Superman and the Mole Men (1951)

Not only had I never heard of this film until I was in my very late teens but, truth be told, I had never even heard of George Reeves or the 1950's Superman television show that he starred in until I was about 17 when I saw an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that talked about his mysterious death. You may ask, "Cody, how could you not have known about this popular show?" Truth be told, this was when I had sworn off anything that had to do with comic books. Around this time, my attitude was, "Those movies and TV shows were fine for when you're a kid but now, it's time to put away childish things." Also, it was simply an unspoken rule that comic book movies, TV shows, and cartoons were not a cool thing to be interested in when you were in high school and, therefore, it wasn't until near the end of high school that I got back into them, starting with the two Tim Burton Batman movies. However, that said, it must be made clear that I did not seek this particular movie out even after I heard about it. At that time when it came to Superman, I was mainly interested in the Christopher Reeve movies and not much else. I still to this day haven't seen a single episode of the infinitely more famous TV series that followed this film simply because it's never been something that's interested me. Now, that's not to say that I will never watch that show because I might at some point but still, the fact of the matter is that if Superman and the Mole Men hadn't come as a special feature on the four-disc edition of the first Christopher Reeve movie, I sincerely doubt that I would have ever seen it.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, the next question is, "What do I think of this movie?" The short answer: it's okay. It's not spectacular by any means and it's certainly not up there with the best non-comic book incarnations of the Man of Steel but I wouldn't say that it's absolutely awful either. To me, it feels more like a cheaply-made 50's sci-fi flick rather than a Superman movie, with some of the same Cold War/Red Scare themes that often cropped up in those types of films around that time like The Day The Earth Stood Still, which actually came out the same year as this. The low budget and tight shooting schedule definitely show, most of the acting is simply passable, the few effects that you see are so cheap that it's ridiculous, and there's hardly anything to make this film stand out overall but, that said, given that it was simply meant to pave the way for the TV show (and for that matter, the only reason it was even put in theaters was to recoup the costs in case the series never got picked up), I feel I can cut it some slack. Basically what I'll be getting at in this review is that this movie isn't great but it's not horrible either: it's just kind of there.

Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the small town of Silsby to cover the opening of the world's deepest oil well, which extends six miles down below the Earth's surface. But when they arrive, they're given the news that the well has been ordered to be closed. While Lois becomes frustrated that they traveled such a long way for nothing, Clark becomes suspicious when the foreman won't tell him why he's been ordered to close the well and even more so when he sees some half-buried tools in the sand. That night, he and Lois go back out to the well and find the old night watchman there dead, apparently from fright. Not long afterward, Clark discovers that the hatch covering the well's opening is off and Lois discovers that what scared the old man to death were two small creatures that were half-man and half-mole. While nobody believes her at first, the creatures are soon spotted by more people and the foreman finally admits to Clark that after drilling down into the Earth's crust deeper than anyone ever had before, the drill broke through into thin air. Not only that but each sample of ore taken from the various layers of earth that was drilled through glows in the dark, suggesting that they could be radioactive and microscopic organisms were found in the dirt that was on the drill when it was pulled back out. Clark theorizes that this must mean that there could be more advanced life-forms living down there as well. It's not long before they realize that these creatures that are romaing around are examples of those more advanced life-forms, having come to the surface via the shaft in the well. What's more, they themselves could be dangerously radioactive and when a frightened and vicious mob becomes determined to kill them no matter what and won't listen to reason, it's up to Superman to prevent a tragedy from befalling the town.

Superman and the Mole Men was directed by a man named Lee Sholem, who was so skilled at cranking out films and TV episodes on time and on budget that he was often referred to as Lee "Roll 'Em" Sholem. He managed to film this picture in just twelve days and, in a career that spanned forty years, he directed over 1300 movies and TV episodes and never once went over schedule. He learned this method of fast and efficient filmmaking due to his association with Tarzan producer Sol Lesser and celebrated art director and production designer William Cameron Menzies who was also a director himself; Menzies' best known film is the original Invaders from Mars. Some of Sholem's many other directing credits include, as I said, a couple of the Tarzan movies, episodes of, fittingly enough, the Adventures of Superman TV series, Cheyenne, Maverick, and Colt .45. His final film before his retirement was a film called Doomsday Machine in 1972. He died in 2000 at the age of 87.

