Original subtitles

Faster than a speeding bullet.

More powerful than a locomotive.

Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.

Look, up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane.

It's Superman.

Yes, it's Superman. Strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with

powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers.

Bend steel in his bare hands.

And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great

metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice,

and the American way.

Oh, I beg your pardon, sir. Oh, my fault entirely, Mr. Kent.

I've no business walking through the corridors of my paper, getting in the

way of employees as they barge out of doors.

Well, I just ran out of paper. I wish you would. Would what?

Run out of paper.

Especially this one.

Have I done something?

No, but you were supposed to.

Half an hour ago, Superman rescued ten persons from a burning building.

Oh, yes, sir. I know about that. I know about it, too.

From the front page of every rival paper in town.

Well, at the time, I sort of had my hands full.

And your head empty.

Listen to me, Kent.

The next scatterbrain I catch around here is going to be sorry.

Nobody does anything around here. Nobody.

I beg your pardon?

What? I said, I beg your pardon. I didn't hear what you said.

Oh, it doesn't matter in the least, madam. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm a

very busy man.

You can't be. You just can't be.

No truer words were ever spoken, madam. Good day.

I can't be.

Now, madam, please don't take offense.

But do you mind telling me what I can't be?

Why, Mr. Kent, of course.

Now, that's what I like. Logic.

Good, clear-cut, old-fashioned, down-to-earth logic.

Well, you don't have to believe me.

But, madam, I do believe you.

I'm fairly convinced I'm not Mr. Kent. A circumstance I count among my greater

blessings. But I must see him. I just must see Mr. Kent.

Well, now, I'm quite sure that you... He deserves it.

Madam, if you'll pardon me a moment, I'll see if I can arrange an interview.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you. You're very welcome.

I hate to tell you this, Jimmy, but this story you wrote's terrible.

It is?

Mm-hmm.

Terrible for me, that is. You keep on at this rate and I'll be out of a job.

Well, I hope so.

Oh, you do?

No, I mean, I don't know... I know what you mean.

Yes?

Someone to see you, Kent.

A lady.

Well, that's nice. Do I know her?

No, but it's a rare opportunity.

We can't have that. Send her in.

No, all fooling aside, I think this is very well written, Jimmy.

I'll get it.

Thank you, young man.

Oh, won't you sit down? Oh, I'm in great trouble. You must help me, Superman.

Superman?

Are you all right, ma'am? Oh, you must help me, Superman.

I'm sorry, but aren't you a little mixed up, Miss... Harper. Harriet Harper. And

I'm certainly not mixed up. I know you're Superman.

Well, you may think I am, but I assure you I'm not.

Ah, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And I have the pudding. I mean

the proof. You mean you can prove he's Superman?

Don't be ridiculous, Jimmy. You know better than that. Oh, sure.

But as long as Miss Harper's taking all the trouble to come up here, don't you

think we ought to listen to her explanation?

There can't be any explanation.

Oh, but there is. I'll show you.

There. There?

Such a nice photograph.

May I ask just where you got this? From Alan, of course.

Alan? But how are you supposed to know that?

Alan's my nephew.

He's got to be an explanation somehow.

Well, that should be interesting.

Then you come over and talk to Alan about the other picture? Oh, thank you.

Thank you, Superman.

Definitely I want to talk to Alan.

Since you have an explanation, it won't matter if I come along and hear it. Will

it, Mr. Kent?

Of course not, Jimmy. I'm always glad to have you along. Oh, Alan will be so

pleased. He's always wanted to meet Superman. That's nice.

This is Alan's room. Very nice.

Alan.

Alan, dear.

Yes, I'm here. Oh, you brought him. You brought Superman. Well, there seems to

be a difference of opinion there. And this young man is... Jimmy Olsen. Hi,

Alan. Hi.

What happened in there?

Oh, the man broke into the house looking for the picture, I guess.

Oh, you mean this picture here?

No, the other one.

Let's talk about this one for a while, if you don't mind. When did you take it,

Alan? The other night, behind the Daily Planet building.

