Superman on Television

Adventures of Superman: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episode 18: "Drums of Death"

Reviewed by: James Lantz

Original Broadcast Date: January 16, 1953

Writer: Dick Hamilton

Director: Lee Sholem

Guest Cast:
Henry Corden as William Johnson/Paploi Legbu
Milton Wood as Antoin Bergeret
Mabel Albertson as Kate White
Leonard Mudie as Doctor Leland Masters
George Hamilton as Doctor Simone Gerarde
Smoki Whitfield as the Voodoo Drummer

"Drums of Death"

Daily Planet editor Perry White is extremely concerned. His photographer sister Kate and cub reporter Jimmy Olsen have gone on an expedition in the jungles of Haiti. It has been over one week since there has been any sign of them. Ten days ago, Perry received a film from Kate that featured a Haitian voodoo doctor named Paploi Legbu. Legbu clearly knows that he is being filmed for the movie. The native is clearly not happy about this. Clark Kent has been ordered to see what's happened to Jimmy and Kate, and, in spite of Kent's wanting to go alone as Superman, Perry insists on tagging along. Hopefully, both the chief and Clark will find the answers they seek.

Perry and Clark are in Camp Haitian, Haiti discussing Kate and Jimmy's disappearance with Antoin Bergeret of the Haitian government. Bergeret offers to assist the pair of men in any way possible. Native drums tell of Clark and Perry's arrival as guide William Johnson enters their hotel room. He claims to have gotten word of the white visitors from the drumbeats and assumed that Clark and Perry were in Haiti looking for Kate and Jimmy, whom he had met at a party in Bergeret's home. He warns Clark and Perry to stay away from the jungles and voodoo, but they refuse to give in to such demands. They will stop at nothing to find Kate White and Jimmy Olsen.

Clark and Perry have finally found a guide to take them through the jungle in the morning. Doctor Leland Masters, an English expert on the Haitian jungles who had eavesdropped on the conversation between Clark, Perry and Johnson, has agreed to do so. After Masters leaves, Clark notices that William Johnson had left behind the handkerchief he had used to wipe sweat from his brow and neck. There is a dark, soot-like substance on the fabric. However, this new discovery will have to wait. Kent is needed in the jungle as Superman.

Superman's superhuman eyes and ears have seen and heard everything he needs to about Kate White. Paploi Legbu had somehow placed a drug into some tea Kate had drunk at Bergeret's party. He wants to know why Kate was taking pictures in the area of the citadel where she and Jimmy Olsen are being held. Paper chains have been placed on her wrists, but the substance given to her makes her believe that they are made of heavy iron. Should anyone other than Legbu remove them, Kate will die. In the meantime, Superman has found Jimmy Olsen, who has pretended to be in a trance until he could get help. The cub reporter is in a cave digging in search of Henri Christophe's hidden treasure. The Man of Steel reassures Jimmy that he will be free once pieces of the mysterious puzzle reveal themselves. Hopefully, that will happen before it's too late for Kate and Jimmy.

Clark Kent will not be going with Perry and Doctor Masters into the jungle. He needs Mister Bergeret to assist him with a theory. As Kent waits impatiently, Masters and Perry walk to Legbu's citadel, only to be captured by the voodoo doctor's natives. Perry and Masters are now Legbu's prisoners and will stare directly into the face of death if Superman does not save them.

Antoin Bergeret has taken Clark to Port Au Prince to have Johnson's handkerchief analyzed for the dark grime on it. Once Doctor Simone Gerarde finishes examining the cloth, Clark leaves before Bergeret returns from the courthouse. Time is of the essence for Superman, for Perry, Kate and Jimmy, who had unsuccessfully defended himself, are locked in a cage in Legbu's dungeon where wine is made, and Doctor Masters is in a hidden room behind a secret wall not far from them. This intrepid group is really in grave danger.

Believing that Kate took pictures of the location of Henri Christophe's treasure, Legbu is dissatisfied with her ignorance of the matter. Even recovering from her drugged state, she doesn't answer to the mad voodoo doctor's questions. As punishment, Legbu activates the lethal trap in the prison holding Kate, Perry and Jimmy. The walls are closing in on the trio. Suddenly, Superman's tremendous strength stops them from being crushed like grapes. With Perry, Jimmy and Kate now safe, the Man of Tomorrow frees Doctor Masters and deals with the insane Paploi Legbu, who is revealed to be William Johnson. Johnson had darkened his face with the make-up that was found on his handkerchief to pretend to be a voodoo doctor. He may not have found any gold, but William Johnson/Paploi Legbu will do a lot of digging in prison thanks to Superman and his friends.

Kate, Perry and Jimmy are in Camp Haitian celebrating and recounting their adventure to Clark Kent when Antoin Bergeret arrives. He is surprised and wonders how Kent returned from Port Au Prince before he did.

"I flew," the mild mannered reporter answers with a smile and a wink to the audience.

3Rating - 3 (out of 5): Acting runs in Mabel Albertson's family. Her brother Jack Albertson has an extensive filmography. Mabel is best known as Howard Sprague's mother on The Andy Griffith Show and as Darrin Stephens' mother Phyllis on Bewitched.

Henry Corden's only appeared in this episode of The Adventures of Superman, but he would return to the DC Universe by providing voices for Challenge of the Super Friends. He would also work in other Hanna-Barbera animated cartoons, including becoming Alan Reed's successor as Fred Flintstone.

When he was 82, Leonard Mudie was the oldest actor to ever appear in Star Trek: The Original Series. He played the second survivor of the S.S. Columbia in the first pilot "The Cage". Look for him to return for three more episodes in The Adventures of Superman.

The photo of Legbu does not coincide with any footage shown to Clark Kent by Perry White in spite of the editor's claims that it came from the last film Kate had sent him. In addition to that blooper, the picture can be seen as one of a man in a suit and tie instead of the voodoo doctor when Johnson looks at it in the hotel room.

It looks like I got my wish about Perry granted after "Mystery in Wax". He's left the office again, and we get a look at his family. Let's hope more episodes give us more background on Superman's friends.

Having "Drums of Death" take place in Haiti made me feel like that this story is a lost episode of The Adventures of Superman radio show. This could be due to the fact that many of the writers of the first season came from that series. Somehow that atmosphere was very prominent in this story. Having missed reviewing the Man of Steel's audio adventures from 1940-1951, this was like welcoming an old friend home.

Perhaps this one deserves a four or five, but the story's predictability knocks two points off the score. It is slightly better than "Double Trouble". However, the solution to the supposed mystery is quite obvious from the episode's opening scenes. Had Legbu's face been hidden or his back turned in Kate White's film, perhaps the ending would be more suspenseful and less like a Scooby Doo cartoon. The actors and director did their work perfectly. Dick Hamilton's screenplay just lacks the elements that should have made "Drums of Death" an adventure that puts the audience on the edge of their seat. The overall effort was good, but Hamilton should have added more twists and turns. Without them, this entry falls a bit flat.



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