By the far the best thing about this movie is George Reeves as Clark Kent and Superman. Although I've never seen the TV show, looking at this movie I can say that I do like how Reeves played the character. Weirdly enough, I actually perfer him more as Clark. I just feel that he playes him extremely well: mild-mannered and earnest, yes, but also extremely smart and knows when something's up. He's the first to realize that there's something odd about the world's deepest oil well suddenly being closed without any explanation and when he notices those tools being buried, that only spikes his suspicions even more. After Lois first sees the mole men, he's the only who doesn't completely dismiss her claims about what she saw and theorizes that there could indeed be a connection between it and the unexpected death of the old night watchman at the well. Speaking of which, when he and Lois first discover the watchman's body, he's the one who believes that what happened to him could have been more than just a heart attack, given the state of the scene.  Ulitmately, Clark gets the foreman to tell him what he and his men discovered when they drilled down as deep as they could go but he doesn't do it throught threats or anything like that. Instead, he does it through simple, calm coercion, making the foreman realize that with the death of the watchman and the fact that Clark saw the half-buried tools, there's no use in keeping the secret any longer. Even more important than his deducting skills is how Clark is able to stay completely calm, level-headed and, through his intelligence, rational. While the townspeople are getting riled up into a frenzied mob, Clark is smart enough to know that the mole people possibly don't mean any harm and that everything that's happened was due to nothing more than fear on the part of those who've encountered them. He also makes the point that they don't know for sure that the creatures aren't, in fact, human in some way. That said, though, Clark does get a little frustrated when the head of the hospital orders one of the doctors to remove the wounded mole man that Superman brought there immediately, sarcastically saying, "A milk of human kindness," after the man leaves. But, he doesn't completely lose it and go crazy. To sum up, I think that Reeves gives one of the best portrayals of Superman's alter ego: mild-mannered but also smart, level-headed, and rational.

As Superman, however, Reeves is much more forceful. In fact, his portrayal of the Man of Steel here is much different from the way he would eventually play him in the TV show. While I haven't seen any full episodes of that show, I've seen enough clips in documentaries and such to know that Superman had a rather charismatic sense of humor. Here, though, Reeves plays him absolutely serious, with no humor whatsoever. He's very stern and projects a lot of strength and imposing authority whenever he confronts the unreasonable mob that threatens the mole men throughout the film. He also constantly puts his fists on his hips to make himself look imposing and while the cheap-looking suit and cape are kind of silly, he manages to project so much power through his voice and facial expressions, as well as due to the fact that you can see through the costume that he is quite buff, that you can overlook it. While he doesn't have the sense of humor that he would eventually develop, he does smile whenever someone attempts to shoot him, knowing full well the futility of what they're doing and I kind of like that. Overall, I do think that Reeves gave Superman a great presence in terms of his stern, authoritative voice, facial expressions, physicality, and body language, even if the characterization was maybe a bit rough since this was the first time he played the role and he hadn't yet found his footing. However, despite all of my compliments, there is one thing that I have to say: his face itself isn't quite what I picture when I think of Superman. While he is good-looking enough and, like I said, his expressions do give a feeling of stern authority, Reeves' face simply isn't that of Superman to me. I guess it's the fact that he was already 37 years old when he did this movie. When I think of Superman, I think of a younger guy with a much more chiseled face than the early middle-age face that Reeves had. Another reason for my feeling this way could just be because Christopher Reeve is the definitive live-action incarnation of the character to me (not a fair comparison, I know, but I can't get around it). All in all, though, I do enjoy Reeves' performance as Superman here.

