Review: Fleisher Superman Part 2

 The 40s were weird.

Normally when I do follow-ups, I include a brief summary of the previous post’s events. Not doing this for the Fleisher Superman shorts as they are shorts and I’d have to do like six summary paragraphs for the six mini-sodes which isn’t a good use of anyone’s time. So instead, I’ll just say that we saw several shorts where Lois got into trouble, Clark said, “This looks like a job for Superman!” and then Superman solved the problem. Quick and Easy. Enough (not really) recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Japoteurs

 

That name feels… problematic. Let’s see if that’s the case.

 

After the quick summary of Superman’s powers and origins we get into the short. The Daily Planet runs a story that the world’s largest bomber plane has been completed. The executive reading the story hits a button and reveals a picture of Japan’s Rising Sun flag before bowing to it and then burning the paper with a cigarette. Still feeling pretty problematic… We cut to the bomber plane being loaded with ordinance. Before the plan is ready, some mysterious saboteurs sneak in. Shit

 

The bomber is brought out of the hanger and members of the press are brought in to tour it. Lois and Clark are at the front of the line, as per usual. They have a look around and Clark plays with one of the guns before they’re all ordered off. The majority of the press leave… but it’s Lois, ya know she’s going to stowaway somewhere because she thinks she’ll get a better story out of it. The plane takes off and Clark is left on the ground wondering where she went.

 

While in the air, several smaller planes use the big one as a runway to take off. Inside the plane, several bombs have their warheads removed and reveal several… not great looking Japanese men slip out of them. They attack the crew and steal the plane, planning to take it back to Tokyo. Lois slips out of the locker she hid in and uses the radio to warn the airforce base that that bomber was stolen. They drop a bomb on the runway to stop other planes from taking off… but Clark is in the crowd. He gets in his Superman duds and flies up to stop the theft.

 

He lands on the plane and sneaks aboard. He’s met by the hijacker, who threatens to drop Lois like a bomb if Superman doesn’t leave. Superman leaps out the side of the plane, the hijacker tries to drop Lois anyway, but Superman bursts in and grabs her. He tries to stop the plane, but the Hijacker blocks the door and tries to crash the plane. Superman drops off Lois before flying back up and stopping the plane before it crashes. He gently puts it down and the day is saved. Clark and Lois ride a plane amusement park ride and Clark mentions that Lois is safe on this plane. And she quips she’d feel safer with Superman.

 

Showdown

 

The short starts with a new opener! “Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!” The classic version is better. The story itself opens with Superman seemingly committing a lot of crimes. He has a guy crack a safe for him, he steals a bunch of money from a cashier, and so on. It’s revealed that he’s a crook named Stephen dressed in a bad Superman costume. I guess that people see the S and just make him two feet taller and muscular in their heads. Anyway, Stephen is robbing place for his boss, and gets scolded when he tries to take a cut of the profits.

 

The story of Superman going on a crime spree spreads like wildfire, but Lois doesn’t believe it. They’re told by a red head kid, I assume this is either Jimmy Olsen or a prototype, tells them that the editor wants them to cover an opera house. Clark and Lois go to the show, but Clark has trouble staying awake. Stephen comes in and starts stealing jewels off people. Lois catches him in the act, but he escapes her. She rips the S off his costume and assumes that it is really Superman. Clark follows Stephen to the roof and then says, “My double’s in for some trouble,” before changing. On the roof, the cops arrive and Stephen tries to run back the way he came. He’s cut off by Superman. Stephen pulls a gun on him… but that works as well as you think it would on Superman. Stephen tries to plead innocent, backing away from Superman and ends up falling off the roof. Superman catches him and flies off. Lois sees the Supermen and slips into the cop’s van to follow the story.

 

They arrive at the Boss’s mansion and Superman confronts him. He seems to not notice that the actual Superman is standing in front of him for some reason and tries to hit him with a golf club. Superman grabs it and pulls it away. It’s only at that moment that he sees Stephen. The boss hits a button and drops Superman down a shaft… but that works for like five seconds before he flies back up. The two crooks try to flee, but Superman follows them. They’re able to lose him for a moment thanks to a heavy door, but don’t see the cops coming up the one lane road they’re going down. Thankfully, Superman catches up to them and stops the cars from colliding. The crooks get arrested and Lois hurries back to the planet to write her story. She sees Clark sleeping at the desk. He says he was just dreaming about being Superman, Lois makes a quip, and he adds, “Well, I can dream, can’t I?”

 

Eleventh Hour

 

The opener they use this time is from the first short, including the death of Krypton and Clark landing on earth.

 

We start the actual short in Yokohama. Damn it, this is also going to be super racist, isn’t it? We get a look around a ship yard before seeing a ship floating free of its moorings. We see Superman fly into a room before putting bars back in place and changing into his pajamas. Sirens are blaring and Lois asks if he’s awake. Clark says he is and they talk through the wall. Turns out, they’ve been capture and are being held in an internment camp. And every night since then, Clark sneaks out at night and breaks things at the ship yard. Lois wonders if Superman is nearby, and the guard tells them to be quite.

 

The head of the shipyard doubles security to try to stop whoever is wrecking their ships. Good luck with that, bro. At 11, Clark suits up and flies out. He grabs a battleship by its anchor and pulls the ship under until it explodes. Another night he destroys a bridge. And another, he blows a bunch of cars. Lois sees Superman fly by and tries to tell Clark. She gets grabbed by the guard, and a bunch of posters go up promising to kill Lois if Superman sabotages anything else. Superman doesn’t see the notice and pulls the latest Warship into the sea before it’s finished. The scaffolding falls and buries him, unfortunately.

