Superman on Television

Adventures of Superman: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episode 25: "The Unknown People - Part 1"

Reviewed by: James Lantz

Original Broadcast Date: November 21, 1951

Writer: Richard Fielding

Director: Lee Sholem

Guest Cast:
Jeff Corey as Luke Benson
Walter Reed as Bill Corrigan
J. Farrell MacDonald as Pop Shannon
Stanley Andrews as The Sheriff
Billy Curtis as Mole-Man #1
John T. Bambury as Mole-Man #2
Jerry Maren as Mole-Man #3
Tony Boris as Mole-Man #4
Stephen Carr as Eddie
Hal K. Dawson as Chuck Weber
Margia Dean as The Mother
Byron Foulger as Jeff Reagan
Harry Harvey as Doctor Saunders
Irene Martin as Mrs. Pomfrey
John Phillips as Matt
Ray Walker as John Craig
Beverly Washburn as The Little Girl

"The Unknown People - Part 1"

Not far from Dallas, Texas, there is the small town of Silsby that is home to the world's deepest oil well. Lois Lane and Clark Kent are doing a story about it for the Daily Planet. Public relations official for the National Oil Company John Craig has driven Lois and Clark to Ravenhurst Experimental Number One, the site's location, only to discover that foreman Bill Corrigan has shut down everything after drilling more than six miles below the Earth's surface. In addition to this, Clark notices that some tools are about to be buried. Clearly, something unusual is going on in the hamlet of Silsby.

Night has fallen in Silsby. Lois and Clark want to investigate the oil well site further. The blasting cap used to block the drilling area has just opened, and two small humanoid creatures have emerged from the hole. Their presence scares watchman Pop Shannon literally to death. Lois and Clark find the body in Pop's shack, and the beings frighten Lois. This new mystery has just gotten more eerie for both Clark Kent and Superman.

The doctor and sheriff believe that Pop's demise was caused by a heart attack, and nobody has found the creatures that Lois saw. Lois has now gone with John Craig back to the Silsby Hotel while Bill Corrigan tells the truth to Clark. Showing five samples taken from below the surface, Corrigan reveals that the luminous liquids that were found could possibly be radioactive. He didn't want to expose his men to pure radium. Samples of the earth from the drills used in the operation contained microorganisms, which means that other more evolved beings could live underground. Lois really did see the Mole-Men. Worse yet, the oranges in Pop's shack are glowing like Corrigan's test tubes. The Unknown People could possibly pose a deadly threat to the people of Silsby.

Jeff Reagan has crashed the coroner's wagon into a ditch, and a little girl's mother has been frightened by the strange men from below the Earth. In spite of Clark and Corrigan's warnings of possible danger, the townspeople are now in a mob led by a man named Luke Benson. Even Superman's words do nothing to quench the group's thirst for vengeance. The Man of Steel may have a greater threat than the Mole-Men on his hands - the angry, fearful men and women of Silsby.

The Mole-Men are frightened and unaware of the radioactive risk they pose to the people of Silsby. As the mother and little girl are taken to the hospital for decontamination, Luke Benson's mob has the beings from the center of the Earth cornered on the local dam. With searchlights shining on them and guns ready to fire bullets at them, it looks like this could be the violent, tragic end of the Unknown People.

To Be Continued...

5Rating - 5 (out of 5): This episode and the next one were originally released as the theatrical film Superman and the Mole-Men. The only difference is that the opening narration that explained Superman's origin in the movie version had been removed.

The broadcast date on television is unknown. The one listed is actually when Superman and the Mole-Men was released in American movie theaters. I'll go out on a limb and guess that part one aired on March 6, 1953, with the second chapter following on March 13, 1953.

Originally, Kirk Alyn was to be in Superman and the Mole-Men after the two movie serials, but he wanted too much money and didn't wish to be type cast.

Jack Larson, John Hamilton and Robert Shayne do not appear and are not credited because their respective parts had not been cast when Superman and the Mole-Men had been filmed.

While the state in which Silsby is located is never mentioned. Clark does say that if Craig had driven at night, he could have taken him and Lois to Dallas, leading one to assume that Silsby is in Texas.

Beverly Washburn, who played the little girl playing ball with the Mole-Men, never had any scenes with George Reeves in Superman and the Mole-Men. However, she did co-star with Reeves in an episode of The Ford Television Theatre entitled "Heart of Gold". She was the daughter of Reeves' character. Washburn also was in Professional Father, a series in which Phyllis Coates was a member of the cast. Look for Ms. Washburn as Lt. Arlene Galway in "The Deadly Years" from Star Trek: The Original Series.

While this is Jeff Corey's only Superman related role, he did provide the voice of Silvermane in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series. His long filmography also includes roles in the War of the Worlds television series, Star Trek and Night Gallery.

In addition to Superman and the Mole-Men, Walter Reed will return in season six for "The Atomic Captive". He also has an uncredited role in some episodes of Batman starring Adam West.

Pop Shannon is one of J. Farrell MacDonald's last roles. However, he does have a cameo in It's A Wonderful Life.

Hal K. Dawson will appear again for many episodes of The Adventures of Superman television series. Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will note his appearance in the season nine film The Touch of Satan.

Billy Curtis will return to The Adventures of Superman as the title character in the episode "Mr. Zero". He is the only actor to play one of the Mole-Men in Superman and the Mole-Men and later return to the television series.

When one thinks of Scream Queens, one normally thinks of Janet Leigh or Brinke Stevens. The name of Phyllis Coates never comes to mind in spite of the piercing sounds that came from her in various episodes of season one of The Adventures of Superman television series. This made her perfect for horror films even if the only one in her filmography is I Was a Teenage Frankenstein. It's a pity she wasn't in more films of the genre.

Okay, the special effects are what could be considered cheesy by today's standards, but one has to consider that Superman and the Mole-Men didn't have a budget like Superman Returns. Still, the overall effort is well done for the time. Robert Maxwell and Whitney Ellsworth's story is an engaging one that reminds me of the serials "Operation: Tolerance" years of the radio series. It also blends into the mix some science fiction elements that were rare in season one. "Superman On Earth" was the only other episode to do this.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed "The Unknown People - Part 1". I was not expecting to like it very much as it's been quite some time since I saw it in its two episode format and as Superman and the Mole-Men. It's an entertaining entry in The Adventures of Superman. I'm going to pop in the DVD to watch part two as soon as possible.



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