Due to the low budget of the film, you don't get to see much of Superman's powers. While he does fly, nearly all you see of it are the take-offs and landings. The one time you actually see him flying through the air is rather awkward-looking and there are actually two techniques used: first it's some very choppy animation and the second is a live-action shot that is clearly Reeves being hoisted through the air by wires. Other than that brief moment, all you get of Superman's actual flying are soaring noises and traveling shots of the ground beneath Superman (which indicate that he's not flying all that high up). You do get some indication of his super-strength when he takes a man's shotgun away and snaps it in half like a twig and later on when he effortlessly takes away the mob's guns with them unable to put up much of a fight. He also does a little bit of physical fighting with the troublemakers, punching a couple of people and picking some up and throwing them a few feet. Other than that, there's not much to his strength. We do get a couple of demonstrations of his imperviousness to bullets, the first of which actually shows a bullet bounce off his chest (just one, though, despite the fact that the guy fired a bunch of rounds) and the second of which doesn't show anything at all hitting him. Was it really that time-consuming of an effect to just throw little objects at his chest to give the illusion of bullets bouncing off of it? And finally, we see an extention of his immunity to bullets when the mole men's whirling laser-like weapon hits him without doing any damage whatsoever. That's the gist of his abilities in this film. Again, given the low budget, I doubt they could afford to show off more elaborate ones like his laser eye-beams and super breath.

Even though she's not given much to do, I don't mind Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane (mainly because Superman doesn't have to go around saving her ass in this film). She's rather cynical and is not at all happy about being sent to this little podunk of a town to report on an oil well, especially when it's revealed that it's been shut down and that she came so far for nothing. She makes her feelings about the town very clear early on when she remarks, "Well, this certainly is a gay and cheerful little place, isn't it? Sillsby: population 1,430, home of the world's deepest oil well... big deal!" Since she's eager to salvage something out of this trip, she goes along with Clark to the oil well when he apparently gets a hunch about something but, she doesn't seem to be as good of a reporter as Clark since she doesn't notice how the condition of the room where they find the watchman dead doesn't fit with the notion of him having died of a heart attack. And just like the rest of the townspeople, she's so frightened of the mole men when she first sees them that she's immediately certain that they not only killed the watchman but wanted to kill her as well. Going back to her need for a story, she's so caught up in it that she originally was going to report the story of the mole men and it's only when Superman advises her not and tells her why that she understands that such a story would cause a nationwide panic. Speaking of which, let's end this with her relationships with the two identities. When it comes to Superman, she has complete confidence and trust in him, doesn't question anything that he says or does, and feels that he's the only one who can resolve this crisis. As for Clark, she thinks that he's a coward, seeing as how he's constantly "running off and disappearing" whenever things get serious. Obviously, one would think that she would at some point put two and two together and realize that Clark is never around when Superman is but it was the role of the character during this period to be more than a little dense. The only instance where she comes close to doing so is when she tells Clark that he acts as if he lives a double life but it never goes farther than that. She also seems to think that Clark has a penchant for making something out of nothing, like when she tells him not to build up the death of the watchman. Again, all I can say is, "Maybe if you'd think the way he does, you'd be as good of a reporter as he is." All in all, I don't have any real problems with this version of Lois. It's just that in this movie, she doesn't do much and is pretty superfluous to the plot other than her being the first living person to see and talk about the mole men but, heck, a no-name extra could have done that. They just put her in because she was intended to be a big part of the show, which she would be, and that was it. Whatever.

