Review of Superman and the Mole Men (1951) by Oliver G — 16 Jan 2018

Superman and the Mole-Men is the first full length Superman movie brought to the theaters, it is a low budget production and was intended to be the pilot for the Superman TV series. The film is short, only 58 minutes long but it does establish George Reeves as the definitive superman for many years at least until Christopher Reeve, and turns him into a national celebrity.

Phyllis Coates does a good job as Lois Lane, with some wit. In the movie, Superman and Lane stop by a small rural oil town to do a story on a oil well that is shut down for mysterious circumstances, the drilling had inadvertently opened up a passage for the small furry mole-men to emerge.

On the screen is good old fashion US xenophobia as superman protects the mole-men from a mob of angry white gun toting citizens. Great to see that Superman stood for truth justice and the American way, primarily standing against prejudice, and ignorance.

He also disarms the misguided, panic driven, xenophobic mob saying "none of you can be trusted with guns so I am going to take them away from you." They could have killed ms. Lane! Would be nice to bring this superman back to our time to disarm the NRA! "its men like you that prevents people from getting to understand each other" superman tells the gun toting mob leader.

You go Superman! Given the low budget, this film is still superior to the Snyder directed travesty that tried to pass itself off as a film. I recommend this film and was glad to see that its message about xenophobia and ignorance.

It would be nice to see clear social messages in films like this again. Its sad that this message is still needed.