King of the Rocket Men (1949)

Jeff King in his experimental rocket suit battles the evil Dr. Vulcan.

Director:

Fred C. Brannon

Writers:

Royal K. Cole, William Lively,

Stars:

Tristram Coffin, Mae Clarke, Don Haggerty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tristram Coffin	...	Jeff King
Mae Clarke	...	Glenda Thomas
Don Haggerty	...	Tony Dirken
House Peters Jr.	...	Burt Winslow
James Craven	...	Prof. Millard [Chs. 1-7, 10]
I. Stanford Jolley	...	Prof. Bryant
Douglas Evans	...	Chairman [Ch. 12]
Ted Adams	...	Martin Conway [Chs. 1-4]
Stanley Price	...	Gunther Von Strum
Dale Van Sickel	...	Henchman Martin [Ch.1] / Prof. Drake [Ch. 1] / Henchman Gates [Chs. 6-7, 9-11]
Tom Steele	...	Henchman Knox [Chs. 1, 3-4, 7] / Taxi Driver [Chs. 10-11]
David Sharpe	...	Henchman Blears / Cliff / Stark
Eddie Parker	...	Rowan [Ch. 3]
Michael Ferro	...	Henchman Turk [Ch. 8]
Frank O'Connor	...	Warehouse Guard [Chs. 1, 10]

Storyline

Prof. Millard pretends to be dead and helps Jeff King ferret out Vulcan, the evil traitor at the science academy. Donning his Rocket Man costume King goes from one hair raising rescue to the next in order to keep the newly invented Decimator out of the clutches of Vulcan and his minions.

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Plot Keywords:

secret | science | suspect | remote control | traitor | 

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Taglines:

Watch "Rocket Man" sweep from the clouds to battle America's enemies! (original poster)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der König der Raketenmänner

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$165,592 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

167 min 167 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Titles of Chapters

• 1. Dr. Vulcan. Traitor
• 2. Plunging Death
• 3. Dangerous Evidence
• 4. High Peril
• 5. Fatal Dive
• 6. Mystery of The Rocket Man
• 7. Molten Menace
• 8. Suicide Flight
• 9. Ten Seconds To Live
• 10. The Deadly Fog
• 11. Secret of Dr. Vulcan
• 12. Wave of Disaster [Note: The On Screen number to this is 'Last Chapter' instead of '12']

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Connections

Featured in Avalon (1990)

User Reviews

A Treat as long as you don't take it seriously

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?