Superman Week: Superman and the Mole Men (1951)

Superman and the Mole Men (1951), directed by Lee Sholem, diverges some with established Superman tradition by taking Clark Kent (George Reeves) and Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) out of their typical environs in busy Metropolis to middle, heartland America, namely the town of Silsby.

There, the two reporters for the Daily Planet become enmeshed in the mystery of two mole men: small, intelligent beings that live beneath the Earth’s surface in an advanced civilization. 

These beings unexpectedly find their way topside after an oil drill’s penetration of their “sky,” really rock.  

   

This is an old sci-fi plot, and it has been repeated recently on science fiction TV series such as Doctor Who (2005 - ), with the hibernating Silurians subbing-in for the Mole Men.  The admirable thing about this Superman movie, however, is that it is not an alien invasion story, but rather a tale about human nature, and the way that we seem to instinctively fear people who are not like us, or not of the “herd.”

Radioactive and therefore dangerous to humans, the diminutive mole men in Silsby have no idea that their presence is fatal to the townspeople, but the film’s villain, Benson (Jeff Corey) reacts with prejudice and hatred at their arrival, and seeks to destroy them.  One Mole Man is shot and wounded, an incident which could spark an all-out war between civilizations.

A native of another civilization himself, Superman attempts to broker a peace between the two distrustful races, and gets a face-to-face look at the ugliness of human bigotry and racial prejudice in the process.  The film, sensitively-written by Richard Fielding, and produced at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy Hearings, seems to recognize that the real danger in a democracy is not “the other,” but the hateful, over-reaction to that other by the dominant population.  America is forever a melting pot, and as a nation we suffer when we forget that fact.  Superman himself is after a fashion an “undocumented worker” after all, but just look at all the good he’s done, right?

“It’s men like you that make it difficult for men to understand one another,” Superman informs Benson (Corey) in a crucial sequence, making a salient point about hate-mongering and the ginning-up of xenophobic anger. 

Indeed, at one point Superman stops a mob in action by reminding the gathered rioters that they are acting like “Nazi Storm Troopers.”  He name-drops the Nazis not as an exaggeration, not as an insult, but rather as an explicit reminder of true American greatness; our country’s ability to broach shared sacrifice for the common good, in the face of extreme difficulties and challenges.  In World War II, Americans of all stripes put aside differences to meet and defeat a threat, and that is the “better angel” that Superman seeks to recall here.

I’ve always loved how Superman is portrayed in this early film (later rerun on The Adventures of Superman).  He’s an adopted child of America and yet, as an immigrant, also possesses the ability to see matters objectively.  Because he has bought in voluntarily and happily to “The American Way” he can see how to apply its ideals in an impartial, idealistic fashion

Today, the production values of Superman and the Mole Men seem positively antique.  The title characters are midgets wearing skull caps and hairy, pointed eyebrows.  Their powerful laser weapon – the film’s central threat -- resembles the vacuum cleaner my granny used to keep in her basement. 

The flying effects are basic but effective.  When Superman lifts off, a wire-pulley system pulls him upward, while animated artwork doubles for his most daring airborne heroics, such as saving a Mole Man who falls off a dam.

But regardless of such limitations, Superman and the Mole Men is dramatic, splendidly paced, and presents a didactic vision of the Man of Steel’s universe.  Bigotry isn’t just background noise here, or motivation for the villain’s revenge: it is a deadly threat that Superman must acknowledge, reject and defeat.

The reason that Superman is my favorite superhero is on ample display here.  Superman fights for truth, justice – for all – and the American way.  He knows that gentleness is a strength not a weakness and that might doesn’t necessarily make right.  After all, Superman could force his will on all of us.  He’s that powerful.  He could make us bend to his demands or beliefs or face dire consequences.  Instead, in Superman and the Mole Men, Superman defends the weak and demands that people adhere to those better angels of their nature.  He makes them see the “good” in us that he sees.