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.

White speaking. Yes?

No, no, Mr. Jones.

Handle that assignment the way I told you to handle it.

You reporters all make the same mistakes.

You refuse to take orders.

No imagination.

You don't think when you have a problem to work out or a tough spot to get out

of. Yes, Chief.

All this depending on Superman for help.

In my day, when I was a reporter, I... And you were a good one. Well, let me

tell you this. I always saw a story through.

Mr. White, what do you mean barging in here like this? Downstairs, right in

front of the Navy planet. Did you hear what I just said? A man was shot

downstairs, right now, just in front of the planet, Bill. Who was shot? A man in

a diver's suit. A man in a diver's suit. The boy's losing his mind. Well, Dr.

Johnson's working on him right now in first aid.

First aid? Come on.

Oat, get out of the press room and tell them to hold page one.

Can he be cut out of that outfit?

I'm afraid it's no use, Chief.

Quincey.

Quincey, we've got it. Go on, man, go on.

Quincey.

Gosh, Mr. White, why don't you let me handle the story? A diver mysteriously

murdered in the center of the city and no water for miles around.

Boy, that's just the sort of an assignment I always wanted.

First aid room.

I suppose this will be another break for Mr. Kent.

Johnson. This is White.

Have you searched the diver's effects?

What about the diving suit?

Any label?

Give me that pencil.

Yeah. Give it to me.

Inshore Diving Equipment Company.

Thanks. Please, Chief.

I mean, Mr. White, this is a real mystery. That's why I want to... That's

why I'm going to handle this story myself.

I'll get a scoop without the aid of Superman.

And it'll give me a chance to teach some of my reporters how to go after a story.

Starting with you.

I guess you don't type as fast as you used to, huh, Chief?

Maybe not as fast, but just as good.

And don't call me Chief!

Here's the early edition, Chief.

Hot off the press.

It's got your story in it.

Mm-hmm.

But, uh, Mr. White, sir, I don't get it.

You don't get what?

It's written in clear, concise newspaper style.

Any idiot could understand it.

This part right here. The man in the diving suit before his death made

startling and important disclosures to Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet.

Well?

Well, did he? He said Quincy.

That's a startling and important disclosure?

In itself, no.

But the killer or killers don't know what the poor devil said.

All they know is what they read in the paper. And I write the paper.

Then it's a deliberate fake.

Certainly. The killers are probably worried sick right now about how much I

know. That's what will make them come to us.

And right now, we're going to put a little more cheese in that trap.

You and I are going down to the Inshore Diving Equipment Company and rent us a

diving suit.

Diving suit?

But they're liable to come to us the same way they came to that diver.

With bullets.

You're right, son.

You're learning fast.

I tell you, this Perry White rented a diving suit from the same company. I

trailed him there.

That diver must have talked.

Now, listen to me.

I was right in getting rid of that guy. You agreed to that. Now, why do you say

no to getting rid of this newspaper man? Why?

Max. Max, there is a difference between an unknown diver and the editor of the

Daily Planet.

I tell you, we cannot risk it.

Do you want us to sit back and do nothing when we might be facing the

electric chair?

Please believe me. My way is best.

John DeVries was killed while resisting arrest because he delayed long enough to

hide the information for me. The diver was next.

I am superstitious, Max.

Three is bad luck.

Believe me, Maria. If we stall anymore, Bingham and Lynch are going to get to

the hiding place first.

DeVries loved you, Maria.

Never mention John and myself together. I've told you this.

As far as Lynch and Bingham are concerned, well, at least we know where

the secret is.

We are still one job ahead of them.

Oh, Max, my Max, you do love violence, though.

But believe me, patience is still the best weapon of them all.

And then they took the diver's suit back to the paper.

So Max Kruger followed the editor who wrote this story.

You are wise to watch, Max Bingham.

Poor Max.

Always too quick on the trigger.

We have our first lead, Bingham.

I think Max and Maria have finally made a mistake.

Well, if they're not going to tell us anything, what are we going to do?

They won't.

But maybe this Perry White will.

I don't think you ought to do this, Chief.

Remember what happened to that other diver. Oh, don't be ridiculous, Olsen.

If you want a story, you've got to go out and get it.

Olsen! Now, where's that helmet?

Right up, Chief.

Oh, it seems to be a little bent, though.

I can never get that thing over my head.

Oh, I don't know.

Olsen, take that thing down to the shop and have them straighten it. You'll have

to take the whole blasted thing to get it fitted.

You better let me do it, Chief. I'll have it fixed in the jiffy. Here, let me

help you off with that.

Now, the police are convinced the gunman does not know who hired him.

He got his instructions over the phone.

So, I suppose we're up a blind alley.

By the way, how does Superman get that diving suit?

I gave it to you just five minutes before the shooting.

