The character of Superman has been had so many cartoon shows and animated movies it's hard to really keep track of them all. So I thought that i'd do something that's a little bit different ans talk about some of the very first Superman cartoons since i've honestly not seen people talking about these cartoons which for the life of me I don't know why since these cartoons are still stunning to look at the first two cartoons "Superman" and "The Mechanical Monsters" enjoy.
The plot of the first cartoon "Superman" is a mad scientist is going to use a deadly laser beam at midnight and it's up to Superman to stop him , where as in the second cartoon "The Mechanical Monsters" the plot is someone is using robots to steal millions of dollars in jewels and it's up to Superman to put a stop to it once and for all. Plot wise these cartoons are freaking great even tho they have a basic plot line they make it work and due to that both plots become engaging and exciting to see play out.
Starring in these two cartoons are Bud Collyer as Clark Kent / Superman and Joan Alexander as Lois Lane. Also starring in these two cartoons are Julian Noa as Perry White , Jack Mercer as the Mad Scientist and Jackson Beck as the Narrator, Radio Newscaster and in the case of the second short Bud Collyer as The Inventor. Now I know he's i've listed Julian as being in both cartoons but he's only in the first one but he does get a mention in the second one.
In terms of what I thought about the acting in both the shorts it was honestly really freaking good in my opinion. WE don't get alot of dialog in both shorts since they rather understandably have to move the story along but what lines of dialog we do have are well delivered and it's clear to anyone who watches even a few minuets of these cartoons that all of the actors are clearly doing the best that they can and it really does show in my opinion.
Doing the animation for the first nine of these shorts and thus these first two shorts was Fleischer Studios. To put it simply the animation in these shorts look like they were made in the either the eighties or the nineties and not the early forties that's how good it is. In my opinion the animation looks like it belongs in a feature length film I honestly implore any animation fan or even any fan of Batman: The Animated Series to check these cartoons any of them it doesn't matter because they all have great freaking animation in them.
What you guys might not know is that the first short "Superman" is actually a historical cartoon in the world of Superman since it's the first time that the character had the ability to fly. In the early comic books he had the power to leap tall building in a single bound which does look good in comic book and in radio form but not so much in animation and so Superman was instead given the power to fly and it's been with the character ever since.
Not all is good with these cartoons tho since for obvious reasons we don't get to find out much about the villains. Which I fully understand why since each short is only around ten minuets but a key part of story telling is getting across all points of view and that does mean getting the villains point across as well but due to the tight running time we only spend a few minuets in these first two shorts with the villains and so we don't really get to find out what there end goal is or why there even evil in the first place.
I will say that the pacing for both of the cartoons is honestly really good with both cartoons not feeling to fast nor to slow. They only spend a few minuets at the start of both cartoons setting up the story with the remaining several minuets being filled with exciting action and stunning visuals as such there's no room to think about things such as story or character because your so sucked into what's happening that those things become secondary in my opinion.
Since these are action cartoons that does mean that we have to talk about the action that's in both cartoons. In my opinion the action in both cartoons was extremely exciting to see and it's during these action sequences which also take most of the cartoons running time where the animation really stands out since we get to see things which would have been difficult to do back in the forties like buildings almost falling over or cars crashing for example and it all looks so freaking good.
Overall I cannot give these cartoons enough praise since even all of these years later they are still so freaking good. Like I said in the review there is one thing that I personally didn't like even tho the reasons behind it are very understandable it still have to be taken into account as such I give the first cartoon short "Superman" an 8.5 out of 10 and the second animated short "The Mechanical Monsters" a 7.5 out of 10 and the entire collection of cartoons is up on Youtube so go and watch them all right freaking now and there in the public domain as well.