World Superman and the Mole Men

[Rex Ruthless]

Im really surprised that this very first Superman Movie, doesnt have a Tread as of now...but then again im still confused, as to where all the Treads go. It always says, they are like 300-2000 treads and when you click on it, it only shows like 12...i have no idea how this forum works...so, if there is a Tread somewhere about this Movie, please tell me.

Ive used the search function, and couldnt find any Topic, so...

Here we go :

Superman and the Mole Men from 1951, was the very first Superman Film, ever created. ( if you dont count the Fleischer Cartoons that aired on Cinema and the Serials with Kirk Alyn )

It was supposed to be a Pilot Movie for a Superman Television Series and it succeeded, since a Show was produced shortly after it, starring the original cast.

Well, the Movie itself for me, was pretty...well...not that good.
I like the actors and they play their Roles very seriously, so that it get very intense at the Start, with the Mole Men actually killing someone.
It feels kinda, like an Horror Movie at first with the overall Style.

And i also liked the Scenes, were Superman goes to the Villain of the Movie, the Villain tries to shoot Superman, the bullets bounce off and Superman just walks to the Villain and brakes his Shotgun and then pushed him away XD

But apart from this charming scene, their are also a lot of bad things.
For example, the original Movie Version, without the editing that happend, as the Movie was made into two Episodes for the show, they were (as far as i remember ) no flight scenes at all.

Instead of showing an animated Version of Superman in the flying scenes, as their did in the Serials, the Movie kinda does nothing really.

There is a Scene were Superman is supposed to fly, but the only thing that happens, is a camera, that films the roads from an above perspective in a very slow pace.
Also you see the flying backwards.
And apart from the flying Sound, you dont see Superman at all.
So they probably let a guy just film everything from the roof of a House, walking backwards with a camera...way to slow to represent Superman flying.

The only scene i can remember were you can actually see Superman fly, is a scene, when he rescues one of the Mole Men, but even then its a complete short scene and you can also see the wires that hold Superman up, if i remember correctly.

And apart from this very lazy Special Effects ( if you can even call them that ), there is also a very boring Chase Scene.
I dont know how long this Scene is to be exact, but it felt like half an Hour.
Half an Hour of a Mole Men, trying to run away from the bad guys.
Than pausing, then running again, than hiding in a house, waiting, then the house burns, waiting, than he tries to get out of the house again, than hes running again, pausing again, running again...boring.
Completely boring. That scene goes on for way to long and were is Superman the whole time?
Well, i guess hes not fast enough to save him, since his speed, is the speed of a camera man walking backwards.

Oh man...so all in all...i found that the Special Effects in the Serials were better, i found the flying Animation to be a nice solution, instead of what Superman and the Mole Men did.
And the lazy effects combined with an way to long chase scene...the Movie is pretty slow and uninteresting.
It has a few charming scenes and a suspensul setting at first and also a good lesson to learn at the end...but overall the Movie was just to lazy and boring for me.

I really enjoy the TwoPart Episode Version much more, were their actually included the Flight scenes from the Series and cut minutes from the Chase Scene.

What do you all think about the Movie?
If anything about my post is wrong ( already existing, picture to big ) please tell me, i will change it^^

 

[ARBH]

I actually forgot they did not show him flying. I remember the scene where he takes off, and you see him leap and take off in the alley, but then you are right... weird backward camera.

 

[BH/HHH]

I love this movie, you have to remember when it was made and the fact it was made with a shoe string budget.

I'd say a reason it doesn't have its own thread is because it was actually tacked onto the end of season 1 of the show as two episodes.

 

[Rex Ruthless]

I love this movie, you have to remember when it was made and the fact it was made with a shoe string budget.

I'd say a reason it doesn't have its own thread is because it was actually tacked onto the end of season 1 of the show as two episodes.

Yes, i know this Movie is very old and special effects werent that good.
But the Captain Marvel Serial that aired 1941, ten years before, had flying effects.
So it was possible at that time.

Okay, they didnt had as much budget for the Movie as they had with the Captain Marvel Serial.
But then again, i read that the first Superman Serial also had only a very small budget and they solved the problem, with showing an animated version of Superman.

My question is simply, why not do it again with the Mole Men Movie?
Did this movie really had almost no budget at all, even lower than the Serial?
Even in the two Pilot Episodes ( Adventures of Superpup and Adventures of Superboy ) even then, they were flying effects.
And this was also just two test productions, which never went into full production for a complete series.

But even then the special effects were better than in Mole Men.
Did this Mole Men Movie have no budget at all?
Im just a little confused.

 

[C. Lee]

It was a "pilot" for the TV series. As with most pilots.....it's purpose was to make people think a series about the subject matter would be a good idea, and it was made on the cheap. They never put all their money into a pilot nor do the pilots contain the "finished" looking special effects that the series (if it went into production)would contain. The producers originally didn't plan on a theatrical release, they only put it out to help recoup some of the money they put into it.

 

[BH/HHH]

Yes, i know this Movie is very old and special effects werent that good.
But the Captain Marvel Serial that aired 1941, ten years before, had flying effects.
So it was possible at that time.

Okay, they didnt had as much budget for the Movie as they had with the Captain Marvel Serial.
But then again, i read that the first Superman Serial also had only a very small budget and they solved the problem, with showing an animated version of Superman.

My question is simply, why not do it again with the Mole Men Movie?
Did this movie really had almost no budget at all, even lower than the Serial?
Even in the two Pilot Episodes ( Adventures of Superpup and Adventures of Superboy ) even then, they were flying effects.
And this was also just two test productions, which never went into full production for a complete series.

But even then the special effects were better than in Mole Men.
Did this Mole Men Movie have no budget at all?
Im just a little confused.

People weren't happy with the cartoon Superman in the serials though so that's probably why they didn't go down that route again. Yes they were able to do flying fx in the series but they probably had more prep time. Superman and the Mole Men was a cheap-quick production.

Those other pilots you mention came after many seasons of the TV series though so they had more experience with the FX.

 

[ARBH]

I don't know. The flying in the Shazam serial was pretty good. It was a dummy, rigged to a zipline, filmed in natural daylight. It was not perfect, but for the time, it looked pretty cool. They could have went that route for Superman v Mole Men. It is all a moot point though. The show was picked up, and the special effects for the series were quite spectacular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apr2-UntqK8