People are voting emotionally.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Animation was really at a high during the times of World War II. Disney delivered some of their finest and most relevant pieces back then and here and there, occasionally, even some other companies managed good works. One of them is Fleischer Studios who started its Superman franchise back in 1941 with this one, sometimes also known as "The Mad Scientist".However, I believe it's definitely inferior to Disney at that point also not on the same level quality-wise with some of the later Superman cartoons by Fleischer, even if the "Lane gets caught. Superman comes to the rescue."-story-line is pretty repetitive in almost all the films. The villain was fine, but Superman fighting the destructive beam for a large part of the film just wasn't interesting enough and it almost felt like the story did not warrant a running time of 10 minutes. However, I did like Kent's winking near the end, definitely an interesting way of breaking the fourth wall. As a whole, this one is only worth a watch for big animation fans and nostalgics.

A mad scientist threatens Metropolis with a destruction ray. The Daily Planet is sent a letter telling them he will destroy Metropolis at midnight.Lois Lane (somehow) knows where he is and flies there in her plane(!!). He captures her and starts destroying Metropolis. Superman comes to the rescue!The animation is superb--very fluid movements and some truly spectacular shots. In the restored DVD the colors are bright and the sound has been tweaked into stereo with good effect. The story line is simple--but it IS a cartoon! The action sequences are swift and (for 1941) pretty violent. Basically an excellent animated short. Don't miss this one! A 10 all the way.

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.

I have no idea why Superman's logo looks the way it does, (probably something to do with one of Joe Shuster's original drawings) but this is still excellent. There is very little dialogue in these films, and the little dialogue that is played is almost inaudible. These shorts are more for the action fan. In the beginning, Superman can only leap (leap tall buildings in a single bound as it were) but before long, the narrator reveals that flight is also one of his attributes (soar higher than any plane!). During the course of these film-noir cartoons, we see Superman battle robot jewel thieves, a dinosaur, the Japanese, and even some Nazis (Hitler himself appeared at the end of that episode)! This probably might not appeal to fans of the modern day Superman, because the guy we see here is the tough, take no prisoners hero of the golden age. Nevertheless, a great series of cartoons, and as a Superman fan, I must say, I enjoyed them.