Oh, well, Chief, you know how Superman gets around. As a matter of fact, you

took the matter right out of my hands.

Now, let's think.

Think of what the diver said.

Quincy.

What's diving got to do with Quincy?

Well, what does Quincy mean to any of you?

Just a phone exchange.

Quincy 1234 and so forth, right?

Exactly right. And because you came up with it, Lois, the assignment is yours.

What assignment?

Ah, here's where years of experience pay off.

Now we know that Quincy is a phone district, right?

We call the phone company and find out the area of that district.

Then you, bearing in mind the fact that diving was connected with Quincy...

Make a list of every possible place where a diver could be used in that

area. Understood?

Right.

Kent, you and Olsen stand by. Yes.

In your office.

So, again you had to use violence.

To use your gunman.

But we couldn't let that editor get any closer.

Ah, but he is still alive, is he not?

Now we not only have him to worry about, but Superman as well.

Yeah.

Yeah, I know.

I've made 8 million phone calls. I've studied 20 million city maps.

The nearest reservoir is 10 miles away. No lakes in the park.

The piping in the sewer system is too narrow to permit a diver. No records of

any old cisterns or wells of any appreciable size.

In other words, a big, fat blank.

Blanks, blanks. I can't print blanks. Now, take it easy, Chief. She's had

quite a workout today.

A workout?

That's one you overlooked.

A workout.

A gym.

A pool.

Water. A swimming pool.

Yes, and Quincy fits in too, Chief.

The Quincy Athletic Club has got everything. It's got a gym, pool, and so

forth. Fine. And this time you'll have a chance to see a real reporter in action,

Kent. We're going to take a reducing course.

Well,

here we are.

Hey, you can use a workout.

Been sitting around too much. Gotta get out and get some exercise.

You fellas loosen up a bit and I'll be back in a minute.

Yes, sir. Is it all right to use this bag?

Sure, go right ahead.

Thank you.

Oh, I'm terribly sorry.

Well, you sure put that out of commission.

Well, it's an old bag. Maybe the canvas is rotten.

Yeah.

Ah, swimming. Now there's a sport I like.

Well, that door's locked. The pool's empty. We're getting it clean.

Oh, I see.

We've got to get in there. I know. Watch the door.

I'm downstairs in the gymnasium. Get down here right away.

Chief.

Well? He was right. The pool's empty and I couldn't find a thing.

I brought you a visitor, gentlemen.

most accommodating, Mr. White.

Though we'd have preferred it had you come alone.

I think you owe us an explanation, Mr... Oh, my name isn't important, Mr. White.

Just let's say somebody got desperate and the man was killed.

Like a diver, perhaps?

Your report is smart, Mr. White.

His deduction is correct.

They killed him to protect certain information.

We intend to obtain the same information.

And if we have to kill to get it... Well, that won't be necessary, Bingham.

Mr. White's a cooperative man, I'm sure.

He'll tell us, and right now, what the divers spilled to him.

I have nothing to, as you say, spill.

Well, Bingham, help the gentleman into the cabinets.

All right, Fatso, come on.

You too, Mr. Kent.

Gentlemen, we haven't much time, and we want the answer.

I don't know.

I can't tell you what I don't know.

Let me have him for a few minutes, and he'll chatter like a magpie.

You heard him, and you can believe him. The diver told him nothing.

Maybe he's right.

Maybe the diver didn't get a chance to ding him.

The diver must have stumbled across something, and Max and Maria must know

what it is that they wouldn't risk killing him.

We're wasting time here. We can find out where the stuff's hidden from Max.

What about these two?

Oh, yes.

They're dangerous things, these cabinets.

Sometimes the attendant forgets and goes away.

Turn them up full.

You'll be well done, Fatso, by the time you get out of here.

Here you are, Chief.

Thank you.

I must have fainted.

I'm all right now.

How did you... Well, that old steam cabinet couldn't take it any more than

you could.

Here, I'll give you another glass of water.

I've got it.

You got it? I've got it. What?

The water cooler.

The diver.

What? The diver in the water cooler?

Chief, that steam must have put you more than I thought.

Now, you listen to me, Kent.

The water supply on top, like the water supply in this water cooler, runs down

into the cup.

To fill this pool in there, there could be a water tank on top of this building.

Of course, a water tank. Why didn't I think of that? Let's get dressed and go

up and take a look at it. See, I told you I was a better reporter than you

are. Let's call Olsen.

Jimmy, what's that thing inside?

Yes, sir.

It's a fool, Mr. White. What we're looking for is probably on the bottom.

Well, don't stand up there doing nothing.

Go downstairs and turn on the pool release.

That'll give a chance to drag.

The notion can go up again and take another look.

Downstairs, I said.

Max, answer that. Here it is.

You have guests, Maria.