I take lots of pictures at night, with an infrared bulb. That way nobody sees

the flash.

And you got this picture that you think is me turning into Superman?

Well, it was awfully dark.

I just saw a figure and took a couple of pictures.

I didn't know it was you until I developed the shot.

Oh, you took a couple of pictures.

Yes. Now, about this explanation you were supposed to have, Mr. Kent. Well,

it's really very simple, Mr. Olsen. You got a picture of Superman.

And about then I must have come along and he snapped me in exactly the same

spot, but he forgot to wind the film.

Gee, then it's just a double exposure.

Oh, but Jeepers, it's not... Well, after all, it's a lot more likely that he'll

get a double exposure than I should be Superman.

Oh, dear, oh, dear. Well, if you're not Superman, then who's to help us?

Well, maybe I still can... You smell something burning out there in the hall?

Wasn't anything burning out there, Mr. Kent?

My supplies, my supplies.

I knew it. I knew there'd be more trouble.

Nothing to be alarmed about. I smelled something, Bernie. I couldn't tell where

it was coming from.

It must have been the same man. He couldn't find the picture, so he tried

to... So he tried to burn the house down. Well, the way things are going,

that sounds perfectly logical to me.

Well, I suppose we begin at the beginning.

Let me explain, Alan. I don't get things as mixed up as you do.

You see, Mr. Kent, Alan... took a picture of the man with the tulips. He

offered us $1,000 before the fire started in the closet. With the tulips.

Is everything clear now, Mr. Kent?

And I can tell you the ending of the story, too.

I'm going to turn out to be Superman.

Congratulations. Well, the picture of you and Superman's got nothing to do

with it. But three nights ago, I went out with my camera again.

I sneaked up on some man standing by a wall.

I got the shot, but the man saw me and chased me nearly all the way home.

Next day, the very same man came to the door. He wanted to buy the picture and

the negative.

Offered us $5. And it kept going higher and higher until he got to $1,000.

He must have thought it was a wonderful picture himself.

I wouldn't sell, because that's the shot I'm going to enter in the state

photography contest.

That's the point. You wouldn't sell. So he came back here and ransacked your

darkroom. But he didn't get what he was looking for.

I'd like to get a look at this man of yours.

Say, that's pretty smart.

Who'd ever think to look for something valuable in a waste paper basket?

Nothing, just basic psychology.

That's what we need around here. Some good old basic psychology.

Alan took a lovely picture of me once. Would you like to see it?

Oh, thank you. Some other time.

Alan, this is a very good picture, but why is it so important to this man?

How would he break in here to get it? Start a fire.

How far would he go to get his picture back?

Frankly, I wouldn't want to be the one to find out.

That's why we needed Superman.

And now you're not Superman, oh dear.

By the way, Alan, did you get the negative of the Superman picture?

Yeah, he got that one.

Mm-hmm. Well, it doesn't matter much, I suppose.

Oh, can I take this with me? It might turn up something.

Okay. I guess it'd be safer with you than with me.

That's if you're sure to keep it in a wastebasket. I wouldn't dream of keeping

it anywhere else.

Well, I'll drop back tomorrow and let you know if I find out anything.

And remember, tomorrow is another day.

Yes, ma'am. And the day after, too.

Yes. Yes, it is.

Well, Clark.

Oh, no.

You went out of here pretty fast a little while ago, and you come back

looking pretty grim.

What's up?

Nothing important, Lois. Believe me.

I'll bet. I can tell when you're up to something, Mr. Kent.

Lois, please, I'll explain later.

I'll go see if there's any messages.

have a picture I want, Mr. Kent.

I'd like to be better with the tulips.

Tulips are my weakness, but not quite as persuasive.

The picture, please.

Are you sure you haven't got another picture you'd like to trade for it?

If you're referring to the negatives that I took from the boys' darkroom, I

glanced through them hurriedly. The picture I want isn't there.

It's here.

Well, looks like you have the advantage.

