Rating:  -
I'm not a particularly enthusiastic fan of Superman or animation, but I must say these movies are a real treat. The restoration is impressive, with vivid colors, clean lines and nice (if sometimes rather artificial) sound. The original artwork is, as has been described elsewhere, excellent.
Some noise has been made about insensitve racial content. Well, during the second World War the propoganda machine was in full swing. We refered the Japanese with words that today make us cringe. These items are cultural artifacts and are wisely left unexpurgated. Just as we must leave "Huckleberry Finn" un-Bowdlerized we must leave these WW II cartoons alone as well. Censorship is the enemy of art.
While you can observe these cartoons as historical snapshots, you can also just sit back and have fun with them. This 40's era Superman is a lot more human than the modern version; it takes some effort, for example, to stop a plummetting airliner, or rip away a steel door. The stories are fairly snappy, and they make for entertaining viewing. At this price, you ought to just order the darn thing.
Rating: -
If you've already purchased the "Complete Superman Cartoons", there is no need for you to purchase this particular DVD. If you've already purchased "Complete...", you already have all of the "lost" items that are on this DVD.
Rating:  -
This Audio Galaxy product is a mixture of good to bad prints: some may be from videotape sources, or worn 16mm TV-station reduction prints instead of the original film.
Calling these 8 Fleischer studio cartoons "Lost Episodes" is merely a marketing ploy, since none of these have ever been lost, and have been floating around on public-domain "kid-vid" VHS tapes for the last 15 years. Audio Galaxy does try some padding with "complete credits, production notes..." etc., but there's nothing really compellng. You could look most of this stuff up on the Internet. Because this is only eight of the Superman cartoons, younger viewers may get an unbalanced picture of the series due to two of the titles, "Japoteurs" and "Jungle Drums" relying on blatantly racist stereotypes, reflecting the sensibilites of the mid-40's and WWII era in which they were produced.
The better bet would be to purchase another DVD Collection, "Complete Superman Cartoons: Diamond Anniversary Edition," which I'm sure you can locate discounted from it's MSRP ... On that disc you will find the whole catalog of all 17 Fleischer studio Superman cartoons (including the 8 titles on the Audio Galaxy disc), many in pristine condition,
with all the same additional features. If there are any more than this 17 I have not yet found them. ...
Rating:  -
Superman's first major visit to the big screen is finally captured on DVD and preserved. This DVD is the project of WinStar, not Paramount. I don't think Paramount in any way even sanctioned this or their logo would appear somewhere in the viewing of the DVD.
Be aware! This is not the full collection of the Fleischer cartoons. Only the eight episodes produced by Famous Studios are on it. The Episodes included are:
1) Jap O Tears
2) Showdown
3) Eleventh Hour
4) Destruction Inc.
5) The Mummy Strikes
6) Jungle Drums
7) Underground World
8) Secret Agent
If you want the full collection or the rest of the collection you'll have to purchase the DVD's listed below:
Complete Superman Cartoons: Diamond Anniversary Edition
The Superman Cartoons of Max and Dave Fleischer
Max Fleischer's Superman/ Superman: The Lost Episodes
(For all the episodes)
Superman (1998) (For the other nine not on this DVD)
All are available here at Amazon.
This restoration is a very noble attempt. The film is very much cleaned up and more enjoyable to watch. The colors, particularly the reds, are very vibrant now. Images hard to make out on older VHS copies are now crystal clear. The sound quality is another story, however. You can choose three different sound settings: Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, and Stereo. They all still sound like they're in a can to me. In fact, when you watch the restoration demo on the DVD the sound beforehand is cleaner and clearer than the restored sound, in my opinion. New sound effects have been blended with the old ones. Try to picture the old sound effects (in a can) blended with digitally crisp ones. Do you see my point? They do not blend very well and that can be distracting.
I'm not trying to talk you out of buying this product, just be aware of what you're buying.
Bonuses for this DVD:
It's a DVD and will never wear out - That's a bonus in itself.
It does have a very interesting history of the Fleischer Studios and the all the Superman shorts they created.
It also has the very first "Mighty Mouse" short that is known of included on it. You'll note that Mighty Mouse's colors were different.
This is a worthy investment if you're like me and love any and all things that are Superman related.
Rating: -
Finally, these so-called "Lost Episodes" are available. But if you're a preservationist, lookout! The "Paramount Pictures" logo is not included, and the closing shot isn't there, either. If you're just looking at this for entertainment, fine, but if this sort of butchering bothers you, this will bother you quite a bit. Also, yes, this does depict Japanese and German characters in a bad light, but for crying out loud, this was war! And these cartoons really weren't meant that much for kids, anyway, at least not like a Saturday morning cartoon today or a movie serial from the 40s was. Still, this is relatively obscure material seeing the light of day. If you're from a younger generation, you'll get to see the excitement that was Superman in his earliest days, before robots, time travel, and so on started to bog him down.
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