Superman (1941)

One day, I was on YouTube trying to find these old Superman shorts that had been my childhood (we borrowed then from the library and watched them on VCR). And they were so fascinating I watched the entire Youtube series in a sitting. Here are my thoughts:Highs: Animation is gorgeous. I guess the budget was higher in he 40s, because actual effort was put into every scene. Compare this to something like the 60s Spiderman or some of today's kids shows and you will see a gigantic difference. The stories are exciting and easy to follow. Lois is an intrepid character and really is the Lois we know and love today. Superman is unchanged from today, other than his lack of heat vision. The shorts are exciting throughout.Lows: There is propaganda against the Japanese, but it was 1941! What do you expect?Verdict: One of the best animated cartoons ever made. Do yourself a favor and try to find these.

The Mad Scientist is the first of the cartoons the Fleischer brothers animation studio made for Paramount. Released in 1941, this film has a very strong look of Shuster's art in the early strips - not surprising, as work started on the film less than two years after Superman's first appearance in Action Comics.The film kicks off with a brief reprise of Superman's origin before introducing us to Clark Kent and Lois Lane being briefed by newspaper editor Mr White - a threatening letter (complete with inkblots!) has been received from a mad scientist - if his demands are not met by midnight, he will unleash his worst! Sniffing a scoop, Lois commandeers the story for herself and flies off (in an aeroplane! she is an accomplished pilot) to accost the scientist.The scientist is sitting in his observatory/laboratory, his comedy crow on his shoulder, waiting for midnight to arrive, when Lois arrives. Her surreptitious sneaking into the lab is rather spoiled by the noise of her aeroplane landing and the scientist rapidly overpowers her and ties her up so that she can observe him unleashing his deadly ray on the city, where it destroys a road bridge.It is at this point that Clark realises that "This is a job for Superman!" in the first film presentation of a well-loved cliché which is still in use today. The scientist's ray is undermining a skyscraper, but Superman saves it from toppling it over by pushing it back upright. It starts to topple the other way, but Superman pulls it back to equilibrium by heaving on the flagpole(!).The scientist turns up the ray and it smashes Superman to the ground. He recovers himself and starts to fly up the beam, punching it out of the way with a succession of left-rights. The scientist turns up the beam even more, flooring Superman once more, but the Man of Steel again recovers himself and pursues the beam back to the barrel from which it issues, which he ties in a knot. This causes the ray gun to back up, and tremendous pressures start to blow the scientist's machinery - and the observatory - to pieces. The scientist flees, Superman unties Lois and escapes with her in the nick of time, pausing only to pick up the scientist and dump him in jail. The next edition of the Daily Planet features the scoop under Lois' byline, and Clark delivers his first ever trademark wink to camera.Some points to note: Superman's chest insignia features a red "S" on a black background with a yellow outline for the shield. Although the opening title/origin sequence shows Superman leaping a building at a single bound, he undoubtedly flies during the body of the film (except for the transit from the observatory back to the city, which is a leap). In the opening sequence, Superman stands for Truth and Justice, but not yet The American Way. Sammy Timberg's score is somewhat dated, but still highly enjoyable, and his Superman theme is the first of a number of memorable stirring themes. Bud Collyer's vocal performance delivers its trademark drop in level during the "This is a job for Superman" speech. The effects animation is absolutely gorgeous. The comedy crow is, perhaps, a misjudgement. The Fleischers had been producing Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons for some years, and perhaps old habits died hard. Apart from this one touch, this cartoon - like all the others - is pretty straight-faced all the way through. The newspaper is the Daily Planet - the Star has already gone by now.The fairly recent restoration makes this attractive cartoon something which bears up well to modern viewers.

Sixty one years have elapsed since this first Superman cartoon was shown and it still remains as timeless as ever.I had first seen this decades back (not in 1941 because it would be a good several years until I was born) and recently I picked up a copy from a car boot sale. I watched it and enjoyed it throughly.The story is perfectly simple. A mad scientist has some kind of ray aimed at Metropolis and he also kidnaps Lois Lane. Superman of course comes to the rescue. There is no complex plot, just plenty of action.Lois and Clark are not quite equals in this adventure. Nowadays in the Superman comics I think Lois and Clark are married but Lois sort of looked down on Clark in these adventures-she doesn't even let him come out on assignment with her.Another thing I liked was the way Clark changed into Superman. He would always say, "This is a job for Superman," before heading into a storeroom and changing. Magic!For fans of Superman (particularly younger fans), I recommend they check this out if they can get a copy.

If I were to develop X-ray vision that allowed me to see into the minds of Sup's most fervent fans, I still may never be able to fathom the appeal of these soulless, bloodless, cliche-riddled adventures. It's as if a cartoon talent agent noticed the impossibly wooden prince from Disney's "Snow White", took him aside and promised him a new outfit and his own series. The Fleishers put painstaking care into these films, but it's impossible to care what happens to these robotic, semi-rotoscoped humanoids. This series seems to be the start of a woeful institution of films that are long on technical expertise and devoid of all personailty. And I still think Clark Kent's glasses wouldn't fool Mortimer Snerd, although The Tick would likely buy it.