There are so many crooks in Metropolis. They seem to be hiding behind every rock, with their fedoras and their expensive suits. In this one, a cheap hood is trying to sleep but the guy upstairs is making all kinds of noise It seems that the guy (character actor Sterling Holloway, sometimes known as the voice of Winnie the Pooh) has a super computer in his apartment. It is so sophisticated that all one needs to do is feed in a little information and ask a question, and a ticker tape gives the answer. The cheap hood tricks the weird scientist into finding out details about banks and potential dangers, using hypothetical scenarios, if a bank were robbed. Of course, the word goes out and a series of bank robberies occur. Even Superman is accounted for and at one time apprehends a man who has nothing in his satchel (supposedly filled with money). Once the events sink in on the good doctor, he enlists the help of others and turns the tables. Watch the ending. It is quite satisfying and there is some good humor in it.
Adventures of Superman (TV Series)
The Machine That Could Plot Crimes (1953)
User Reviews
Review this title4 Reviews
No, Schultz, it's not like the DALEY MACHINE, here in Chicago!,
redryan6429 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
CELL PHONES, Electronic Pagers, Geo Positional Instrument Systems and Computers are all a part of our World today that we take for granted. The truth be told, it wasn't too many years ago that all of these technological marvels were strictly the stuff of Science Fiction.
ARTIFICIAL Intelligence of the Computer was the one of these innovations that was actually in its infancy in 1953, when the "Adventures of Superman", in its 2nd season, brought us as its "Lucky 13th "Episode of that year. The relatively new notion of having some purveyor of "Artificial Intelligence" was still a sort of subject for the likes Messers Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov.
INTRODUCING the computer, which had been given a human name by its eccentric loner-scientist and inventor, Professor Oscar Quinn (Sterling Holloway). His characterization has enough of the absent mindedness and unusual type behaviour; but is devoid of any dishonest or less than gentile qualities. He is only guilty of being just a little too trusting and naïve. His exploitation by the usual gang of TV Crooks was a case of taking candy from the proverbial baby.
ROUNDING out the cast was names like Billy Nelson, Ben Welden and Stan Jarman, perennial movie gangsters and Superman Show semi-regulars all. Their presence added to the usual cast members George Reeves (Kent/Superman), Noel Neil (Miss Lois Lane) and Robert Shayne (Inspector Bill Henderson) assured the episode's success and entertainment value to the Superman Series' viewing audience. (For this episode, John Hamilton (Editor Perry White) and Jack Larson (Cub Reporter Jimmy Olsen were given the day off; or was it the whole week?)
"THE Machine That Could Plot Crimes" was a good example of having the proper balance of just what were the proper elements that always made for a great weekly installment of the Superman saga. It has a serious crime wave of armed robberies that seemingly has no solution. It introduced the Computer (looking very much like an early room sized Univac) and the eccentricity of "Uncle" Oscar; adding a well executed touch of innocence and comic relief.
WRAPPING up the story with not only one, but two (Count 'em folks, that's 2) laughs. It concludes the crime wave with Superman's catching the gang with an assist from "Mr. Kelso" (the computer, remember?). The humorous fade-out at the end is courtesy of the kindly, eccentric inventor, Prof. or "Uncle" Oscar's proving that there is indeed a little larceny in all our hearts by his unsuccessful attempt at asking the computer about the Man of Steel's secret identity. Replying on the subject via an almost instantaneous print-out, "Mr. Kelso" replies, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Our Rating: SSS1/2
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
ARTIFICIAL Intelligence of the Computer was the one of these innovations that was actually in its infancy in 1953, when the "Adventures of Superman", in its 2nd season, brought us as its "Lucky 13th "Episode of that year. The relatively new notion of having some purveyor of "Artificial Intelligence" was still a sort of subject for the likes Messers Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov.
INTRODUCING the computer, which had been given a human name by its eccentric loner-scientist and inventor, Professor Oscar Quinn (Sterling Holloway). His characterization has enough of the absent mindedness and unusual type behaviour; but is devoid of any dishonest or less than gentile qualities. He is only guilty of being just a little too trusting and naïve. His exploitation by the usual gang of TV Crooks was a case of taking candy from the proverbial baby.
ROUNDING out the cast was names like Billy Nelson, Ben Welden and Stan Jarman, perennial movie gangsters and Superman Show semi-regulars all. Their presence added to the usual cast members George Reeves (Kent/Superman), Noel Neil (Miss Lois Lane) and Robert Shayne (Inspector Bill Henderson) assured the episode's success and entertainment value to the Superman Series' viewing audience. (For this episode, John Hamilton (Editor Perry White) and Jack Larson (Cub Reporter Jimmy Olsen were given the day off; or was it the whole week?)
