A group of crooks visit a series of stores specializing in china and statuary. They pay the proprietors for simple animal statues and then smash them. Eventually, they come up with a series of simple objects: a key, a cow, and so on. Kent and Lois know what is going on but since they are wrecking their own property, the law can't touch them. Lois gets the idea to purchase some of these objects and finds the key, but the crooks kidnap her and take the key. Once Lois disappears, Kent/Superman try to piece together what little evidence they have to find her.. This smashing of statues was the basis for the plot of one of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The conclusion is far fetched at best. Let me ask these questions: how do you know a cow represents Moo and how does one know where the pluses and minuses go?
Adventures of Superman (TV Series)
Mystery of the Broken Statues (1952)
User Reviews
Review this title4 Reviews
Neat Mystery
sscheiber27 December 2014
Richard laid out the plot pretty well. I have no argument with that part of what he said. But I believe that in this case the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Yes, the premise is somewhat absurd. Why wouldn't the crooks use a process that would keep the cops from finding out ?
This episode was done in 1951. Television was in its infancy. The writers knew nothing about writing for television. (That's all TV writers, although they didn't all come from the same roots.) These writers had all cut their teeth writing B movies in the 40s. So The Adventures of Superman -- especially in the first season -- consisted primarily of 25-minute B movies, many of them film noir. But they do ask you to suspend disbelief. In this case, they ask you to grant them the absurd premise, because if you do they will weave a cute little mystery.
So I give this one an "A" for effort. And if the initial premise is a bit far fetched, it lets them tell a good story.
Yes, the premise is somewhat absurd. Why wouldn't the crooks use a process that would keep the cops from finding out ?
This episode was done in 1951. Television was in its infancy. The writers knew nothing about writing for television. (That's all TV writers, although they didn't all come from the same roots.) These writers had all cut their teeth writing B movies in the 40s. So The Adventures of Superman -- especially in the first season -- consisted primarily of 25-minute B movies, many of them film noir. But they do ask you to suspend disbelief. In this case, they ask you to grant them the absurd premise, because if you do they will weave a cute little mystery.
So I give this one an "A" for effort. And if the initial premise is a bit far fetched, it lets them tell a good story.
Statue Content Proves Meaningful
biorngm17 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Review S 1 Ep 4 The Mystery of the Broken Statues Variations of this plot are used in wartime B detective movies which is how these writers earned a living as television was an infant and the stories were from Saturday afternoon movies. Hiding any figurines and other items of little value in recognizable containers, forcing the detectives or bad guys to seek them out was commonplace. We are into the fourth episode of the series and two main recurring characters do not appear, Superman is given limited screen time, Clark does use his x-ray vision, otherwise, it is Lois's curiosity prompting the puzzle parts to be born. Clark gets into it when Lois's apartment is messed, she is abducted, the henchman's lead to the plane's location, prompted by Clark's citizen arrest, and identifying Marden as a notorious confidence man. Rebus's are commonly calculated plus then minus in succession, but some discretion in gathering the clues rather than smashing same in public seems a little amateurish, but it has been done with variations before in Saturday matinée audiences. Lois and Clark got along in this episode working alongside each other as compared to other stories where Lois is really mean spirited towards Clark. Watch for the artist Clark at work, Marden's arrest and the prize opening at the end. Note the looks given by all when Clark speaks his closing line.
Trippin' Episode
richard.fuller126 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
So these guys go into shops, buy an assortment of the same little ceramic statues, and proceed to smash them in front of witnesses, usually the store owner.
They paid for the statues, so what does he care? Well, he's a witness and he tells any reporter or policeman what took place.
Naturally they are going to investigate, especially when Lois learns that one of these smashers is a felon.
She tails him and sure enough, he and his partner do it again, at another store.
What they are after is clues to the hidden loot, but wait a minute.
Had they NOT smashed the statues in the store, but taken them home and done this in private, no one would have been suspicious. No one would have seen any suspicious behavior! It was like these guys were wanting to be caught! And the clues? Clark called them a rebus.
He wrote down what items were found in the small statues.
They were things like a toy car, a toy cow, a pin, little monopoly pieces looking things.
So Clark writes them down and proceeds to go "let's remove these letters and these letters." How did he know which letters to remove? He ends up with TWO LETTERS and a number or two as well.
It's a Post Office box, Lois says.
There's the loot.
Hey, guys, next time you want to hide some money or whatever it was, find an easier way. There's got to be an easier way than going through all this and fouling it up this badly! Geez!
They paid for the statues, so what does he care? Well, he's a witness and he tells any reporter or policeman what took place.
Naturally they are going to investigate, especially when Lois learns that one of these smashers is a felon.
She tails him and sure enough, he and his partner do it again, at another store.
What they are after is clues to the hidden loot, but wait a minute.
Had they NOT smashed the statues in the store, but taken them home and done this in private, no one would have been suspicious. No one would have seen any suspicious behavior! It was like these guys were wanting to be caught! And the clues? Clark called them a rebus.
He wrote down what items were found in the small statues.
They were things like a toy car, a toy cow, a pin, little monopoly pieces looking things.
So Clark writes them down and proceeds to go "let's remove these letters and these letters." How did he know which letters to remove? He ends up with TWO LETTERS and a number or two as well.
It's a Post Office box, Lois says.
There's the loot.
Hey, guys, next time you want to hide some money or whatever it was, find an easier way. There's got to be an easier way than going through all this and fouling it up this badly! Geez!
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