MovieChat Forums > Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze Discussion > Any more info on the simultaneously film...

Any more info on the simultaneously filmed sequel???

posted 18 years ago by shadow-otr
11 replies | jump to latest

Under the trivia section it says...

It was reported in contemporary news accounts that a sequel had been filmed in the Lake Tahoe area simultaneously with the principal photography for the first Doc Savage, but the sequel was never completed because of the poor box office for that first film.

Now this is very interesting - I'd like to think that after all that hard work and money was spent on filming Warner Brothers wouldn't just toss the everything. It'd be interesting if [assuming the entire sequel was filmed] WB would undertake a similar effort to the "Superman 2 Donner Cut" and edit everything into a cohesive movie for home video release. By itself the sequel probably wouldn't sell enough but as part of a 'super deluxe multi-disc' DVD release with the first movie. I'm only guessing that it was never edited together in the end, but I could be wrong and a complete film is sitting in a WB storehouse somewhere - in which case WB's job of a home video release would be even easier.

Perhaps it's not too out there an idea, when news of the Sony Shadow movie hit - the folks over at AICN commented on IGN's team-up rumor [The Shadow, Doc Savage, and other Street & Smith characters] with info that as of 4 months prior Sony's movies based on The Shadow and Doc Savage were being developed as seperate movies. Hopefully this new Doc Savage movie will provide the impetus for WB to roll out at least a good DVD of DS:TMoB and hopefully a completed edit of the sequel.

Now onto my question - what else is there known about this simultaneously filmed but never released sequel to the 1975 movie?

[–] marcd30319 18 years ago

As the original poster for this particular trivia item, I was in college at the time, and recall reading a brief news item about George Pal filming two Doc Savage movies, and that's all I know.

There was a PDF file of the second film's screenplay, Doc Savage: Arch-Enemy of Evil, that was posted on the Internet, but I think it has been taken down for legal reasons.

I have seen out-take photos of Ron Ely as Doc in the 86th floor penthouse that did not appear in the Doc Savage - Man of Bronze movie. Perhaps these are still from the second unfinished film.

That being said, it is doubtful that this second film will ever see the light of day.

Richard Donner was able to get his version of Superman 2 because of last year's release of Superman Returns in conjunction with Warner Brothers' re-branding of the early Superman film franchise. And don't under-estimate that continuing interest and lobbying on the web from fans who were curious about Donner's take for Superman 2.

I don't know if there is a new Doc Savage movie under active development, nor is there any groundswell on the web or among fans of Doc's.

I wish it was otherwise..

[–] shadow-otr 18 years ago

Interesting, thanks alot!

If you're interested the Doc Savage movie comment I read came from Harry Knowles himself when he was commenting on the rumor movie that IGN had posted an article about.

Here's a link, the the snippet I mentioned in my previous post. I wouldn't waste time reading the reader comments to the article though - most of the respondents don't seem to know how to write anything without cussing every other word.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30905

I [Harry Knowles] know for a fact that THE SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE are separate projects that were being developed as separate projects at least 4 months ago. I'll continue to knock on Raimi's door to get to the truth, but at this point the only one that knows for sure, is his Shadow...

When the concrete announcement came later only The Shadow movie was given any attention - probably why the Doc movie missed everyone's radar.

Initial IGN article
http://movies.ign.com/articles/749/749557p1.html

A link to the follow-up article, no mention of Doc this time
http://movies.ign.com/articles/750/750382p1.html

[–] grendelkhan 18 years ago

There was a script and a title, but it was never filmed, at least from articles and interviews I have read. The photo is probably a still from an unsused scene in the completed movie, or was a still from a rehearsal.

[–] JohnnyWeissmuller 18 years ago

I was under the impression that parts of a planned sequel were filmed, but nothing substantial enough to warrant their release as a second film - DVD fodder, if a good release of Doc Savage ever hits stores.

[–] brisco-7 18 years ago

I had the pleasure of interviewing co-star Paul Gleason a few months before his untimely death, and he said that no sequel -- to his knowledge -- was being filmed simultaneously with the original film. He did say, though, that the cast was under contract for a series of films.

Scott
www.scottvoisin.com

[–] Grant_Gardner 17 years ago

Would it be possible to get a copy of this interview somehow? Especially if it has info pertaining to the Doc film.

[–] luanalual 18 years ago

This is something that I always wanted to know 'cause in the end of the Doc Savage movie appears the message:

Watch for Doc Savage's
Next thrilling adventures
The arch enemy of evil

But I never found this second movie, don't know if exist or not!???

Why they never made!????????????? I don't understand?
& if exist this sequel movie in somewhere they would release in dvd as you said!

I can't believe that Doc Savage don't made success in that time, but maybe was made in the wrong time, 'cause movies like these in the 80's & nowadays make so much success!
& I remember when I was a kid in the 80's I loved to watch Doc Savage! =)

[–] Grant_Gardner 16 years ago

Interesting that the rumor is still alive. When asked, both director and actor Ron Ely have clearly stated only one film was shot at the time. Considering the Warner team that took over after the film was green lit didn't want to spend anymore than they had to and severely cut the originally proposed budget, I don't see how this could be true. There are deleted scenes, tho. It may have just been a rumor at the time to encourage a 2nd film being made. Peace!

[–] patbuddha 17 years ago

It's been a more than 12 years since I saw Doc Savage on cable, but I seem to recall that the end of the movie showed clips of the sequel which did seem to indicate that some footage had been shot. Am I imagining that?

[–] Bpaxson002 16 years ago

The end of "Man of Bronze" shows Doc out Christmas shopping and then returning to the 86th floor. Upon his arrival, plays back a message recorded from is phone. The message ends with the caller being attacked and then Doc runs out the door. Then the scene fades to black and the tag for "Arch Enemy of Evil" comes up.

I don't know if this is what people think of when they say serial footage was filmed.

[–] TheDuck-3 15 years ago

Yeah, you are. At the end of the movie, Doc listens to a phone call on his answering machine (yet another amazing Doc gadget) from someone who claims he's "learned something... something terrible. Millions of people are going to be killed." As the voice starts to tell Doc he's the only one who can stop the threat, he's violently removed from the phone. Doc rushes to his garage and starts to speed to the Warfield Drug Store (whence came the call) and, as he skids around a corner, up comes the title card promising a sequel. But the film was a massive flop (I was 20 in 1975 in the New York metro area, and the movie was never released here. And believe me, I looked for it!) and the sequel never happened. The scenes you saw were pretty generic and were almost certainly filmed for the first movie. I've read the sequel script, BTW, and while not as campy as the first film, it still didn't seem to be the Doc film fans like me would like to see. Oh, well, maybe someday...