Today I want to talk to you about a very bizarre chapter in the history of superhero films. Stamp Day for Superman is a short, 18-minute film that was made for the United States Department of the Treasury in order to promote the purchase of U.S. Savings Bonds. This sort of thing would be common to see in a commercial nowadays, but I find it really odd that in the early days of superheroes, there was an entire short film made for the U.S. government featuring Superman talking about stamps and savings bonds.

While Stamp Day for Superman is very much an advertisement that just bleeds commercialized shamelessness, it is all presented under the guise of an actual plot, so let’s talk about that first. One night, Superman stops the plot of a burglary by two crooks. One of the men gets away, but Superman apprehends the other man. This man tells Superman his story, saying how he’s found himself in a situation where he has to steal because he never bothered saving his money. Superman then begins to see the importance of saving and decides to hold a Stamp Day for kids where he talks to them about this issue, but his plans are temporarily interrupted when the other crook ends up kidnapping Lois Lane.

At the end of the day, I write these reviews to tell you whether or not you should watch something, and in the case of Stamp Day for Superman, this is the farthest thing from a worthy viewing experience. The film is nothing more than a dressed-up, long commercial, and it never even tries to be subtle about it. Much like any other propaganda or branded content out there today, Stamp Day for Superman was made for the sole purpose of selling savings bonds, and so I don’t think that’s something that any viewer needs to subject themselves to nowadays.

However, on the flip side, sometimes the fun of a review for me is to highlight something weird that exists that not many people may know about, and so if I’m going to give any recommendation for Stamp Day for Superman, it’s purely to see it for yourself that this was ever made in the first place. It’s not only of interest to Superman fans, but also just in general for people that enjoy seeing weird things that have come from pop culture. If I’m going to recommend Stamp Day for Superman for literally any reason, it’s just for the novelty of seeing what it is. Otherwise, this is obviously not something that you should feel like you need to see.

2/5