less competent colleagues, and the inevitable plucky female reporter battle the intrigues of "Dr. Vulcan", a typical megalomaniac super-villain who seems to like the sound of his own voice. The cliff hangers are a bit predictable (jump out of the runaway car at the last minute, turn on the jet back while falling at the last minute, etc) but the flying scenes are great (for the time and budget). The climax is the destruction of New York City (courtesy of the 1933 proto-disaster film "Deluge") as Vulcan uses his decimator ray to generate an undersea earthquake. The final scenes seem a bit upbeat under the circumstances as the mayor of New York steals the credit for stopping Vulcan (he seems in a pretty good mood considering millions must be dead or homeless, and billions of dollars' worth of real-estate destroyed). Despite the premise of a flying suit and the vivid destruction of the nation's most populous city, the most amazing part of the movie is the ability of men to keep their hats on while fighting. A great time-passer if not taken too critically. The suit and the flying scenes were recycled in a series of subsequent serials that are generally seen as inferior to this, the original.