Consume All Media! Superman and the Mole Men
Joe Heath is a big fan of comic books and watching things in order. So they made this spreadsheet containing every serial, short, film, television episode, commercial, motion comic, and web series based on a comic book. Now they're watching them all. Previously, Joe watched the first Superman sequel. This time, they watch the first feature-length Superman film.
Superman and the Mole Men - 58:02 (Available on Amazon)
Film Info
Release date: November 23rd, 1951
Studio: Lippert Pictures
Written by Richard Fielding (a pseudonym for Robert Maxwell & Whitney Ellsworth)
Based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
Produced by Barney Sarecky
Directed by Lee Sholem
Writer Highlights
Robert Maxwell (1908-1971)
Other comic book media credits: Writer, producer, & director for The Adventures of Superman radio show, as well as a writer & producer for The Adventures of Superman television series.
Whitney Ellsworth (1908-1980)
Other comic book media credits: Ellsworth was a comic book writer, editor, & artist for DC Comics & created the character Congo Bill. He was a creative consultant on Batman (1943), Superman (1948), Batman & Robin (1949), Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), & the 1966 Batman television series. He was also a script supervisor, story editor, & writer (sometimes under the pseudonym Richard Fielding) on the Adventures of Superman television series (1952-53). In addition to writing multiple episodes of Adventures of Superman, he wrote the failed spinoff pilots The Adventures of Superpup (1958) & The Adventures of Superboy (1961) as well as being a producer for all three. Finally, he wrote for the animated 1966 show The Adventures of Superboy.
Producer Highlights
Barney Sarecky (1895-1968)
Other comic book media credits: Associate Producer on The Adventures of Superman television series.
Director Highlights
Lee Sholem (1913-2000)
Other comic book media credits: Director of multiple episodes of The Adventures of Superman television series.
Trivia: Famously, none of the projects he worked on ever went over-schedule, which earned him the nickname "Roll 'Em" Sholem which is one of the cleverest nicknames I've ever heard.
Superman and the Mole Men was made and released as a trial run for what would eventually become The Adventures of Superman television series. The film was later re-edited into a two-part episode that served as the season one finale.
The role of Superman was initially offered to Kirk Alyn, who had played the role twice before in Superman and Atom Man vs. Superman, but he turned it down due to fear of typecasting. Instead the role went to George Reeves.
Reeves had previously appeared in numerous films, including Gone with the Wind. In 1943, he joined the army, but continued to act in Winged Victory, a play produced by the US Army Air Force, the entire cast of which also appeared in the 1944 film adaptation. After doing a national tour of Winged Victory, Reeves continued to work for the Air Force making training films, one of which he acted in with Batman & Robin star Lewis Wilson called Sex Hygiene. If you've read my posts about Batman and Robin, you know it features syphilitic dicks. Hopefully this will be the last time that gets brought up in this blog.
Then, in 1951, Reeves was cast as Superman, a role he would play for the next eight years, not only in The Adventures of Superman television series, but also in PSAs, personal appearances, and a very memorable episode of I Love Lucy.
Over the years, Reeves seemed to get less enjoyment out of the role and struggled to find work outside of it. He appeared in a few small movie roles and failed to get both a television pilot and a science fiction movie off of the ground. In 1959, as the show was gearing up for a seventh season, George Reeves allegedly committed suicide at the age of 45.
Though there is some controversy about whether it was a suicide or a murder. Before Reeves became Superman, he was in a relationship with Toni Mannix, the wife of studio executive Eddie Mannix. It was an open secret and the three of them (and Eddie's own mistress) would even go out on double dates. However, Reeves called off the relationship in 1958 and planned to marry a woman named Leonore Lemmon. Theories abound about whether Reeves's death was arranged by Toni and/or Eddie Mannix (the latter of which was said to have connections to the mob) or if he was possibly murdered by his new fiancée with whom he had been supposedly having arguments.
The events circling this tragedy were dramatized in the 2006 film Hollywoodland starring Ben Affleck as George Reeves.
Actor Highlights
Ben Affleck (1972-Present)
Other comic book media credits: Daredevil (2003), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), & The Flash (2023).
But before all of that, there was Superman and the Mole Men, the first-ever comic book feature film that led into the first-ever comic book television series. How does it compare to the serials and cartoons before it? Is it an exciting entry into the history of comic book media? Does the first ever comic book movie hold up today?
Let's dive in further to find out.
The film begins with the origins of Superman being narrated over footage of planets with Superman and Clark Kent superimposed over the top of it.
It's basically a live-action version of the animated shorts intros.
After the brief history lesson, the story starts properly in the town of Silsby, home of the world's deepest oil well.
