Ghost Wolf
Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

I will never forget one late afternoon in the 1950s when my mother, never known for her humor or sarcasm, stood outside my locked bedroom door and bellowed with great conviction "No turning into a werewolf until your homework is done." I knew what she meant, of course. The whole house, which included my father, brother and three-legged dog, all knew. Simply put, I loved werewolves. I liked vampires and the Frankenstein monster and old Kharis the Mummy too (to be honest, I could take or leave the Invisible Man), but I reserved a special place in my heart for werewolves, specifically the Wolfman portrayed in five Universal horror films by Lon Chaney Jr. Anywhere, anytime I was in the mood I would find a mirror and focus on my adolescent mug while I scrunched my features, barred my canines, messed with my hair and began to growl. Aiding me in these transformations was my father's Xmas gift of a portable tape recorder that I used to tape my favorite horror pictures. Now in these days of videos and DVDs (and who knows what else is around the corner) the idea of taping only the audio part of a movie might sound odd if not downright idiotic, but in those prehistoric days it offered up magical possibilities. I knew these films so well that I could sit in the dark and listen to the dialog and the great music by studio composers like Hans Salter, Charles Previn and Frank Skinner and let my imagination do the rest.

Even better, I could crank up Salter's very evocative transformation music that created the perfect mood when -- with the help of makeup wizard Jack Pierce and special effects magician John P. Fulton -- Chaney turned into his furry alter ego and pretend to be experiencing the same agonies of metamorphosis (thank goodness there was no shrink in the neighborhood). In any case, my poor mother finally got wise to the sounds of me gnashing my teeth and fighting my dog when she should have been hearing me struggling with fractions or diagramming sentences. What all of this is leading up to is that The Ghost Wolf from the first season of TAOS was a bit of a letdown. There was no real werewolf in the story (as opposed to a Jimmy Olsen comic book I recall where the cub reporter actually grew whiskers and teeth and threatened Lois' sister Lucy - No. 44, April 1960).  From what I could see it wasn't even a wolf, just a German shepherd with a bad dye job and a lousy disposition.

Still, once my initial disappointment was over it became a favorite episode. In the first place, it's always interesting to see the Daily Planet gang away from Metropolis for a change. Perry orders Clark, Lois and Jimmy out to see what's going on at the Planet-owned Lone Pine Timber Company, run by Sam Garvin (played by Stanley Andrews best known for his later role as the Old Ranger, narrator on Death Valley Days for many, many years before Ronald Reagan took over and whose voice is inexplicably dubbed during his phone chats with Perry). Lois and Jimmy dress down for the occasion (Jimmy wearing what is possibly the ugliest mixing of plaid shirts and pants ever recorded on camera), but Clark decides to go into the woods with the same old suit.

Also in the cast is the very attractive Jane Adams as the Ghost Wolf's owner Barbette. Adams was a solid and likable B actress in many programmers and serials. She was Vicki Vale in the 1949 cliffhanger Batman and Robin, acted opposite Rondo Hatton in The Brute Man and is probably best known for playing the doomed hunchback lab assistant in House of Dracula.

Veteran bad guy Lou Krugman (also featured in The Human Bomb but who I will always remember most vividly from Andy's Gang where he played the Maharaja) fills out the cast.

This is one of the few episodes where Clark actually says "Great Scott" which was a trade line in the comics. There's lots of fill with stock footage, most of lumberjacks and falling trees, but like most of the early episodes it's pretty much action, action, action with director Lee Sholem quickly getting the audience into the thick of things. This was reportedly the show where George Reeves took a bad fall during a flying sequence, probably in the shot where Superman takes off to seed a cloud with electricity. Lois gets to scream twice and along with Jimmy almost gets par-boiled by a forest fire but the two are insulated from the heat by Superman's cape (odd none of the trees are seen to be burnt).

By the way, according to this episode iuse MEtropolis 6-0500 f you ever wish to phone the Daily Planet.

July 2005
Return to Introduction

The Adventures Continue (TAC) is a website devoted to George Reeves and the Adventures of Superman. All contents copyright© by Jim Nolt unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Nothing from this website may be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part (excpet for brief passaged used solely for review purposes) without the written permission of either Jim Nolt (owner) and/or Lou Koza (editor).

The items contained in the feature pages titled In Retrospect by Bruce Dettman is the copyright and ownership of Bruce Dettman and cannot be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part without Mr. Dettman's written permission.

Superman and all related indicia are trademarks of DC Comics, Inc. and are reproduced for historical purposes only. Use of the name of any product or character without mention of trademark status should not be construed as a challenge to such status. Includes the video captures from the Adventures of Superman.