Superman and the Mole Men

"ON THE SCREEN...America's Favorite Hero!"

1951 0h 58m EN

😐

5.3

MID

⭐

5.5

IMDB

★5.3TMDB · 80★5.5IMDB · 2,595

Science FictionActionAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the small town of Silsby to witness the drilling of the world's deepest oil well. The drill, however, has penetrated the underground home of a race of small, furry people who then come to the surface at night to look around. The fact that they glow in the dark scares the townfolk, who form a mob, led by the vicious Luke Benson, intent on killing the strange people. Only Superman has a chance to prevent this tragedy.

“ON THE SCREEN...America's Favorite Hero!”

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Cast

George Reeves
Superman / Clark Kent
Phyllis Coates
Lois Lane
Jeff Corey
Luke Benson
Walter Reed
Bill Corrigan
J. Farrell MacDonald
Pop Shannon
Stanley Andrews
The Sheriff
Ray Walker
John Craig
Hal K. Dawson
Chuck Weber

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Lee Sholem
Writers: Robert Maxwell
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 58-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

75 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Superman (George Reeves) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Lee Sholem, shot by Clark Ramsey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Darrell Calker. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Albrecht Joseph shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

George Reeves and Phyllis Coates and Jeff Corey carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Lee Sholem directs. Clark Ramsey behind the camera. Darrell Calker scores. Albrecht Joseph cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 58-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
375 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Part of the "Superman (George Reeves) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Lee Sholem, shot by Clark Ramsey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Darrell Calker. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Albrecht Joseph shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8George Reeves and Phyllis Coates and Jeff Corey carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "ON THE SCREEN...America's Favorite Hero!".
10IMDB entry: tt0044091 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 80 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 11 themes, including "small town", "underground", "superhero", "cartoon".

The technical file

Cinematography: Clark Ramsey
Original score: Darrell Calker
Editing: Albrecht Joseph
Makeup / hair: Harry Thomas
Runtime: 58 min · 0h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $275,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Superman and the Mole Men (1951)
IMDB rating: 5.5/10 · 2,595 votes
MPAA: Approved

Part of

Superman (George Reeves) Collection

Collection of Superman films starting George Reeves as DC's iconic hero.

Also by

Lee Sholem

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2025-07-12
★ 7/10
<em>'Superman and the Mole Men'</em> is actually pretty solid. I knew nothing coming into it, yet wasn't expecting all that much from such a short run time of 58 minutes. It turns out, I was satisfied. It admittedly isn't anything overly enthralling, but it is a watchable Superman flick. George Reeves is stronger as Clark Kent than as the main man, though that can be down to the fact that he is Kent for the vast majority - and I liked him in that role. Phyllis Coates' Lois Lane feels like Lois Lane, so that's another positive. The rest of the cast are all alright too. I, somewhat surprisingly given the obvious limitations that the (independent) filmmakers had back in 1951, really enjoyed the Mole Men. They do look rather dorky and kinda silly, but to be honest their minimal design more than did the job for me. I was happy to see 'em onscreen. The first feature film based on a DC Comics character, how about that. It's always fascinating to me with situations like this, like imagine telling the people involved with this back in 1951 that superhero flicks would become so gargantuan around 70 years later. Trailblazers!

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