Were you expecting a Metropolis maybe? Or even a Smallville? Sorry, you don't even get cutaways to the Daily Planet. Nope, it's all Silsby from here on out, baby!
However, a couple of ace reporters from Metropolis show up to do a story on this six mile deep well. Their names are Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates).
Actor Highlights
Phyllis Coates (1927-2023)
Other comic book media credits: Lois Lane in the first season of The Adventures of Superman (later replaced by Noel Neill from the original Superman serials) & Lois Lane's mother in a 1994 episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Lois and Clark are somewhat less fun here than they were in the preceding serials, but they match the more serious tone of the film. While I do miss the witty banter, they do at least appear a little more professional here.
As soon as they arrive, they are informed that the well is shutting down. Lois is annoyed that they've come out here for seemingly nothing, whereas Clark figures there may be a story in why the well closed down, so they decide to stick around and investigate.
Later that night, mole-men climb out of the well shaft.
Actor Highlights
Trivia: The mole-men are portrayed by Billy Curtis (1909-1988), Jerry Maren (1920-2018), Johnny Roventini (1910-1988), & John T. Bambury (1891-1960). Curtis, Maren, and Bambury had all previously played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz (1939) (with Maren having the distinction of being the longest surviving adult Munchkin). Roventini is primarily known as Johnny the Bellboy, the mascot for Philip Morris cigarettes (which was a prominent sponsor of I Love Lucy).
Billy Curtis
Other comic book media credits: an episode of The Adventures of Superman, the unaired pilot The Adventures of Superpup, and a couple episodes of Batman.
Two of the mole-men investigate the area and peek into a window at Pop, the night watchman (J. Farrell MacDonald).
Later, Lois and Clark are snooping around and discover Pop's dead body.
Lois thinks it's a heart attack, but Clark suspects foul play. Clark leaves to investigate while Lois stays behind to call the authorities. The mole-men poke their heads back in to see what's going on.
Her phone call effectively interrupted, Lois screams.
Clark rushes in as the mole-men rush off. Lois tells him what she saw and that she thinks these mole-men must have killed Pop.
Later, a doctor comes out and examines Pop. He thinks the cause of death is a heart attack, but will need to do an autopsy to be sure. No one believes Lois when she says it was definitely mole-men.
After everyone leaves, Clark questions the foreman Bill Corrigan (Walter Reed) about the closing of the well.
Actor Highlights
Walter Reed (1916-2001)
Other comic book media credits: an episode of The Adventures of Superman & a couple episodes of Batman.
Corrigan shows Clark some samples that were dug up that glow in the dark.
The deeper the samples came from, the more the radium levels increased.
Digging even further down, they broke through into a large hollow area.
Corrigan noticed a strange substance on the drill and had it examined under a microscope. He was surprised to discover something alive in the sample.
With confirmation that things are living that far beneath the earth, Clark begins to wonder if the creatures Lois saw came from the well.
Their worries only intensify when they notice some of Pop's oranges that toppled to the floor when he died. They are now glowing like the radiated samples Corrigan collected.
Meanwhile, the mole-men wander around and take a moment to smell the flowers.
When they leave, we see that the flower they held now glows. Uh-oh.
They wander around for a while and are briefly spooked by a snake, which makes me think that these guys probably meant no harm and didn't purposefully hurt Pop.
And then they climb into a small girl's bedroom and I'm less certain.
Meanwhile, local idiot Luke Benson (Jeff Corey) forms a mob to hunt down these unwanted creatures. Clark tries to reason with the mob, saying the mole-men might not be evil and they're all jumping to conclusions.
Actor Trivia & Highlights
Jeff Corey (1914-2002)
Trivia: Speaking of unruly mobs jumping to conclusions, shortly after this film was released, Jeff Corey was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee and was blacklisted after refusing to out alleged Communists. He went on to become a very successful acting teacher with students including James Dean, Jane Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Leonard Nimoy, and Robin Williams. He eventually got back into acting and had roles in films like True Grit & Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Other comic book media credits: Spider-Man: The Animated Series & Perversions of Science.
Back in the little girl's room, she tries to teach the mole-men how to play catch.
They unknowingly radiate the ball and I can only assume the little girl.
Her mom enters and does what any mom in this situation would probably do.
The mob hears her scream and they get to mobbing! Clark ducks out and returns as Superman, at nearly the halfway point of the movie.
He leaps into the air and the film cuts to Superman's point of view as he flies over the mob, which is an interesting way to save money by not showing him flying. Interesting, but not good.
Superman stops the mob and to show them he means business, he bends one of their guns.
The mole-men have already left, but Benson brings hound dogs to pick up their scent.