And welcome ones, I hope.

Welcome as the plague.

Oh, come, come, Maria. At least be sociable.

De Vries didn't like me either, but we always had a very pleasant business

association.

That's why he left the last shipment for me.

Yes, but I don't think you'll find it.

Ever. Get out of here!

You are wasting your time. Get out.

Well, first a few facts, Maria.

John DeVries gave me a sort of, well, a sort of verbal option on the stuff.

When he was foolish enough to run foul of the police and to resist arrest, he

was killed.

Which is regrettable, but, well, these things do happen.

What doesn't happen, however, is my finding myself cut out by you.

For the last time, where is it?

I'll never tell you that.

You know that, Lynch.

I, uh, I believe you, Maria.

But I wouldn't count on Max.

Lynch, we have no time to waste.

If I talk, if I'm willing to split with you, will that satisfy you?

But of course, Maria, you can trust me. You know, honor among friends. Oh,

Lynch, we have no time to joke. Look, look over there.

They got out of the cabinets.

Let's have it. What does that tank have to do with it?

It's inside the tank, Lynch.

Just before the police closed in on John, he phoned me. He tried to tell me.

He did not have the time. All I heard was, on the club on the roof, inside the

tank. That's why Maria took this apartment, to keep an eye on the tank.

And that's why you hired the diver. We planned to smuggle him up there, but he

hurt too much and got frightened.

I've got to know.

What did John DeVries put in that tank?

That's what we must find out.

Unless they find out first.

There's about two feet of water left, Mr. White, but it's going down slowly.

Go on, get in, get in.

Like this?

A little water never hurt an old-time reporter. You'll dry.

I can't see a thing.

Well, move around a little. Move around.

Guys, it's slippery in here.

Yes, sirree, Chief. That young reporter is sure learning fast.

Did you find anything?

Oh, just a load of moss, not much else.

Jimmy, you handled that just like a veteran. Tell me, can you type

underwater?

Hey, look.

It's a goldfish in my... For heaven's sake, a goldfish. Throw it back, throw

it back.

But it's got a band around it. So it's a pedigreed fish.

Now, wait a minute, Chief. I never heard of a banded goldfish.

The only fish they usually band are game fish, like trout.

And what's a goldfish doing in that water tank, anyway?

Can you get the band off, Jimmy? I think so. Here, one minute.

They found the large goldfish John had in the aquarium.

John was smart, Maria.

No wonder we could never find anything when we searched his apartment.

But exactly how did he hide the secret?

Look, there's some writing on it.

W-S-K-L-I-K-H-S-F...

It looks like it's code of some sort. Let me see it, Jimmy.

Code used to be a hobby of mine. That should be a cinchstone scramble.

It says car 763-792 East Yard. Must be the railway yard.

The railroad yard. Good.

Kent, I want to scoop every paper in town on this. You go back to the office

and write up what's already happened.

Olsen, I'll meet you down at the yards later.

Well, now, wait just a minute. What if those pot shotters and gym characters

come back? Oh, we'll take care of them. Won't we, Olsen? Oh, sure. We can handle

it.

Come on.

You can dry out down in the gym.

They found something on the band and are rushing away.

Quick. We've got to follow their car.

Bring him along.

Seven, six, three, seven, nine, two.

That's it, boy.

Open it up.

Look, Chief.

What's that?

White's only paper.

Nobody would kill for that. Take another look, Mr. White.

Look closer, White.

You see the threads running through it?

They're silk thread.

You're looking at the finest banknote paper ever made outside of Washington.

Just how many $20 bills do you suppose all this will make?

So you're counterfeiters.

And if you've got good plates, this paper is worth millions.

Worth a lot of trouble, Mr. White.

All right, let's get started.

You too, gentlemen.

Hurry up, Clark. Hurry up. I want to see what they found.

We're on our way.

Max got the last one.

Very well.

Gentlemen, will you step inside the car?

You too, Max.

You heard him.

Bingham, get the gasoline can out of the car.

You won't mind joining them, Maria.

Well, don't be surprised. You heard our friend here.

Worth millions, he said.

I'm afraid Bingham and I are a bit greedy.

I should have known it.

What do you want to do with it?

Empty that can in the car.

That way.

They'll never point at us in the courtroom.

Come on, get the paper in the car.

It's those two from the gym. You stay here.

Lois, you better get help.

We don't bother anymore.

Get the rest of the paper.

I couldn't have done better myself.

Gosh, thanks, Superman.

See, Jimmy, I told you I'd make an old-time reporter out of you. Me, an old

-timer? Gosh, I'm only a cub reporter.

Superman, will you do me a great favor?

Most certainly.

Don't let Clark Kent know I had to depend on you to save us.

Well, don't worry, Mr. Hoyer. He'll never learn about it from me.