adonis98-743-186503 The Man of Steel fights a mad scientist who is destroying Metropolis with an energy cannon. My biggest issue with this short 40's Superman animated film is not the animation or the voice acting which was pretty good it was the whole cheesy and quite dumb storyline with the mad scientist and the whole energy cannon that in today's eyes? It looks pretty old to be honest plus the way Superman acted when the cannon hit him? Reminded me more of a Bugs Bunny cartoon than Superman and unfortunately? That is a huge bad effect. (5/10)

betina-18954 I owned a dvd with most of these cartoons on it when i was 6 years old. I saw them, and as a kid i didn't like them. But now as a young adult, i appreciate them alot more. However i would be lying if i said these Superman shorts are timeless. If you were to compare them to later action cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teen Titans, Avatar, or even the later Superman: The Animated Series with they're longer running time and much more developed characters, then compare the Superman shorts to the cartoons i just mentioned, then the shorts are inferior nowadays. There was even one critic on IMDB who didn't like the short running time, and lack of character development, in these cartoons. But the thing is that no one had made a real action or superhero cartoon, and the Fleischers were probably only experimenting with how action cartoons could be done. And these shorts could probably be considered an experiment of action cartoons. And no one had made action cartoons before this, so the result is pretty impressive for the time. And yeah the designs are kinda 40s, but this was popular back then. Why this didn't win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, is beyond me. I mean the Pluto film was cute and all, but did you see this? This was far superior, and much more ahead of it's time. Anyways onto the cartoon.The cartoon starts with the opening credits. Then an introduction to Superman and his origins with narration is showed. You know, he came from Krypton and the way he came to Earth and discovered his powers. It's the only cartoon in the series to have this narration tell his origins.The story is very simple, it's about this evil scientist who tries to destroy cities around the world with his death ray, because people didn't take his warnings seriously. The Superhero fighting a mad scientist cliche is one that has been done to death ever since, so much that it even has been parodied. However at the time it was something new. Lois Lane wants to get the story, then flies to his hideout with her private plane, then the scientist's pet bird spots her. Btw the bird is like the only cartoony character in this cartoon, which is kinda funny. Then Lois gets captured, the death ray destroys Tower Bridge, and tries to destroy buildings in New York, and it's up to Superman to save the day.So what do i and don't i like about this cartoon. Well the only thing i don't like is that, again, it isn't timeless, and it's dated by today's standards. But actually, that's pretty much it.So what do i like about this cartoon?? The animation is as everyone else say, great. The rotoscoping is amazing, and the death ray is animated very detailed and beautiful. The music is also great. In fact it's my favorite Superman theme of all time. And the voice acting is top notch, even having Jack Mercer (The voice of Popeye) as the Mad Scientist. And the fact that it's the first action cartoon was pretty groundbreaking for the time.This cartoon isn't timeless, but was groundbreaking for it's time. 10/10

utgard14 I love the Fleischer Superman cartoons. The animation is smooth and fluid with vivid colors. The distinct art-deco style, vintage science fiction imagery, and use of noirish shadows gave them a look unlike any other cartoons. The music and voice work is superb. They're fun, accessible, enduring animation classics.This first of the Fleischer series is one of the finest animated shorts ever produced. After a brief rundown of Superman's origin, it wastes no time getting right into the plot. The Mad Scientist (voiced by Popeye's Jack Mercer) is threatening to use his death ray on the city. Newspaper editor Perry White assigns the story to his two best reporters, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. However, Lois wants to crack the story on her own so she hops in her plane and flies off. Yep, Lois Lane in this short is not only a fearless reporter but also an aviatrix! Needless to say if you are familiar with Superman at all, Lois is captured by the bad guy. It's up to Superman to save the day. But is he any match for the Mad Scientist's deadly weapon? This is a simple, fun, exciting cartoon. Some of the people today raised on "grim & gritty" comic books might scoff at certain elements, such as the Scientist's comical bird sidekick or the image of Superman punching the ray beams. Unfortunately these cynics miss the point entirely. This cartoon is pure unadulterated escapism. It's imaginative, fantastic fare for those who just want to smile for ten minutes.

sbibb1 This is the first of what would turn out to be 17 Superman cartoons produced by the Fleischer brothers for Paramount Studios. This cartoon was released on September 26, 1941. The plot is as follows: An evil mad scientist threatens to attack the city at midnight. Lois Lane hops in her airplane and flies to the scientists hide out. The scientist captures her, and then procedes to attack Gotham. Blowing up a bridge, and attempting to topple the Empire State Building, until Superman arrives and saves the day.The New York Times said of this cartoon " {this cartoon} is among the brothers' less successful efforts. The Fleischers show so little aptitude for -or interest in-realistic animation styles. Superman and Lois Lane are at their most wooden. So is the story's villain, a mad scientist. But the scientist's raven is wildly alive, like any real Fleischer creation, and the film sneaks in as many raven's-eye glimpses as possible. Heroic human figures have little to do with the grim, witty hallmarks of the Fleischers' imagination."I must disagree with the Times' opinion. If one was to look at Superman comic strips from this point of time, one would see that the Superman of the comic books and the Superman of the cartoons, looks essentially the same. Yes, the raven is the most "cartoon" like character in the cartoon, but the film is still enjoyable, and is a snapshot of what cartoons were like right before the start of WWII.