You're a sensible man, Mr. Kent. After all, the picture means everything to me,

nothing to you.

He's 25 years younger than I am. He just got on the Valley Express before I could

catch him, and he has the picture.

It's a half-hour nonstop run. He can't get off for half an hour.

Who cares about the schedule? What are we going to do?

I'll tell you what we can do.

Suppose the Express is wrecked. A lot of confusion. A lot of people get hurt.

So Bill and me are there to give a helping hand.

Or we rescue the picture.

How can you be sure the subway will be wrecked?

These things happen, Bert.

They happen.

Lois, look, I... Looked like a game of follow the leader, so I decided to get

into the act.

Well, the game is over now. I'll see you back at the office. You won't see me

back anyplace.

You're up to something, and I'm going to find out what it is. It could happen any

time within the next half hour.

What could happen?

Nothing, Lois. Look, will you please let me alone?

Uh-oh. Where you go, I go, Mr. Kent.

All right.

You know what to do.

This is about Casey's Joan.

Yeah, like clockwork.

You ever hear of a local catching up on an express?

This one's going up.

Yeah, we slugged a motorman, and it's running wild.

In about three stations, it'll catch up.

And boom!

Haven't much of that half hour left, have you?

Look, Lois, don't you have anything else to do besides tag along after me?

Not at the moment. Sorry.

Lois, do you hear something funny?

Why, no.

A burglar alarm. That means a story.

Okay, Lois.

You're cool.

Lois, did you get your story on the holdup? Oh, there wasn't a holdup. Just

a short circuit in the alarm.

But I got something better.

Oh? The story of Superman preventing a subway collision.

Yes, I heard about it.

Biggest story of the week. Too bad you missed it.

Hi,

Jimmy.

Where have you been?

Well, it's kind of a weird story, Mr. Kent.

I only believe about half of it myself.

I see.

So you still got the picture?

Mm-hmm.

But out of the hundreds of things I don't understand, one of them is why you

were so willing to give it up.

Well, really, it's very simple, Jimmy.

You see, the man had a gun on me, and besides, I thought it would be better if

he took the picture than I tried to follow him.

Mm-hmm. Well, all I know is the man in the picture is the same man who has that

other picture of you, or Superman.

Uh-huh.

Well, I think we'd better go down and see Inspector Henderson.

Anything you say, Mr. Kent.

But I still don't know which picture worries you the most. It isn't

important. You're sure. Come on.

I've seen that face somewhere before.

But I can only find it in this mug book.

There he is.

That's it.

Burt Burnside, alias the Tulip.

You seem to know all about him.

Sure I know all about him.

He's dead.

Then he's got an awfully healthy ghost.

He's right. We've both seen him.

Maybe you two better take a vacation.

As far as I'm concerned, he's dead.

This picture could have been taken five years ago.

Mm-mm. No, Bill, not this one. Look.

You see this playgo behind there, advertising Molly and me?

Mm-hmm. Well, this is a brand-new play, just opened in Metropolis two weeks ago

for the first time.

Well, if that's his picture, he's still alive.

Now, what can you tell me about him, Bill? I mean, before all this.

Well, he used to be a pretty good con man, mostly in the insurance game.

I don't think I like his policy.

Looks like he's still at it, too.

He was insured for $50,000, payable to his two partners.

And they both collected?

Sure.

Body turns up beside Highway 12. Bert's body. Hit and run, the coroner says.

Hmm, double indemnity.

Two times 50, $100,000, company pays off.

And the guy isn't even dead.

But somebody else is, Jim.

That body by the roadside wasn't any department store dummy.

What are you going to do, Bill?

I'm going to put out an all points on those three characters. No.

Let me handle this.

I can't do it, Kent.

Those men are killers.

Just give me 24 hours. I've never let you down before, have I?

I'll give you half of that.

But be careful.

Thanks. Well, it shouldn't take a man like Mr. Kent even that long.

Come along, Junior.

My story, and you have to butcher it.

I'm just adding one little paragraph, Lois. I know Bert and his pals read

every account of the subway collision.

