Superman (1941)

The Man of Steel fights a mad scientist who is destroying Metropolis with an energy cannon.

Director:

Dave Fleischer

Writers:

Jerry Siegel (comic strip created by: Superman) (as Jerome Siegel), Joe Shuster (comic strip created by: Superman)

Stars:

Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander, Jackson Beck

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Joan Alexander	...	Lois Lane (voice) (uncredited)
Jackson Beck	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Bud Collyer	...	Clark Kent / Superman (voice) (uncredited)
Jack Mercer	...	The Mad Scientist (voice) (uncredited)
Julian Noa	...	Perry White (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

The Mad Scientist threatens to use his Electrothanasia-Ray to cause "total destruction" to the fools who had laughed at him. Lois Lane pilots an airplane to his mountaintop laboratory, but The Scientist has her bound and gagged before she knows it. He forces her to watch on a television screen as his ray destroys a famous bridge. Next, he uses the ray to topple over the Daily Planet, but Clark Kent changes to Superman in time to save the building and put his indestructible body in front of the ray. The Mad Scientist is thrilled at the opportunity to pit his deadly machine against the Man of Steel.

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Plot Keywords:

mad scientist | ray | bound and gagged | airplane | planet | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 September 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mad Scientist

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fleischer Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min 144 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer were reluctant to take this assignment because it would require much more realistic designs and animation than they usually used. They tried to discourage Paramount by stating they would need a budget of around $100,000 per short, four times the budget of an average Walt Disney cartoon, which then had the highest budgets in animation. To their shock, Paramount executives agreed to at least half the amount, which made the Superman series--in adjusted dollars--the biggest-budgeted animation series in film history.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Voices: Up in the sky, look: It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman!
Narrator: [opening narration] In the endless reaches of the universe, there once existed a planet known as Krypton, a planet that burned like a green star in the distant heavens. There, civilization was far advanced and it brought forth a race of "supermen," whose mental and physical powers were developed to the absolute peak of human perfection. But there came a day when giant quakes threatened to destroy Krypton forever. One of ...

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Connections

Version of Superman (1988)

User Reviews

Great animated series!

I thought that the Superman cartoons were awesome and the characters were really good and all had great personalities. The animation in My opinion was crisp, clean, and really clear especially for the time. Not to mention beautiful! These characters are some of the most colorful and talented ever seen in My opinion. In fact, they are like real people and you sometime forget that your are watching a animated cartoon. The things that goes on in this series' are in My opinion exciting which is what makes it great! There are so many great ones to like. If you like Superman, DC Comics and classic cartoons then I strongly recommend that you head over Amazon.com today and purchase this classic show today!