Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze

In Michael Anderson's campy 1975 big-screen adaptation of Lester Dent's highly popular pulp adventure novels featuring the titular superman hero, viewers are introduced to Savage (Ron Ely of TV's Tarzan) as a fully-formed defender of justice (no origin story here) who retreats to his arctic Fortress of Solitude (an igloo equipped with stylish furnishings, full laboratory, library, and roaring fire pit) to confer with the colorful and eccentric experts who compose his “Brain Trust”: snappy lawyer Ham (Darrell Zwerling), rotund chemist Monk (Michael Miller), brawny engineer Renny (William Lucking), nerdy archaeologist Johnny (Eldon Quick), and fast-thinking electric whiz Long Tom (Paul Gleason). The gang is forced to put their heads together after the mysterious death of Doc's globetrotting father is discovered to have involved a South American tribe and a strange illness called the “Green Death.” Further investigations lead the adventurers to the deck of Captain Seas (Paul Wexler), a maniacal mariner intent on reaping the tribe's vast quantities of bubbling liquid gold at any cost! There's plenty of winking and nudging in this 1930s-set homage to the Saturday matinees of yesteryear—the best joke comes during a dinner scene on the Captain's ship where all the teetotaler heroes order lemonade and milk instead of alcohol—but unlike similar contemporary films Anderson trades snark and cynicism for heart. Fans of the Batman TV series from the ‘60s and Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy will find much to enjoy here. Recommended. (J. Cruz)