Near collision, thanks to Superman.

There.

How's it sound, Jimmy?

One of the lucky passengers on the express was James Olsen of this paper.

He was on his way to deliver a photograph to a group of contest editors

in the valley, said Mr. Olsen.

After what happened, I decided to mail the picture.

Let Uncle Sam deliver it in the morning.

So that's what I said.

Looks like.

Think it'll do the trick?

Oh, sure.

Except I'm not quite sure what the trick is.

Now, my story, please, if you don't mind. Unless you'd like to rewrite the

whole thing.

Well.

Well, what do we do now?

Nothing. The next move's up to them, Jimmy.

I hope.

You read this?

Certainly.

Looks like we've got to get the dawn in front of the main post office and haul

up the early truck to the valley.

You get up. I sleep later.

Sometimes I wonder why I do this for you.

Look at all I've done for you. I died for you.

Look, let's face it. This is a three-man job. We all got to go.

Maybe you're right.

a big idea here.

Oh, why'd you plug him?

He saw us, didn't he?

Who'd ever think I'd end up driving a United States male?

And you don't look enough like a male driver to get by.

Better get going to the hideout fast.

is supposed to get your hands on the picture.

It's not the entire post office department.

Quit your beefing. We wasn't going to sort this stuff out in broad daylight.

It's got to be one of these facts.

Who are those papers?

The Daily Planet.

I regret to say this, gentlemen, but I'm afraid that we've met our match.

I don't know I could, but from now on, you're no good to us.

Let's get out of here, Bill.

You forgot your truck.

I've been expecting you, Superman.

Expecting me? Of course.

First, am I right in assuming that Hank and Bill got only a few feet away?

That's fine.

And second, am I right in assuming that the police are on their way here?

Right again.

And thirdly, that you wanted to have a little talk with me.

Now, how did you guess that?

Come now, I'm a con man. I know a game when I see one.

Then perhaps you'd better tell me what this game is.

It's a game called Let's Make a Deal.

If you know anything about me at all, you know I don't make deals.

It's always a first time.

Now, if you'll promise to get me away from here safely before the police

arrive, I'll tell you where the picture is.

The picture that proves that you and Clark Kent are actually one and the same

person. As I understand it, Clark Kent has already explained that it was just a

double exposure.

I'm not that gullible.

Well, assuming that I refuse this deal of yours, then I'll have the pleasure of

revealing your true identity.

Here they come.

You can still get me safely away.

Sorry. You're on your own now.

School's out.

Well, come in, gentlemen. I was just leaving, but since I have company, I...

I see you've branched out, Bert, into the truck-stealing business.

And murder.

Oh, murder, Inspector.

Now, maybe you can prove that the body that my partners collected insurance on

was not mine, but that's fraud, not murder. When the police crime lab

establishes that your car was a death weapon, that's murder, Bert, not just

fraud. Well, I thought I was going to be late for this party. It looks like I

have plenty of time.

Your little act doesn't fool me, Mr. Kent. I told you what I was going to do.

Gentlemen, as a final gesture, I intend to prove that Clark Kent is actually

Superman.

This I'd like to see. So would I. What are you saying, Bert? Now, if Mr. Kent

would kindly step back against the wall.

Anything to oblige? You don't mind if I smoke while I explain?

Oh, go ahead. Thank you.

Careless of me.

All right, Jimmy.

But he couldn't have missed you.

He fired point blank.

Proves my point.

Kent should be lying there dead.

There's the spent bullet.

Ask him why I didn't go through him.

Can you explain it, Kent?

Why, yes, Inspector.

As a matter of fact, I think I can.

Fortunately, I happen to have a lucky silver dollar in my pocket.

And this stopped the bullet?

Yes, Jimmy.

Oh, this must be your lucky day.

Shows how stupid a crook can be.

Imagine him thinking you could be Superman.

Well, now, just a minute. Isn't that funny?

Oh, don't worry, Mr. Kent. We think you're all right just like you are.

Thanks, Jimmy.