While most of the townspeople form a mob that is determined to kill the mole men no matter what, the true villain of this film is the man who leads them, Luke Benson (Jeff Corey). This guy has some serious violent tendencies and absolutely will not listen to reason. He's willing to punch out or even shoot anyone who gets in his way. When he first runs into Superman, he immediately tries to fight him, even after Superman shows how strong he is by breaking his shotgun in half, and later on when Benson and the mob have tracked the mole men to a dam, Superman shows up to warn them why they mustn't shoot them. Benson then proceeds to shoot at Superman! Of course, the bullets have no effect on him but that's when you realize that this guy, despite what ever good intentions he may have for wanting to kill the mole men (he becomes especially enraged when he believes that the creatures attacked a little girl, which they didn't), is quite unstable and dangerous. After he and the mob think that they've killed one of the mole men by burning it alive inside of a small shack, they find out that Superman took the one that was shot at the dam to the local hospital (they didn't see Superman catch him because it happened on the other side of the dam). When Benson makes his intention to go to the hospital and kill the wounded mole man clear, the sheriff attempts to stop him and Benson pulls a gun on him! What's more, later on when the sheriff tries to arrest him again, Benson actually punches him in the jaw and has his men lock him up in the jailhouse. He and his mob continue to make trouble when they arrive at the hospital, with Benson punching out the foreman who tries to stop him, roughly shoving Lois into the arms of a couple of his men (right before that, he actually threatened to hurt her if she didn't get out of his way), and tries to shoot Superman again (it didn't work before so I don't know why he thought it would work again). And the end of the movie, he almost spoils Superman's plan to end the encounter with the mole men peacefully when he attempts to kill three additional ones that have come to the surface for their wounded friend. However, he ends up almost getting himself killed by the mole men's weapon and it's only through Superman's intervention that he survives. Now, some have felt that Superman's respone to Benson's acknowledgement that he saved his life, a stern "That's more than you deserve," is a little harsh for something that the Man of Steel says but, to tell you the truth, after all the trouble and danger that Benson has put people in throughout the film, I would probably say the same thing! I think even Superman would have a limit to his tolerance and that line, to me, is not only proof but is, in some respects, warranted.

The rest of the cast play their roles in a fair enough manner. Walter Reed is likable as Bill Corrigan, the foreman of the drill whom Clark suspects is covering something up and even though he initially refuses to explain why he shut down the well, once Clark persuades him to do so he becomes a loyal and dependable person who does everything he can to help Superman in his struggle to maintain order in the increasingly frantic town. Stanley Anderson plays the rather old sheriff of the town who's less interested in the mole men than he is maintaining some order in the town, at one point nearly calling in the state police in order to help him keep the mob from shooting everyone. He eventually decides not to when told that it's best that as few people as possible know about what's going on and also because he's told that Clark and Lois might give him some really good publicity if he manages to handle the situation by himself. He's also not too keen on Superman since he "disappeared" after saving the wounded mole man, saying, "He ain't doing us no good!" And since he didn't actually see Superman, he doesn't believe in his abilities either. As I said earlier, the sheriff's efforts prove to be futile when he's locked up in his own jailhouse by Benson's mob. In addition, there's John Craig (Ray Walker), the fast-talking PR person who isn't too happy when he finds out that the well has been closed with his knowing about it (he's the one who tells the sheriff that he could get a lot of good publicity if he leaves the state police out and handles the situation himself); Pop Shannon (J. Farrell MacDonald), the elderly Irish night watchman whose the first one to see the mole men and dies from fright as a result; Frank Reicher, who's best known as Captain Englehorn in King Kong, as the less-than-understanding hospital superintendent who tells a doctor that if he wants to keep his job, he'd best get rid of the wounded mole man that Superman brought to the hospital; and finally, little Beverley Washburn as the sweet young girl who is the only inhabitant of the town who isn't frightened of the mole men when she meets them and, ironically, the only reason that she does scream is because her mother's reaction to seeing the creatures in her room frightened her!

The mole men themselves (Jack Banbury, Tony Baris, Billy Curtis, Jerry Maren, and John T. Bambury) are without a doubt the silliest aspect of this film. After Lois first sees them, she describes them as having the bodies of moles but the heads of humans. In reality, they just look like little people in black body-suits with big bald, dome-shaped heads. You can quite clearly see the zippers on the back of the costumes in a few rear shots as well. They also have hair along the sides of their heads and the backs of their necks as well as hairy hands that have claws on the fingers. And except for a scream that one lets out when he gets shot at the dam, they don't make a sound. Yes, they are rather hard to take seriously, even when you're aware of the low budget the filmmakers were working with, but if you can look beyond how silly they look and instead pay attention to the point that the film is trying to get across, they manage to serve their purpose. As Superman himself tells the mob at one point, their world was invaded first and they did absolutely nothing to harm anyone when they came up to the surface. The only harm that came to anybody was due to fear on their part, with the only one who isn't afraid of them being a young girl who actually manages to make friends with them before her mother comes in and scares her by screaming at the mole men. But, despite all of this, the mole men end up getting chased, shot, hunted down by dogs, and almost roasted alive. So it's no surprise that when the one mole man who wasn't injured manages to get back down to his home, he and his friends bring a weapon with them when they come back to the surface in order to retrieve their injured pal. In fact, as I said earlier, they almost kill Benson with it when he threatens them and it's only because of Superman that he doesn't die. After they manage to take their friend back down to their underground world, the mole men proceed to destroy the well to make sure that their world and ours never cross paths again. It really is sad when you think about it, that the one time these benevolent creatures encountered human beings leaves them with a feeling that they can't trust us and, therefore, they see to it that they don't have to deal with us ever again. As Lois says in the film's final moments, "It's almost as if they were saying, 'You live your lives and we'll live ours.'"

