Superman and the Mole Men (1951), introduces George Reeves as Superman and has a great message about tolerance! This is the first film for a DC Comics character. There was a fifteen part serial of Superman (1948) played by Kirk Alyn and the Fleischer cartoons were short films. It became the two part episodes of season one of Adventures of Superman, retitled “The Unknown People” (1953) and edited. The DVD of season 1 contains the film. I’m not certain why the name of the Mole Men was changed. The Mole People (1956) was three years later. The Marvel villain, Mole Man and the Moloids were introduced in 1961. Lee Sholem, a prolific director of television, directs the film, He later directed 14 episodes of Adventures of Superman and also directed Tarzan’s Magic Fountain (1949) with Lex Barker as Tarzan. Screenwriter, Robert Maxwell went on to produce the first two seasons of Adventures of Superman.
Whitney Ellsworth is a co-writer of the screenplay, difficult to find his credit, he was a writer for Superman and other comics in the Golden Age. The film is on pay per view at most channels. It is in black and white and has an animated title. The score by Darrell Calker has horns and some thumping of drums. His music was replaced in the television episodes. The narrator (Jack Narz) summarizes Superman’s origin, escaping Krypton, and landing on Earth “with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.” The background of ringed planets then has the heroic figure of Superman played by George Reeves. This shifts to his identity as Clark Kent in suit, glasses, and hat. Then, back to Superman with the American flag rippling behind him. Very similar to the tv program, but without triumphant music by Leon Klatzkin.
We move to pastoral town of Silsby, “Home of the World’s Deepest Oil Well” which we see on a welcome sign. We pan down from an oil well to National Oil Co.’s sign. A worker comes up with wrenches and his supervisor, Bill Corrigan (Walter Reed) tells him to throw them into a hole. The worker complains about throwing away expensive equipment. Then, the worker points out an approaching car. Pop Shannon (J. Farrell MacDonald) startles Corrigan. The car pulls up with John Craig (Ray Walker), Clark, and Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates). Craig, the publicist, introduces the reporters to Pop, the oil field’s watchmen. Pop tells them that Corrigan is shutting down the well. John goes to find out what is going on. Lois says it is wasted trip. Clark says they can write “the deepest oil well ever abandoned”, kinda funny.
Lois wonders how she will take pictures. Jimmy Olsen isn’t with them. Craig says to Corrigan that the reporters made the trip from Metropolis. Corrigan reported to corporate and ordered the shut down. Clark and Lois walk up and he asks Corrigan how far did they last drill. Corrigan says over 32,000 feet which is the farthest man has ever gone. Amazing! This is comparable to the Bertha Rogers borehole in 1972 which reached molten sulfur! John apologizes to Lois and Clark and offers them rooms in Silbury paid by the company. Clark looks at the machinery in the hole. This is basically the detective or reporter investigation from films and tv, kinda slow. Lois walks down the hotel steps who has packed for the trip back. Clark says he will pack in the morning and says that if they left they would reach Dallas. I guess Silsbury is somewhere in Texas.
Clark is suspicious about Corrigan and wants to drive to the well that night. Lois joins him. Pop is relaxing in house eating an orange. Outside, at the well cover, the latches open and Pop hears this and checks outside. He closes the door and then out of the well cover comes a Mole Man (Billy Curtis)! A little person with a large bald head (bald cap), curved eyebrows, and wearing black, furry suits. It is eight minutes into the film before we get anything unusual. He pulls up another Mole Man (John T Bambury) and they search the area. Clark and Lois pull up in the car, it looks like in the day, but filming was limited, he sees the open door. They rush in to see Pop unconscious! Lois suspects he had a heart attack. Clark wonders about the oranges spilled on the floor. He tells Lois to contact John and then goes to investigate.
Clark doesn't use his Superman powers like x-ray vision to help with the mystery. This was something that was on the show, but I think the movie is really an attempt to check on how things work. Clark goes out to check the well. Lois makes the call, the Mole-Men look into the window, and she screams. Clark tells Craig to send the police to the well while Lois is in shock. Later, Lois says they had the body of moles, do moles wear black sweaters?, and human heads. Dr. Reed (John Baer) walks in and says that Pop died from a heart attack. Clark asks if that could have been “frightened to death.” The doctor says this is possible. Lois is angry that the sheriff (Stanley Andrews) doesn’t believe her about what she saw. The Lois of the tv show wouldn't go into shock and would investigate on her own. Clark stays with Corrigan and asks about his report and the buried tools. He says he will print Corrigan’s story if there is proof.
Corrigan takes him to a room and carefully takes out tubes of the sampled earth from the drilling. He had examined them and then turned to find that they glow in the dark. Clark thinks it may be radium. Corrigan says that the drill hit an air packet when they stopped. This leads to him thinking it is a Hollow Earth, disproven, but lives on in fiction. Hollow Earths are in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ At the Earth’s Core (1914) that led to the Pellucidar series. Corrigan gets a call and says that coroner was on his way to get the body, but saw the creatures and crashed his car. Clark turns off the light and sees that the oranges are glowing in the dark!
Like Imagine Dragons sang, they are radioactive! This kinda doesn't make sense since we see objects that the Mole Men touch glow in the dark, but not themselves. Out of the trees, the Mole Men see them leave in their car. Corrigan gets a call and says that the coroner was on his way, but saw the creatures and crashed his car. Out of the trees, the Mole Men see them leave in their car. In town, a little girl (Beverly Washburn) sees the silent Mole Men at her window and greets them. One them climbs into the room, that’s creepy. The townspeople have gathered in the hotel lobby with rifles ready. Luke Benson (Jeff Corey) wants to hunt down the little Mole Men! Clark tries to stop them and says that they are peaceful and just that everyone is afraid. The child rolls a ball to the Mole Man and then they roll it back. She sees the glowing ball and asks if they are magic.
Her mother sees them and screams! The mob starts walking towards the house. Superman appears, it’s about 24 minutes into the film, he leaps up and we hear the whoosh of his flight. Lois wants to phone in the story and Superman convinces her that it will only cause “nationwide hysteria.” Superman bends the rifle of Benson, but he still runs off. The Mole Men make it to a dam, a matte painting, and one of them is shot! Superman catches him in mid-fall and takes the Mole Man to a hospital. Benson has the dogs chase after the other Mole Man, apparently they can’t catch his scent and he can run faster the dogs and the men. It feels like Part I has Clark with Superman revealed at the end and then important in Part II. Superman and the Mole Men feels like a try out for the Adventures of Superman series, George Reeves as Superman is fantastic, and there is a great sci fi premise of tolerance.
Four Capes out of Five!
#SupermanAndTheMoleMen, #LeeSholem, #RobertMaxwell, #GeorgeReeves, #PhyllisCoates, #WalterReed, #RayWalker, #BillyCurtis, #JohnTBambury, #JFarrellMacDonald, #StanleyAndrews, #JohnBaer
No comments:
Post a Comment