Superman tells Lois not to run a story, afraid it will cause even more of a panic. Then he flies off to follow the hounds.
In another effort to not actually spend money on effects, the camera remains on Lois and Corrigan's faces as they watch Superman fly away. This is only slightly better than the weird POV shot.
The mob manages to trap the mole-men on a bridge that they are clearly superimposed onto.
Superman again confronts the mob and tells them not to shoot as the mole-men mean no harm, but might be radioactive and could infect the water supply. So they decide to shoot Superman instead. That works about as well as you'd imagine.
After shrugging off the bullets, Superman punches Benson. However, one of the others manages to shoot a mole-man.
The mole-man lets out a truly terrifying scream and falls off the bridge. No joke, that scream was brutally horrific.
Unable to continue not showing Superman flying, the cheapest, lowest framerate animation possible is utilized to show Superman catching the falling mole-man.
Then it throws in a close-up with the actors on wires (and possibly a dummy?) for good measure.
Superman flies the wounded mole-man to the hospital.
Unfortunately, that leaves Benson and his mob free to chase the other mole-man.
And chase him they do! For a very long time! It just... goes on forever.
The mole-man eventually crawls into a shed window and is cornered by the dogs.
The mob sets the shed on fire and shoots at it to keep him inside.
Thankfully, the mole-man manages to find a loose floorboard and he slips out. He then makes his way back to the well.
Benson drops by the sheriff's office to brag about his murders. The sheriff (Stanley Andrews) tells him that Superman took the wounded mole-man to the hospital and that Benson should leave this alone. Benson points a gun at the sheriff before leaving to properly murder the mole-man.
Outside the hospital, the sheriff again tries to stop Benson, but Benson punches him and the mob carries him away.
Inside the hospital, Clark helps a doctor remove the bullet from the mole-man. Lois sees Clark in scrubs and says something about how he seems to be living a double life. So there is still some funny banter in this!
Someone comes in and warns them about the mob outside. Clark bolts and Lois assumes this is because he's a coward. She strides outside, confronts the mob, and slaps a guy.
As rad as that is, it's sadly not enough to stop the mob and they get past Lois. But they quickly find another barricade. Superman! He says they invaded the mole-men's home by digging, then chased them and shot them. They are in the wrong here, not the mole-men. Someone objects to this and fires at Superman. Superman objects to that and takes away everyone's guns.
Meanwhile, more mole-men come out of the well with a gun of their own.
The mole-men find Superman outside the hospital.
They cautiously approach.
Superman manages to communicate with them using some basic hand gestures. He tells them to wait there while he goes inside to get their wounded friend.
While Superman is inside, Benson finds the mole-men and aims to shoot them. But they see him coming and shoot him first.
Superman comes back out, drops off the injured mole-man, and steps in front of the laser beam, protecting Benson.
Superman asks the mole-men to stop firing, so they do. Benson comes up to sheepishly thank Superman, but Superman makes it clear that even though he saved his life, Benson did absolutely nothing to deserve his help. I think I love this Superman.
Superman picks up the wounded mole-man and they all walk off together to the well.
Superman helps them all get back into the well, then joins up with Lois and Corrigan nearby. Corrigan says the mom and her child are fine. The glowing effect caused by the mole-men was just harmless phosphorescence.
Then the well explodes in flames.
Lois figures this was the mole-men's way of saying "You live your lives, we'll live ours."
Should you watch it, though? Yes! While it's not as exciting or fun as the serials before it and the pace can get heavily bogged down with the lengthy chase scenes, it's telling a more thoughtful story. While it feels more like Frankenstein or The Day the Earth Stood Still than a superhero movie, the way that Superman reacts to these events is exactly how I like my Superman. It's refreshing to see Superman not punching interchangeable henchmen, he's mostly just de-escalating situations.
It's also interesting that the mole-men are not the villains here. (Which is why this is Superman AND the Mole-Men and not Superman VS. the Mole-Men.) It makes a whole lot of sense to me that Superman would be on the side of the misunderstood strangers from another world, being a stranger from another world himself. The actual villains turn out to be humans who jump to conclusions and try to kill people that look different than them.
And while less comedic and affable than Kirk Alyn, George Reeves brings a certain stoicism to the role. You trust that he's doing the right thing for the right reasons. He's not there to punch people. He's there to protect those who need it.
I can only hope the television series that follows brings this level of storytelling and characterization along with it.
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And that’s it for 1951! There were glowing oranges, misunderstood mole-men, and surprising depths (physically and metaphorically)!
Tune in next time for the final comic book serial, Blackhawk!
A version of this article was previously published on The Dipp.
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