Review - Rescue What seemed to be a mundane assignment for Lois turned out to be anything but as the mine proved to be as dangerous as they are reported then and now. Determined not to just sit while someone's life is in jeopardy, Lois takes it on herself to be a mine rescuer. And when she succeeds in finding the trapped old man inside the mine, she gets trapped herself, as continued cave-ins occur. Try as she might to rescue them both from certain death, she has to rely on Superman to save them. The great success of the episode is with the well-acted roles from Phyllis Coates, Houseley Stevenson Sr., Fred Sherman and Ed Cobb. Also, special mention to an appearance by Milt Kibbee, with nearly four-hundred acting credits to his long career. The story is believable, there are mine cave-ins, and the scenery is a break from the big city. Clark plays a role in all this excitement, but a watch is necessary to see how he fits in before Superman comes to the rescue. Excellent story coupled with exceptional acting from the primary characters. This one doesn't lose without Perry and Jimmy. This was almost all Lois which made up for the missed appearances in recent episodes.
4 Reviews
Another mini-40s B-movie
sscheiber19 January 2015
This episode is a classic example of the way Superman was handled in that wonderful first season. The creators of Superman's first season never knew anything about television. They were weaned on 40s B- movies, so that's what they wrote. The show wasn't intended for children. TV Guide at the time listed it as "Adventure". Lois Lane is the crack, reckless hard-nosed reporter she was supposed to be at that time. This one is her story. Superman shows up only at the end. (I sure hope nobody regards that as a "spoiler". That's pretty much the way every episode ends.)
Oh, the show has a few "cutesy" bits to keep Clark Kent from knowing what's going on. And sometimes the $3.50 budget shows. But the plot is generally uncompromising and believable. The location scenes (which could have been done on a back lot) for the Pennsylvania coal mine are believable and consistent for the time. The only word to describe it is "gritty". Which is exactly what the writers intended.
Oh, the show has a few "cutesy" bits to keep Clark Kent from knowing what's going on. And sometimes the $3.50 budget shows. But the plot is generally uncompromising and believable. The location scenes (which could have been done on a back lot) for the Pennsylvania coal mine are believable and consistent for the time. The only word to describe it is "gritty". Which is exactly what the writers intended.
Lois Should Have Been Left in the Mine
Hitchcoc28 January 2015
Lois Lane is left by Clark to investigate the dangers of a coal mine. When an irresponsible old man who has been warned about the dangers of the mine gets himself trapped, great effort is made to rescue him. Lois takes it upon herself to go into the mine after him, despite warnings to the contrary, and, of course, gets trapped herself. Somehow, Clark never finds out about what has happened. He completes his dull assignment in Washington and head back to the mine. The ending is predictable. The sheer stupidity and recklessness of Lois Lane is one of the issues that make these things a bit hard to swallow. She creates danger and then goes about her business as if nothing has happened. Certainly a rather unimaginative episode.
Enjoyable, understated yet tense episode
sssuperman-dot-com5 December 2015
Personally, I thought this episode was quite well-done. It wasn't too fast-paced and action-packed - it felt more subtle and slow-going in nature, but I honestly really liked that about it. I like that they kept the premise simple here and didn't add anything flashy or weird, but executed what they had with finesse.
Only George Reeves and Phyllis Coates (my favorite Lois!) are in this one. No Perry White or Jimmy Olsen. I thought they both did a really good job. George didn't have nearly as much to do in this one as he usually does, but he was still really great - his charming, personable, earnest self. And as for Phyllis, here we see Lois being extremely impulsive and let's face it, just plain foolish, but I feel like we also got to see her incredible bravery and good heart. As a result, I managed to sympathize with Lois despite the extreme foolishness and even destructiveness of her actions. It's easy for Lois to come across as overly mean and fixated on personal success, but we don't see any of that here. Yeah, Lois was stupid and dangerously rash, but hey, she isn't exactly supposed to be perfect, and she wasn't even being selfish, just incredibly unwise.
Another great aspect of this episode was the impressive maintaining of tension, especially for a Superman episode. For most of the episode, Clark was off on another assignment while the townspeople were dealing with the increasingly bad mine situation. I enjoyed watching the ordinary people doing their best to deal with the situation using the means available to them, and the fact that they were actually depicted as competent and nearing success for the most part, until their efforts finally weren't enough. Amusement and tension were very effectively combined in having Clark Kent narrowly miss learning about the situation with Lois repeatedly! Of course, I guess I can see where that might be a tiny bit cringey too. I myself felt it was a bit of a "cheat" to have Clark unable to hear the radio, since he's supposed to have super-hearing...but I guess he has to "activate" his super-hearing, so it's not a total mess-up.
Of course, at the end of the day I guess it's still an episode about Superman just simply saving Lois from a predicament that was her own darn fault, so if that's not your bag, you probably won't like it. It wasn't perfect or anything, but for me it was definitely a good episode.
Oh, and this episode also wins a prize for having the most boring name possible. I mean, couldn't practically any episode be called "Rescue"?
Only George Reeves and Phyllis Coates (my favorite Lois!) are in this one. No Perry White or Jimmy Olsen. I thought they both did a really good job. George didn't have nearly as much to do in this one as he usually does, but he was still really great - his charming, personable, earnest self. And as for Phyllis, here we see Lois being extremely impulsive and let's face it, just plain foolish, but I feel like we also got to see her incredible bravery and good heart. As a result, I managed to sympathize with Lois despite the extreme foolishness and even destructiveness of her actions. It's easy for Lois to come across as overly mean and fixated on personal success, but we don't see any of that here. Yeah, Lois was stupid and dangerously rash, but hey, she isn't exactly supposed to be perfect, and she wasn't even being selfish, just incredibly unwise.
Another great aspect of this episode was the impressive maintaining of tension, especially for a Superman episode. For most of the episode, Clark was off on another assignment while the townspeople were dealing with the increasingly bad mine situation. I enjoyed watching the ordinary people doing their best to deal with the situation using the means available to them, and the fact that they were actually depicted as competent and nearing success for the most part, until their efforts finally weren't enough. Amusement and tension were very effectively combined in having Clark Kent narrowly miss learning about the situation with Lois repeatedly! Of course, I guess I can see where that might be a tiny bit cringey too. I myself felt it was a bit of a "cheat" to have Clark unable to hear the radio, since he's supposed to have super-hearing...but I guess he has to "activate" his super-hearing, so it's not a total mess-up.
Of course, at the end of the day I guess it's still an episode about Superman just simply saving Lois from a predicament that was her own darn fault, so if that's not your bag, you probably won't like it. It wasn't perfect or anything, but for me it was definitely a good episode.
Oh, and this episode also wins a prize for having the most boring name possible. I mean, couldn't practically any episode be called "Rescue"?
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