In this one, America tells Japan that their cartoon can beat them up.
After the opening (it’s the new nature-themed one again) this short is basically just a montage of Superman sabotaging Japan (it’s apparently okay when he does it). Our intrepid reporters are prisoners in Japan, but every night Clark secretly busts out of the room he’s being kept in to bust up all the boats and bridges and stuff. I’m all for Superman wrecking up violent empires, but I could stand to see it with less wanton destruction. Take “How Superman Would Win The War” in which he strikes directly at the leaders of the aggressive nations. There at least he doesn’t kill a bunch of soldiers and destroy cities. Maybe you say that he can only do that in a sort of What If scenario like that short story because in the real world he can’t end the war? Well, to that I say maybe Superman isn’t the best place for this particular kind of propaganda then.
But hey, speaking of propaganda, we are still dealing with racist depictions of Japanese men, with the buck-teeth and so on. I’d take wanton destruction if we could get rid of that.
Anyway, they try to stop Superman by saying they will kill Lois if he keeps it up. He keeps it up. They put Lois in front of a firing squad, but just in time to block the bullets Superman arrives and beats them up and saves her. He brings her back to America, where she notes that Clark is still captured in Japan, but Superman will be there to protect him. It’s genuinely a sort of never-give-up bit of badassery that people like in superhero stuff and it would go down soother if not connected to the racist propaganda.
It’s a story that has been done in the comics and the shows and probably more. A guy dresses as Superman and does crimes that make people (even the Daily Planet) lose confidence in their hero. In this short’s case we don’t even get a name for the imposter or his boss. Honestly, I barely understand why this guy is bothering with the Superman costume given that half his crimes are smash and grabs or pickpocketing that he could do just as easily without it. Anyway, Lois investigates, Superman stops the baddies, standard stuff.
Things worth mentioning:
A copy boy appears at the Planet, never given a name, but his high-pitched Jack Mercer voice reminds me of Beanie Martin from the radio show, so I assume it is him.
The boss bad guy has one of those desks with a button that opens a trap door in front of the desk! That’s cool.
Clark seems to fall asleep at the opera for real, not as a bit.
Clark does do a bit with his top hat at the end. I may love a wink at the end, but a top hat bit is an acceptable substitute.
At one point Clark says “my double’s in for some trouble” which is also fun. It rhymes.
Finally, It’s interesting that the things Superman is compared to in the opening have changed again. I only remembered it happening once, but now he’s “faster than a streak of lightning, more powerful than the pounding surf, and mightier than a roaring hurricane.” It’s a very natural group of things. If that matters, I can’t think of why right now, though this is indeed one of the least science-fictiony of these shorts to date.
Oh, by the way, there’s been a war going on this whole time. Time for it to be in the Superman shorts.
They use the version of the opening with the “higher than any plane” bit, which is appropriate for this short, and then we see a Daily Planet announcing that the world’s biggest bomber plane has been constructed. And so a Japanese man in an office somewhere hits that button that all Japanese businessmen must have that transforms their Statue of Liberty picture into a Rising Sun flag. If the title of the short wasn’t clear enough for you, it should be clear now that we’re in propaganda town. The short is basically saying that no matter how American they seem, any Japanese person could turn out to be a spy. Just great. And yes, the lead Japanese spy is a buck-toothed guy who looks like Daffy Duck should be messing with him.
Anyway, Lois and Clark are checking out that new big plane. And it is a big friggin’ plane, they weren’t lying about that. It definitely fulfills the sci-fi component for this short. Anyway, Lois and Clark are there and when they are supposed to leave, Lois hides and stays on there and obviously that means she’s there when the plane is hijacked. A Superman fight ensues and in the end Superman catches it before it can crash into the city.
Leaving the wartime propaganda element aside, I’d say that the first of the Famous shorts doesn’t seem that much like a visual quality dropoff to me. The takeoff sequence isn’t anything special, I guess, but I like the transition with the burning newspaper.
The circus is in town and Lois Lane doesn’t love it. She has been sent by the Daily Planet to review the circus, a job she clearly considers beneath her. But then a little monkey accidentally releases Gigantic the Gorilla and a rampage ensues! Lois’s day is saved! Hooray!
Some other circus animals are also involved in the rampage, so Superman gets to catch a panther and some lions (though I think one lion is still on the loose at the end of the cartoon), but the real feature here is Superman versus Gorilla. I’ve made a big deal about how most of these shorts lean into Superman versus some Sci-Fi concept, but this one continues the trend of last episode of pitting the hero against Nature. Now, granted, I argued that the the T-Rex should count as a sci-fi thing because they were relatively recently discovered at the time. And yeah, gorillas had only been accepted by the scientific community as existing for less than a century at the time of this cartoon’s creation, but still, this is post-King Kong. A regular ape is not sci-fi post-King King.
Does Lois wind up in distress in this one? Of course she does. Is it because she’s inherently a weak, feminine figure? No, it’s because she rescues a little girl from Gorilla Attack. Good for you, Lois. She earned her scoop on this story.
Also worth mentioning: the little monkey that incites the problems in this one is dressed like a bellhop. I’m pretty sure this design will be reused as a toy owned by Titano the chimp in the 90s Superman cartoon.
Now, this is the last of the actual Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons. After this they are taken over by Famous Studios. I remember the general opinion being that quality drops after this, but there are several things that haven’t happened yet that I remember being good. Let’s find out if I still think so as we continue down the path, I suppose.
Throughout this whole run of write-ups about the shorts, I’ve been noting that (assuming you accept my argument that T-Rexes having been relatively recently discovered, so they count) the shorts have all been about pitching Superman against some newfangled sci-fi threat. This one doesn’t do that. This time, it’s Superman versus Nature when a small island town is threatened by an ancient volcano becoming active again. All the newspapers are following the story, but only the Daily Planet actually sends some reporters to the scene, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s Lois and Clark that are sent (and Lois halves the group by stealing Clark’s press pass so he can’t get in). Everything goes badly and Superman has to save the town (and Lois) from lethal lava.
Now, there may be no scientific threat, but that’s not to say there’s no science at all. There’s a team of scientists who are studying the volcano and devising a plan to save the town which doesn’t go perfectly, but is the way Superman ultimately saves the day. That means science is not the tool of the villain here, it is a tool for good. I like to see that. Also, there IS NO villain here. As I make my complaints about the superhero genre, I’m often told that we Need To have supervillains and stories that end with fights because stories thrive on conflict. It’s always nice to see an example that proves my side.
Other than that, we get some good Lois here. I don’t like that she stole Clark’s press pass so he wouldn’t be able to play reporter with her, but I do like that she flees the erupting volcano by climbing hand-over-hand down the cable car cable. I’ve always said this woman is no mere “damsel in distress” no matter how often she is absolutely in distress.
A minor note from the opening too. Notice that they do the speeding bullet and locomotive, but then instead of leaping tall bullets, we’re told that Superman is “able to soar higher than any plane” and the plane we see is a bomber. A sign of the War creeping in for not the last time. Bombers are, of course, another example of Superman being contrasted against a modern invention. They just love to do it.
