Customer Reviews

The Complete Superman Cartoons - Diamond Anniversary Edition (1941)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think these classic Superman cartoons should be enhanced and digitally remastered in Blu-ray high definiton, because it is a great one to have on blu-ray. I hope it will come soon.

Nostalgia buffs, "Superfans,"students of quality animation, and lovers of classic comics will enjoy these 17 cartoons produced between 1941 and 1943 by Paramount Studios. In these little gems, the Man of Steel battles an assortment of monsters, mobsters, mad scientists, and malefactors bent on wreaking havoc in Metropolis and sabotaging America's war effort. Despite the rather formulaic plots, what makes this collection worth having is the outstanding attention to detail in the animation and backgrounds, especially in the first nine 'toons produced by Max Fleischer and directed by his brother Dave. The skyscrapers have a distinctive Art Deco look that gives Superman's world a real personality, a real sense of time and place. Lois Lane shows plenty of spunk long before anyone ever heard the phrase "women's liberation." She bluntly calls Clark Kent a fool, packs her portable typewriter (a 1940s laptop) almost anywhere, wields a machine gun to foil train robbers, and flies off solo, Amelia Earhart-style, to interview a mad scientist.

As noted by other reviewers, the quality of the animation and storytelling drop off noticeably in the remaining eight shorts, produced after the Fleischers left Paramount. Overall, however, the series maintains a fairly high standard throughout, probably because associates of the Fleischers also worked on the later entries in the series. Even the lesser quality animation of the later 'toons, to my eyes, looks better than much of the drivel produced for the Saturday morning shows. Modern day viewers may be uncomfortable with the portrayals of Germans and Japanese, but, after all, these cartoons were produced during World War II, when Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were our mortal enemies. I daresay that if someone were to produce a cartoon adventure of Superman vs. Al-Quaeda today, Osama bin Laden and his ilk wouldn't be portrayed very favorably. All things considered, the Last Son of Krypton has seldom looked better than he does in these cartoons.

Growing up in the '80s these Superman cartoons were my absolute favorite. They were readily available on VHS from numerous companies as they were in the public domain, and as such the quality of the prints was often very poor. I wanted to watch every Superman cartoon, but they were not al available.

This DVD set has EVERY Superman cartoon made in the 1940s. Today they hold up just as well, beautiful animation, great plot lines, and some are just plain racist, but they still have all the charm and effect from when I was a kid.

Because several, if not all of the cartoons on this DVD are in the public domain, you will find that there are other companies that also release Superman cartoons on DVD, however this is the one DVD to get. These cartoons have been restored, and are well worth the money.

BOY! These cartoons are GREAT STUFF! I read about them as a child when I saw a 1942 ad for the cartoons and it whetted my appetite for them.

For the most part, they tend to tell the same story evey time with few exceptions, but the visual quality is WONDERFUL and even though the tales are somewhat predictable, they are imaginative and fun to watch.

My favorites are "Terror on the Midway," where Supe comes to the rescue when a wild gorilla wreaks havoc at a circus (check out the "elephant dance" early on in this film). "Underground World" is quite fascinating, as Supe and Lois get lost in an underground kingdom ruled by hawk-men (check out the ending)! "Showdown" has Supe face off against a crime-committing Superman pretender.

Some of these cartoons are not for the politically correct crowd. "Japoteurs" has Supe stop a Japanese crook from sabotaging a US warplane (remember, this was wartime). "Jungle Drums" has Lois burning at the stake while Africans with bones in their noses dance around her. You have to leave your brains at the door and remember the times to enjoy these.

But either case, get some popcorn, bring the kids (and skip the politically incorrect stuff for them), and you'll have a ball from ages 8 to 80.

Of all the collections of Superman Fleischer cartoons available, THIS IS THE ONE TO GET! Audio and picture quality of these classic cartoons that is leaps and bounds ahead of the others.

I can't praise this collection by Bosko Video enough. The picture quality is amazing- before I bought this DVD I actually thought that these cartoons were inherently murky, dark, and fuzzy. It amazed me to find that the original prints were sharp, detailed, and bright. Plus, the DVD menu makes it quick and easy to skip around and find exactly the title that you want. This is a quality production and not some slapped together compilation of public domain material. Plus you get ALL the cartoons from both Fleischer and Famous studios.

I remember back before the mid 60's when there was NO animated super-hero material available. Then a relative told me that she remembered Superman cartoons from WW2. I thought that she must have been kidding me. I simply couldn't believe that if such films existed that they would not be on television. Yet that was the case- no one saw these cartoons for over 30 years. I wish they had been available because they would have been my hands down favorites. Super-hero animation of this high of quality didn't appear again until the '90's. The quality of the artwork is amazing. The colors, shading, and shadows are magnificent. And the overall art deco/ film noir look is pure class.

There is something more about these cartoons. I personally believe that they were some of the best propaganda to come out of the WW2 era (the first two were actually made BEFORE Pearl Harbor.) I mean, a lot of youngsters must have seen these films before going off to war. The Axis was spewing all sorts of propaganda about "supermen." They were claiming that superior beings had a natural right to enslave and rule the world. Well, here was a superior being whose only reason to BE was to help those who needed his help. He defended the weak and helpless. He fought for truth and justice. That must have been a powerful example for young men who were about to go off and do the very same thing.....

