Benson's mob arrives at the hospital demanding that the creature be turned over to them. Superman stands guard outside the hospital. Lois stands at his side, but a shot is fired from the mob, narrowly missing her. Superman sends her inside and single handedly relieves the mob of their rifles and pistols. Three more Mole Men emerge from the drill shaft, this time bearing a strange weapon. They make their way to the hospital. Benson and his mob see the creatures, and Benson goes after them alone. The creatures fire their laser-like weapon at him. Superman jumps in front of the pulsating ray, saving Benson's life, which Superman says "is more than you deserve!". Superman fetches the wounded creature from the hospital and carries him as his companions return to the well head. Soon after, from deep underground, the Mole Men destroy the drill shaft, making certain that no one can come up or go down it ever again. Lois observes, "It's almost as if they were saying, 'You live your lives ... and we'll live ours'". Cast Themes The sympathetic treatment of the strangers in the film, and the unreasoning fear on the part of the townspeople, has been compared by author Gary Grossman to the panicked public reaction to the peaceful alien Klaatu in the science fiction film The Day The Earth Stood Still, which was released the same year. Both have been considered retrospectively as the product of (and a reaction to) the "Red Scare" of post-World War II era. Grossman also cites the later film The Mole People (1956). Production Superman and the Mole Men is the first theatrical feature film based on any DC Comics character. Previously, there was a series of 17 produced technicolor animated Superman short subjects theatrically released by Paramount Pictures' Fleischer Studios, two live-action, multiple chapter movie serials made by Columbia Pictures Inc., based on the Superman comics feature and radio program, featuring Kirk Alyn as Superman and Noel Neill as Lois Lane, had been shown in weekly installments in movie theaters. Two additional serials based on DC's Batman, the first featuring Lewis Wilson as Batman and Douglas Croft as Robin/Dick Grayson, and the second featuring Robert Lowery as Batman and Johnny Duncan as Robin/Dick Grayson, were also made by Columbia (1943 and 1949). The original screenplay was by "Richard Fielding", a pseudonym for Robert Maxwell and Whitney Ellsworth. Superman and