"THE Machine That Could Plot Crimes" was a good example of having the proper balance of just what were the proper elements that always made for a great weekly installment of the Superman saga. It has a serious crime wave of armed robberies that seemingly has no solution. It introduced the Computer (looking very much like an early room sized Univac) and the eccentricity of "Uncle" Oscar; adding a well executed touch of innocence and comic relief.
WRAPPING up the story with not only one, but two (Count 'em folks, that's 2) laughs. It concludes the crime wave with Superman's catching the gang with an assist from "Mr. Kelso" (the computer, remember?). The humorous fade-out at the end is courtesy of the kindly, eccentric inventor, Prof. or "Uncle" Oscar's proving that there is indeed a little larceny in all our hearts by his unsuccessful attempt at asking the computer about the Man of Steel's secret identity. Replying on the subject via an almost instantaneous print-out, "Mr. Kelso" replies, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Our Rating: SSS1/2
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
Rare outdoor locations I visited!
djfone11 April 2024
This episode always struck me as a bit off, and I never knew why until I was living in Los Angeles and got an attack of deja vu while pedaling between the old 4th and 6th Avenue Bridges connecting Boyle Heights with the Arts District. This is where this episode, starring Sterling Holloway and familiar bad guys Ben Welden and Billy Nelson, did a bunch of very rare "Superman" location shooting in the early 50s.
There's also a strange scene involving Lois Lane walking alone in an ominous-looking industrial area lined with railroad tracks, with Clark standing guard nearby. Then Welden robs a bank and his getaway car is parked across the street from G. W. Wright, a railroad industry servicer.
The episode features two scenes filmed virtually under the old 4th Avenue Bridge, where I pedaled my bike through a terrifying, pitch-dark tunnel that terminated on the elevated bank of the concrete-bed Los Angeles River.
Absolutely nowhere in this episode does Mr. Kelso advise me to pedal under that bridge, across those tracks, nor through that spooky bridge tunnel.
Years later I was participating in an L. A. downtown bicyle event where streets were closed to cars and trucks, and I stopped along the deck of the 4th Avenue bridge to see why bikers had stopped to peer over the edge. Turns out, movie production of a car explosion on a street beneath the bridge required a foot-deep bed of dirt first be steamroller-leveled on the blast site, then painted to resemble the road.
There's also a strange scene involving Lois Lane walking alone in an ominous-looking industrial area lined with railroad tracks, with Clark standing guard nearby. Then Welden robs a bank and his getaway car is parked across the street from G. W. Wright, a railroad industry servicer.
The episode features two scenes filmed virtually under the old 4th Avenue Bridge, where I pedaled my bike through a terrifying, pitch-dark tunnel that terminated on the elevated bank of the concrete-bed Los Angeles River.
Absolutely nowhere in this episode does Mr. Kelso advise me to pedal under that bridge, across those tracks, nor through that spooky bridge tunnel.
Years later I was participating in an L. A. downtown bicyle event where streets were closed to cars and trucks, and I stopped along the deck of the 4th Avenue bridge to see why bikers had stopped to peer over the edge. Turns out, movie production of a car explosion on a street beneath the bridge required a foot-deep bed of dirt first be steamroller-leveled on the blast site, then painted to resemble the road.
Crook Reversal
kryp4429 March 2024
The two crooks in episode 9 - The Dog Who Knew Superman - Ben Weldon is the boss and Billy Nelson is his stooge underling. This time in episode 13 - The Machine that Could Plot Crimes - the roles are reversed. Nelson is the boss with Weldon as his henchman. What makes many of these stories which are basically just cops and robbers yarns so much fun is of course a super hero against ordinary crooks. But more than that are the wonderful character actors playing the goofy hoodlums. Also not to be slighted is Sterling Holloway with his quaint eccentric mannerisms and silly giggles as the crackpot inventor.
A serious George Reeves playing Superman straight and determined would keep many of the later lighter episodes from descending into camp. I am re-watching these episodes on the Warner Bros DVD Sets that were released in 2005. On these superior digital transfers the picture quality is excellent. It does however ruin much of the illusion of Superman flying as you can clearly see the wires attached to Reeves that you could not see (at least not well) on the small TV sets of the 50's and 60's. That changes in the years after season two where Reeves is strictly levitated on a flat pan.
A serious George Reeves playing Superman straight and determined would keep many of the later lighter episodes from descending into camp. I am re-watching these episodes on the Warner Bros DVD Sets that were released in 2005. On these superior digital transfers the picture quality is excellent. It does however ruin much of the illusion of Superman flying as you can clearly see the wires attached to Reeves that you could not see (at least not well) on the small TV sets of the 50's and 60's. That changes in the years after season two where Reeves is strictly levitated on a flat pan.
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