8mm Forum: SUPERMAN CARTOONS 1940s review

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Posted by Laksmi Breathwaite (Member # 2320) on February 18, 2012, 01:36 AM:

For me, nothing inspires this hero feeling like Max Fleischer’s Superman cartoons of the 1940s. The Fleischers hoped to discourage Paramount from committing to the series, so they informed the studio that the cost of producing such a series of cartoons would be about $100,000 per short—an amazingly high figure, about four times the typical budget of a six-minute Fleischer Popeye the Sailor cartoon during the 1940s.To their surprise, Paramount agreed to a budget of $50,000 half the requested sum, but still two times the cost of the average Fleischer short , and the Fleischers were committed to the project.

These 17 monumental shorts featuring the daring (and sometimes war propaganda filled) exploits of Superman and Lois Lane, each beautifully crafted, were quite possibly as instrumental to the takeoff of the superhero phenomenon as Action Comics #1. From these, the standards for what a hero should be were set. These film reel cartoons also birthed a new respect for the field of animation, inspiring artists to this day from Bruce Timm (who based Batman: The Animated Series on these shorts) to master anime craftsman Hayao Miyazaki.

Not to mention how instrumental it was to the Superman mythos itself: the above monologue, the “It’s a bird, it’s a plane” exchange, “this looks like a job for Superman,” and “truth justice and the American Way” all find their births right here. Without these cartoons, we never would have seen George Reeves’ Adventures of Superman television show of the 1950s, never have been graced by Christopher Reeve’s redefining Superman of the 1970s- really, without this DC Comics loses its entire foothold in the film and television industry. At the end of the day, it all comes back to Superman.

And because these cartoon reels, originally shown in theaters in an era where the television set was not yet a household item, are all now in the public domain, freemoviesonline.com has each of them available for your enjoyment and edification. From The Mad Scientist to Secret Agent, you’ll be glued to your seat with childlike wonder. Even if you don’t happen to be a child of World War II.
The Super 8 collection is great all the movies where each put on a 200 ft reel and were in color and if you were lucky on B/w sound. Red Fox sold them and Niles film had them for sale. I remember how I would check the Red Fox catalog every month in the late 70's to see if more of the cartoons were on sale. I could not wait to see the new one that had just come out. I would race to get it on my Elmo Projector and play it for my friends. I loved it no one at the time movies but I had my Super 8 collections. There was no video,DVDs, or theatres showing but one movie a week. I lived in Hawaii at that time on the Island of Kauai
and there was only one movie theatre on the island at that time. So I would plug my projector in and put up a sheet between poles and put my tin can out and start the show. Wow those were the good old days!

[ March 28, 2012, 12:47 AM: Message edited by: Laksmi Breathwaite ]

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on February 18, 2012, 01:06 PM:

Hi Laks

THanks for a great review. I agree with every word you said. They had some on the best animation ever. I have 9 of them and looking forward to getting them all. I just completed editing 6 of them on a 1200' reel and made my own box with artwork. It's much more enjoyable. I remember them on TV when I was a kid.

PatD

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 18, 2012, 01:29 PM:

These prints were quite good as a whole and we are lucky enough today that some (or all) of the titles made it onto low fade LPP!

My personal favorite is the very first of the series. As a young animator (those many years ago) I was almost flabberghasted that the same people responsible for the classic Popeyes were the same people that did the Superman's.

That particular film, the first of the series, I enjoyed looking at ... frame by frame, during Superman's fight with the laser cannon! I learned more about proper human anatomy in animation from that sequence.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on February 18, 2012, 02:48 PM:

OZ

I have the 1st one. The Mad Scientist unofficial title. Let's not forget the trumpet blasts everytime "S" punches the laser.

Pat

Posted by Laksmi Breathwaite (Member # 2320) on February 18, 2012, 08:25 PM:

Hey Pasquale I have nine cartoons as well nice Box and Osi, my favorite one was 2nd in the series THE MECHANICAL MONSTERS . It was the first to use the phone booth ,xray vision,super costume & cape, and shows the man of steel like powers . Akshay I have the DVD and videos but there is nothing like film shown on a giant white building in the pitch black night with friends.

[ February 19, 2012, 12:51 AM: Message edited by: Laksmi Breathwaite ]

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on February 18, 2012, 09:57 PM:

Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!

Posted by Laksmi Breathwaite (Member # 2320) on February 19, 2012, 01:07 AM:

Yes that is were they got that slogan from the cartoons Pat. Mechanical Monsters had so much mood and drama that they try to keep that theme through the rest of the cartoons. The music was something that held the mood. It was so good that it kept the drama and action in place. These shorts acted like full on feature films. And if film makers today followed these formulas they would make more entertaining films. I never get tired watching these beautiful dramatic gems. .

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