Like many films made around this time, Superman and the Mole Men deals with the feeling of extreme paranoia that permeated the 1950's. The senseless and frenzied fear that grips the small town of Silsby when they become aware of the mole men can definitely be seen as a metaphor for the Red Scare that was prevalent around this time. As I said up above, the mole men don't do anything to actively hurt anyone and yet, they're treated as if they're the most dangerous, bloodthirsty creatures that one could ever hope to face. Luke Benson gets particularly worked up and maniacal when he thinks that the mole men attacked the little girl, even though there's no sign whatsoever that they hurt her. Granted, the townspeople do have one reason to be wary of the creatures because there's some evidence that they covered with radium and, as a result, intensely radioactive but, that said, they could just do what Clark suggests at one point and go home and lock their houses up tight. There's no need to form a mob. And, as Clark also says, they're liable to do more damage than the mole men could possibly do if they go running around in the dark, shooting. More to the point, Benson actually risks poisoning the whole town with the creatures' possible radioactivity by having his men shoot at them when they're on the dam. The one that does get shot would have fallen into the reservoir if Superman hadn't caught him. And while the mole men do eventually bring a weapon back up to the surface with them, their only reason for doing so is because of the less than warm welcome they received the first time they came to the surface. As John Rambo once said, "They drew first blood." In the end, we find out that not only did the mole men mean no harm intentionally but, as it turned out, they weren't radioactive either. The cause of the glowing that was seen in the layers of dirt penetrated by the drill as well as everything the mole men touched was due to simple phosphorescents, not radium. But by that point, the mole men have permanently closed off the connection between our world and theirs so it doesn't matter. We've seen the havoc and irreversible damage that unreasonable fear can cause.

If the film has a major problem, it's that it's just so... generic. While the film isn't horrible, there's simply nothing about it that makes it stand out. The low budget didn't allow for any impressive sets or locations so all we get are the dusty backlot that acts as the site of the oil well, the very typical-looking town, and the woods and dusty plains that the only real action sequence takes place on. These rather drab locations combined with the black and white photography (and no, that's not a slam on black and white in general) don't make the film all that appealing to eye and put it in the same boat as a bunch of other low budget sci-fi movies made around that time that were shot primarily outdoors in unremarkable locations (Robot Monster in particular comes to mind). The special effects range from being very crude and simple (like the glowing effect used to get across the idea that what ever the mole men touch could have possibly become radioactive) to laughable (like the effect used when you actually do see Superman fly) to just odd. The very last shot of the film has an example of one of these odd effects. As Superman and Lois watch the oil well burn, you can very clearly see a reflection of the fire superimposed onto the shot. Um, why? What purpose does that serve? And if it was a mistake, how exactly did it happen? Good questions but I don't have the answers to them.

