What’s
the measure of a blockbuster-in-waiting? Well, these days it means not
just a movie itself, but a flooded market of ancillary and catalogue
product, in addition to all the more obvious promotional tie-ins. Ergo,
on the eve of Bryan Singer’s big-screen re-imagining, witness Superman: The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection.
Fleischer
Studios — later called Famous Studios after being acquired by Paramount
— produced 17 Superman cartoons from 1941 to ’43, and these ran in
front of a variety of feature film engagements during that time. In
these days, Superman was still a relatively new character, having been
created in a 1938 Action Comics tome from Jerry Siegel and Joe
Shuster. Max and Dave Fleischer were contracted for the work, and many
of the iconic phrases associated with the Man of Steel (including,
“Look, up in the sky!” and “Faster than a speeding bullet…”) were
birthed from these shorts. Superman: The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection brings together this entire canon, certainly groundbreaking for its time, and still a treat for fans of animation history.
With titles like “The Bulleteers,” “The Mechanical Monsters” and
“The Japoteurs,” these shorts ran six to seven minutes apiece, and
featured Clayton “Bud” Collyer as the voice of Clark Kent and Superman,
Joan Alexander as the voice of Lois Lane and Jackson Beck as the
strips’ narrator. Each is braced with matted background paintings, and
brimming with colorful, often fiery action sequences in which Superman
consistently rescues Lois and/or the citizenry of Metropolis or
Manhattan (the setting had yet to be fully finalized). “The Magnetic
Telescope” finds Superman coping with the fallout from a collision of
comets that results from an overeager scientist, while “Terror on the
Midway” finds him doing battle with a couple of panthers and a gigantic
ape — a definite, winking stand-in for King Kong. Other shorts take
maniacal human villains as their antagonists, including “Electric
Earthquake,” in which a Native American scientist with an underwater
laboratory threatens to destroy Manhattan unless it’s returned to his
people. The plots are straightforward, and there’s not much in the way
of nuance, but completists will appreciate some of the gaps this fills
in.
DVD special features for the program, which is presented on a single
disc in 1.33:1 full screen in a regular Amray case, include a nice
array of retrospective material. First off, though, is the transfer;
though imported from original 35mm prints and negatives, and thus a
vast improvement over any VHS bootlegs floating around out there, the
picture is tinted and beset with fairly consistent grain. Additionally,
the audio is frequently tinny, sounding like it’s coming through a wet
cardboard box. Ultimately, this won’t be enough to dissuade
super-minded collectors from adding Superman: The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection to their haul, nor necessarily should it be, but for the casual fan it is worth mentioning.
What helps mitigate these shortcomings is the care put into the
supplemental features. A foldout insert booklet provides plenty of
contextual background on the series, while the DVD itself includes a
synopsis of each cartoon with facts and trivia from author Ross May and
Super-fan Steve Younis. There are also bios of the voice talent, a
two-minute trailer for the Superman live-action serials from later in
the 1940s, a four-and-a-half-minute wartime parody of the series from
Warner Bros. entitled Snafuperman, employing their Private
Snafu character, and a phone interview with Joan Alexander in which she
reveals that she had to slyly re-audition for the part of Lois Lane
after capricious underwriters gave her the boot the first time around.
Why, Superman himself would appreciate that initiative! C+ (Movies) B- (Disc)