I can't praise this collection by Bosko Video enough. The picture quality is amazing- before I bought this DVD I actually thought that these cartoons were inherently murky, dark, and fuzzy. It amazed me to find that the original prints were sharp, detailed, and bright. Plus, the DVD menu makes it quick and easy to skip around and find exactly the title that you want. This is a quality production and not some slapped together compilation of public domain material. Plus you get ALL the cartoons from both Fleischer and Famous studios.

I remember back before the mid 60's when there was NO animated super-hero material available. Then a relative told me that she remembered Superman cartoons from WW2. I thought that she must have been kidding me. I simply couldn't believe that if such films existed that they would not be on television. Yet that was the case- no one saw these cartoons for over 30 years. I wish they had been available because they would have been my hands-down favorites. Super-hero animation of this high of quality didn't appear again until the '90's. The quality of the artwork is amazing. The colors, shading, and shadows are magnificent. And the overall art deco/ film noir look is pure class.

There is something more about these cartoons. I personally believe that they were some of the best propaganda to come out of the WW2 era (the first two were actually made BEFORE Pearl Harbor.) I mean, a lot of youngsters must have seen these films before going off to war. The fascists were spewing all sorts of propaganda about Aryan "supermen." They were claiming that "superior beings" had a natural right to enslave and rule the world. Well, here was a superior being whose only reason to BE was to help those who needed his help. He defended the weak and helpless. He fought for truth and justice. That must have been a powerful example for young men who were about to go off and do the very same thing.....

THE COMPLETE SUPERMAN COLLECTION contains all 17 of the Superman cartoons produced from 1941 to 1943 by Paramount Pictures. After years of bad public domain video copies of these same cartoons, the visual quality of the prints seen on this DVD is breathtaking. (All were transferred flawlessly from original 35mm Technicolor prints.) It should be pointed out that the first nine of the Superman cartoons were produced by cartoon pioneer Max Fleischer (creator of Betty Boop) and directed by his brother, Dave Fleischer. The remaining eight cartoons were produced after the Fleischers left Paramount and were made by house directors at the revamped Paramount/Famous Studio cartoon unit. There is no discernible loss in quality. In fact, the remaining eight all break free from the formula established by the Fleischers and offer some of the real surprises on this disc. All the cartoons boast incredibly beautiful and imaginative imagery.

A few notes on some of the individual cartoons:

"Billion Dollar Limited" (1942)
Almost nonstop movement and action as a robbery gang tries to derail a train carrying a billion dollars in gold to the mint. Lois Lane even picks up a Tommy gun at one point to fire at the attackers.
"The Arctic Giant" (1942)
Features a giant dinosaur on the rampage in Manhattan (not Metropolis!). Visible landmarks include the Museum of Natural History and Yankee Stadium. Looks forward to both THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and GODZILLA.
"Electric Earthquake" (1942)
Interestingly, the mad scientist villain is an American Indian who demands the return of Manhattan to his people. When his demand is dismissed, he sets off earthquakes on Manhattan by using giant electrical connectors plugged into the island's bedrock underwater.
"Eleventh Hour" (1942)
An astounding wartime cartoon as both Clark Kent and Lois Lane are held prisoner in Yokohama by the Japanese. Clark breaks out every night, as Superman, to sabotage Japanese battleships. Lois Lane is even taken before a firing squad at one point.
"Secret Agent" (1943)
A straight-ahead crime thriller with car chases in the streets of Metropolis and shootouts with police as a beautiful blonde undercover agent tries to get to Washington with a list of spies and saboteurs. The last of the Superman cartoons and one of the best.

If only other American animation producers had taken the lead established by these cartoons and begun doing serious, comic book-based action and science fiction-themed cartoons. As it stands, it took about 30 years for Japan's animators to take up the cause and give us exemplary action and sci-fi animation on a par with the Superman cartoons.

I considered myself a lukewarm Superman fan.. I'd read some of the comics, and I really liked the first movie. I picked up this DVD mostly because it was very inexpensive, and seemed like something worth having in the back of a DVD collection somewhere. Man, I did not do this DVD justice at all. It deserves a central place in any collection. The cartoons are truly amazing. They're all clever, well-voiced and crafted, and developed in a very cool art deco style that seems these days restricted to faux Italian cafe posters in your downtown Starbucks. The most pleasant aspect of all was how surprisingly modern the cartoons feel. Created mostly in the early 1940s, they do have a certain jingoism to them, particularly the post-Pearl Harbor ones, but otherwise I was amazed to see how robust Lois Lane's characterization was. Not only is she cast as an independent career woman, her grit and style actually outpace that of the later movies. Perhaps that's just my own 1940s-1950s bias speaking, but nonetheless it's interesting to see how her repeated 'damsel in distress' status necessary to bring out Superman is really much more nuanced and flattering.
The DVD itself also shows the films with little fanfare aside from an opening scrawl and a subtitle at the start of each indicating its original release date. The cartoons are so good and of such high production values that one can almost believe it when the distributor gushes about their pleasure at providing them to the public. You won't find a better bargain than this collection.

I first saw these classics on horrible video versions, purchased as "impulse buys" at my local mega-store check-out. I bought them for my 4 year old nephew to watch. I ended up watching them with him and was struck by the cool stories and awesome animation. Now they're all here on DVD! I love every episode! This is essential for any superman fan, animation buff, or comic book addict! Highly recommended...