As I described earlier, the low budget doesn't allow us to get much of a glimpse of Superman's powers save for his strength and even that isn't very remarkable. Moreover, despite Reeves' performance, when I see him simply walking around the town and other locations, it's hard for me to believe that it's really Superman. Instead, it just looks like some guy walking around in a Superman costume. What I'm getting at is, because the low budget didn't allow for really good shots of Superman flying, which is an integral part of the character and something that he does all the time, it sometimes doesn't feel like it's really him. Speaking of which, we never actually get to see Clark Kent become Superman. All we see is him running into an alley or some other secluded spot and when we cut back, he's already changed into his costume. Would it have really been that hard to get the classic scene of Clark taking off his business suit to reveal that the Superman costume is underneath it or at least do a silhouette like we saw all the time in the 1940's cartoons? We at least get a brief summary of Superman's origin at the beginning of the film as we did in some of those cartoons but my point is that, in the end, with very few of the Superman traits present in this film, however badly they may have looked (like the few times we do see him flying), it can be easy to forget that you're watching a Superman movie and not some generic, low budget sci-fi flick.

While I do appreciate the movie for attemping to be more than just a theatrical pilot for the TV show by having a timely message within it and, as I described above, I do think that it's carried out fair enough, I feel that the issue of tolerance and the Red Scare was done more effectively in other films of the time like The Day The Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, and, perhaps the quintessential sci-fi film dealing with this topic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In addition, because there were so many, not to mention more well-known films made around that time that dealt with this subject, Superman and the Mole Men tends to get lost in the shuffle and by the time you do find it after going through all those other movies, you have a feeling of been there, done that (at least, that's kind of like how I felt). That's not a fault of the film, just the natural outcome of such a situation. But, ultimately, what I feel keeps the movie from being much more popular and fondly remembered is that, for a movie featuring Superman, nothing really exciting happens. Now, I was never really bored with this film and since it's only 58 minutes long, it's a tight story that goes by quick but, due to the low budget, there are no big action setpieces or any sequences that really get you pumped. Superman has no big villain to fight with or major crisis to resolve. All he does is have little scuffles with Benson and his mob, save the wounded mole man at the dam from falling into the water, and ultimately save Benson from being killed by the creatures' weapon at the end before helping them get their injured friend back to the shaft that leads down to their home. In addition, the only sequence that you can even halfway call an "action sequence" is when Benson's mob chases the other mole man after Superman saves the one that was shot and even then, it goes on for what feels like a long time and there's no driving pace or rhythm to it that gives you a feeling of excitement. I will say that I got fairly antsy during this scene and was glad when it finally ended with the mole man managing to escape from the burning shack he was trapped in.

The finishing touch on how unremarkable this film is the music score by Darrell Calker. I've looked up Calker's filmography and he apparently did the music for over 150 films in his lifetime, although the only one I recognized was, of all things, the original Woody Woodpecker short from 1941! In any case, his music for this movie is as generic and unmemorable as you can get. While there is some semblance of a score for Superman and it does sound like it's trying to do something like the 1940's cartoons where the music sounds like it's actually saying, "Superman!" the rest of it is so run-of-the-mill and soulless that you can't even put into words. It's simply the worst type of music you could have for any movie, let alone one featuring Superman. In fact, not only is the music that plays over the opening titles generic but so is the background for the titles themselves. All it is is an animated painting with a bunch of Saturn-like planets and comets that the camera slowly moves through. It would never ever give you the impression that you're about to watch a Superman movie. Again, I'm well aware that they didn't have a lot of money and time to work with but I do wish that they had at least put a little more effort into it.

I apologize if during this last section of this review I came across as overly harsh towards this movie but, the truth is Superman and the Mole Men is not a very memorable film. George Reeves does manage to elevate it a step above terrible with his performance and the film does an okay job at conveying a theme of tolerance that was relevant at the time it was made. Plus, if you put it into context, it's the first theatrical, live-action incarnation of Superman outside of the serials that starred Kirk Alyn so it does have some significance. That said, though, its low budget doesn't allow for much in the way of anything impressive or unique in terms of locations, sets, special effects, and action scenes. While I doubt that the film would cause someone to become all that bored due to its short running time, there are some sequences that do feel longer than they really are and they don't have a feel to them that's at all exciting either. To sum up, it's not spectacular by any means, nor is it out and out horrible. It's just something that you could use to kill an hour if you need it. If you're a die-hard Superman fan, I would recommend watching it at least once just to say you've seen it. It won't infuriate you as some other adaptations of the character probably do but, at the same time, don't expect anything that you'll always remember either.