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If you are a fan of Superman and haven't seen these remarkable cartoons, you should - without delay - put down the small amount of money that this disc costs and buy it.
I can assure you that you will be amazed and entertained. This Max Fleischer cartoon series is the best representation of Superman to date, in my opinion.
While the cartoons are dated (produced during W.W.II) it makes it all the better in this writer's opinion.
Buy the DVD - you will NOT be disappointed!!
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I have the 1st of the DVDs,but not the 2nd one.I would love to have the 2nd one.Maybe I can order it from Borders or something,when I get Kim Possible Pick A Villian #3 book in October.
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If you are a fan of Superman or comic books in general, get this DVD. The shorts in this DVD are good old-fashioned serial movies, animated brilliantly by the Fleischer brothers. Yes, the material is dated, and sometimes unintentionally hilarious.
In one episode, Clark Kent ducks into the broom closet of the Daily Planet, turns on the light so everyone can see him, and changes into Superman. (We see him taking off his pants.) Then he apparently walks out of the broom closet, presumably leaving his clothes behind, gets into the elevator in his Superman costume and takes it down to the lobby, where he then flies out the front door on his way to fight crime. Great stuff.
But it is interesting to see the movie studio's first treatment of Superman. He is more of a "man", or in other words, more mortal. His super powers are flying, being bulletproof or superstrength. That's it. He uses X-ray vision in exactly one of the episodes. He is more easily knocked unconscious, or magically loses his power to fly after being knocked from a perch. Lifting a plane or dragging a giant train is a real chore for him, but nonetheless a truly "superhuman" accomplishment.
Also, in these cartoons there is no heat vision, no Fortress of Solitude, no Kryptonite. No Lex Luthor or Bizarro, either. The villains here are nameless mad scientists who have constructed wires that cause earthquakes in Manhattan, or mechanical monsters who are bank robbers, or evil men who wear hoods and drive around in a "bullet car" that destroys civic buildings.
And finally, Lois Lane! She is a piece of work. She works to sabotage Clark Kent's journalism career at every turn while hogging all the scoops and glory for herself. Not only that, she is shooting machine guns while driving an out-of-control train, tailing bad guys by jumping into their motorboat or evil mechanical monster in order to gain access to their secret lairs. It's terrific.
Finally, the colors and shadow work in these movies is nothing short of masterful. This is a must for any fan of Superman and particularly of animation.
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it is worth noting here that a few of these episodes fall prey to the lame bigotry of mid-century america. i love the style and execution of these cartoons, especially considering they're over 60 years old now. however, racism rears its ugly head in "japotuers" (bucktoothed, bespectacled, evil japanese villain), "electric earthquake" (maniacal, vengeful native american), and "jungle drums" (bone-in-nose african savages, controlled by... klansmen?!). like i said, these are historically and aesthetically important and enjoyable shorts, but know now that some episodes are offensive.
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The big selling point of this compilation is the enhanced AC3-5.1 Dolby digital surround sountrack. It's impressive but ultimately a gimmick that doesn't add to the cartoons. (I eventually turned the sound down, but that could be an indication of my age more than anything else.) The main detraction of this set, though, is that it only includes nine out of the seventeen cartoons. Bosko's DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY EDITION: THE COMPLETE SUPERMAN COLLECTION is the one to get. It doesn't have the enhanced sound; but its prints are from the best available negatives well mastered onto DVD, and the sound is no less than what you'd expect.
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