The Superman Cartoons of Max & Dave Fleischer

Previously, there had been available (and perhaps it is still available) a collection which included just those SUPERMAN cartoons which were made for Paramount by Fleischer Studios, and NOT those which were made under the same contract, but by Famous Studios.Well, this collection includes BOTH the Fleischer Studios' SUPERMAN cartoons AND the Famous Studios' SUPERMAN cartoons.ALL are in the "public domain", and ALL may be downloaded from the Moving Images site. However, those are from prints (picture and sound) and are of generally poor quality.The person or persons who uploaded those to the Moving Images site DID NOT have access to the original elements.THIS collection, with the exception of "Terror on the Midway", was made from elements closer to the original "successive-exposure" Technicolor negatives, most probably from "low contrast" television telecine prints for the picture, and good quality positive prints (NOT necessarily original soundtrack negatives) for the sound. The elements of "Terror on the Midway" have not surfaced, so this episode was apparently sourced from a combination of a 35mm telecine print and a 16mm print.Additionally, in several episodes, where there was significant damage, such as deep scratches, a good duplicate from another episode, or a "freezed-frame" from the original, replaced the damaged section where the image was close to, but not necessarily identical to the original, so the result goes something like this: a possibly incorrect intro, a scratched title card (usually freeze-framed from the original), a possibly incorrect but flawless cast and crew credit title cards, a scratched episode title card (usually freeze-framed from the original), and the remainder of the episode being flawless, including the correct, final "In Technicolor" logo.Finally, ALL episodes have been modified to include text which states the original 1941 to 1943 release date, and this text is superimposed over the initial few seconds of the episode itself, AFTER the initial fade-in.The net result is about as close as one is going to get without the expense of an authorized photochemical or digital restoration.The final sentence of the liner notes claims, "These 17 animated masterpieces have been restored to their best possible quality; the images are superbly clear and the original mono soundtrack is nearly flawless", which is accurate as far as it goes.HOWEVER, a more truthful claim would be, "These 17 animated masterpieces have been EDITED FROM THE best possible SOURCE MATERIALS, CONSISTENT WITHIN A LIMITED BUDGET; the images are superbly clear, ALTHOUGH IN SOME CASES ASSEMBLED FROM DIFFERENT EPISODE REELS, and the original mono soundtrack is nearly flawless CONSISTENT WITH ACQUISITION FROM A PRINT AND NOT FROM THE ORIGINAL TRACK NEGATIVE" (the emphasis is mine, of course).The earlier release of 9 episodes (Fleischer, ONLY) is correct in all cases, but the quality is quite variable.This latest release of all 17 episodes (Fleischer, AND Famous) is incorrect in several cases, without compromising the spirit of the episode, and the quality is uniformly as good as is possible without performing an authorized restoration.A final comment: in the much later 1950s live-action episodes, SUPERMAN's signature motto reflects a post-WW-II American "world-view" (as America was the first post-war "super-power"), and reads, "... with Truth, Justice and the THE AMERICAN WAY ..." (the emphasis is mine). In these 1940s animated episodes, SUPERMAN's signature motto reflects a broader, pre-WW-II, pre-"super power" "world view" and reads, simply, "... with Truth and Justice ..."Paramount has FINALLY located the original elements of all 17 Fleischer and Famous cartoons and has done a faithful job of restoring these. The Fleischer cartoons, only, are available on Disk 4 of "Superman The Movie: Four-Disc Special Edition" (ISBN 1-4198-2395-7), and the Famous cartoons, only, are available on Disk 2 of "Superman II: Two-Disc Special Edition" (ISBN 1-4198-2396-5).Alas, several of these apparently had damaged intros, so incorrect intros from other cartoons from the same family (Fleischer, or Famous) have been substituted (in a few cases, an incorrect intro from the other family was substituted for the damaged intro).The quality of these is very close to being a true restoration.

I considered myself a lukewarm Superman fan.. I'd read some of the comics, and I really liked the first movie. I picked up this DVD mostly because it was very inexpensive, and seemed like something worth having in the back of a DVD collection somewhere. Man, I did not do this DVD justice at all. It deserves a central place in any collection. The cartoons are truly amazing. They're all clever, well-voiced and crafted, and developed in a very cool art deco style that seems these days restricted to faux Italian cafe posters in your downtown Starbucks. The most pleasant aspect of all was how surprisingly modern the cartoons feel. Created mostly in the early 1940s, they do have a certain jingoism to them, particularly the post-Pearl Harbor ones, but otherwise I was amazed to see how robust Lois Lane's characterization was. Not only is she cast as an independent career woman, her grit and style actually outpace that of the later movies. Perhaps that's just my own 1940s-1950s bias speaking, but nonetheless it's interesting to see how her repeated 'damsel in distress' status necessary to bring out Superman is really much more nuanced and flattering.The DVD itself also shows the films with little fanfare aside from an opening scrawl and a subtitle at the start of each indicating its original release date. The cartoons are so good and of such high production values that one can almost believe it when the distributor gushes about their pleasure at providing them to the public. You won't find a better bargain than this collection.

Let me start this note by saying I hate superman. Well perhaps hate is a strong word, but I dislike Superman a-lot, he is too strong and too unstoppable and even too good for my taste, a man with no wrongs, and in my eyes a man as such does not exist, and so it was in the eyes of the creators of the character in the 40's, making the source material for this cartoons a man, stronger than any man, faster than any man, but still not so perfect and strong that he is not able to get hurt. As far as the animation, being from the 1940's allows it to only be hand painted cells, making it beautiful, and stories that dare to be fantastic, and yet simple, with plans that are grand in elaboration, but with very simple targets, like stealing diamonds but wi th giant robots. This cartoon was the base for the Batman Animated Series, which has been the base for every cartoon since it came out. so take a look at the cartoon that provoked the animated revolution of the last 2 decades. This DVD has all the shorts with dated references to when the episodes came out. A true most get!

The media could not be loaded. The HD restoration of this classic series is amazing. The Max Fleischer series started an amazing journey that influenced allother media interpretations of Superman. This series is definitely product of its time, but its legacy will continue to entertain many generations to come. This blu-ray is a must have for all Superman fans.

There are a number of DVD versions of these films available -- after looking through reviews I bought the one by Bosco, Complete Superman Collection: Diamond Anniversary Edition, and can report that its quality in sound and picture is excellent. All 17 of the Fleischer shorts are on a single disc.

The quality of the animation was much better than I thought it was going to be for the1940's. Some minor sound issues on some of the cartoons but after all there 80 years old. Volume could have been increased during remastering

Received this blue-ray within the time specified but unfortunately it doesn't play in either of the two multi-regionblu-ray players that we have at home - we have other region one blu-rays which play no problem but for whatever reason this one doesn't. My son now wants us to buy another one in the hope it will play okay. If this seller has another one perhaps we could send this one back to be replaced.Kind regards Philip Boyd.

super!