 

Lois is nearly killed by a firing squad, but Clark sees the notice and flies over just in time to save her. He beats up all the guards, grabs Lois and flies away. Lois is put on a ship and sent home. She says that Clark is still over there, though, but Superman promised to look after him. The short ends with Superman apparently still destroying Yokohama.

 

Damn, that was super… of it’s time.

 

Destruction Inc.

 

We open in some kind of bog as a man’s hand slips into the water and a car drives off. Later, Clark and Lois head to the planet and hear a radio report that the victim was found and that he was the guard at a munitions plant. Lois slips off to investigate. There’s a gag where Clark calls a guy that walked up to him while Lois was gone by her name, he gets offended and says his name is Louis. It’s not a particularly good bit.

 

Lois makes it to the munitions plant and takes a look around. She fakes working at the plant as someone who paints the serial numbers on the missiles when she overhears several employees being told that there’s a big, important meeting about to happen. The whistle blows for the end of the shift, some leave, some head upstairs for the meeting. Lois creeps over and hears that the head of the plant had some of his workers kill the last watchman, and they’ve since set up the lights of the plant to explode if the switch is flipped. So, they’re planning on killing the new watchman too. Lois is spotted and captured. She leads them on a merry chase, though. She gets stuffed into a missile casing just as the new watchmen comes in to investigate. It’s clearly Clark in a fake mustache. The watchman is buried in scrap metal. The factory manager is called and told to bring out the new torpedo.

 

The torpedo is brought out, with Lois and a ton of TNT inside. The guys overseeing the torpedo’s launch say that this is just to experiment with the propulsion system, so there should be no explosives in the torpedo. It’s loaded up as Superman frees himself from the rubble. The Torpedo is launched, but Superman swims after it. He grabs the torpedo and brings it back in. He opens the casing and frees Lois, and she warns that they’re about to blow up the plant. Superman beats up the guards and then stops a truck of TNT from being driven into the plant. The goons are taken away, and Lois unmasks the watchman as Clark. She can see through any disguise but Clark’s glasses, I see.

 

The Mummy Strikes

 

Please be less racist than the Japanese focused shorts.

 

We open on an ancient Egyptian temple. A man, Dr. Jordan, is found dead by the sarcophagus with a syringe next to him. His assistant Jane Hogan is accused of the murder and imprisoned for it. Mostly because no one will listen to what she has to say. The director of the museum Jordan worked for calls Clark and says that he discovered something that could free Jane. Clark lies to Lois about a doctor’s appointment and goes to see him. Lois doesn’t buy it, because Clark is bad at lying when it’s not about his secret identity.

 

The director tells Clark that he discovered a set of hieroglyphics that say that whoever disturbs the resting place of “King Tutch” is cursed to die. He thinks this’ll help free Jane. The two men head into the exhibit, Lois following behind her. The director shows Clark, and the stalking Lois, the story of King Tutch. He was king of the Lower Nile region of Egypt, put in charge just after his father died. He was a sickly boy, though, and ended up dying young, his giant guards drank poison to follow him into the afterlife. The director says that Jordan rebuilt the catacombs as they appeared in Egypt. He spent years working on a syrum that he thought would resurrect the giant guards, but it didn’t work. The director thinks that Jordan tried to use the serum on the king himself, and was killed for it. Clark checks the sarcophagus and finds a poisoned needle. They think this’ll free Jane, but opening the sarcophagus reveals an amulet, the rays of which revive the giant guards. Clark gets thrown into a coffin, giving him a chance to change. Superman stops the guards from throwing Lois and the director into a pyre and then fights the guards. They’re giant, but he’s an alien. He knocks the guards into a pillar, burying them.

 

Clark writes up the story and says that for once he got to scoop Lois. We see that her hands are bandaged from the ordeal. When Clark asks how she knew where he was, she crosses her arms and says, “My mummy told me.”

 

Well, still better than the Japanese shorts.

 

Jungle Drums

 

Apprehension rising.

 

The story begins with some German soldiers attacking a vague African nation. A plane carrying Lois is shot down, because of course she’s here. The lieutenant escorting her gives her some papers and tells her to destroy them. Lois is captured, but she hid the papers. The Germans tell her to give them the papers or they’ll burn her at the stake.

 

Clark gets loaded on his own plane, as he’s supposed to meet Lois at the convoy.

 

Lois is put to the pyre as the vague Africans drum. The German officer is standing over them dressed as a white devil. They’re able to find the papers, and The Germans go to report to their superiors.

 

Clark’s plane flies over the site, and he leaps out to investigate, swapping to Superman when he lands. He saves Lois from the pyre, and the vague Africans are in awe of the man that walked through fire. The Germans open fire on Superman, but like that never works. He rips their gun turret down and then beats up the Germans. Lois grabs a white outfit and slips inside. She warns the allied forces that the Germans know where the fleet is and they set up a counter attack. The German commander tries to stop her, but Superman bursts in and grabs him.

 

We see… HITLER… react to losing the subs. He’s not happy. God that was weird.

 

The Underground World

 

We open with Lois and Clark leaning about the “Henderson Caverns” from Mr. Henderson, who says that his father disappeared within them forty years before. He found some mysterious cavern that no one had ever explored before and just never came back. Mr. Henderson Jr wants the Daily Planet to finance an expedition, in exchange, he offers them the exclusive on whatever they find in the secret caverns. Obviously, Lois and Clark are assigned to this.

 

Lois and Henderson head in first, Clark having been assigned their other boat. They explore the cavern, find a spot and start setting up camp. Unfortunately, they didn’t secure the boat and it floats away. They chase after it, as the boat has the dynamite they were going to use to blast any debris with on it.

 

Clark heads into the cavern after them.

 

I feel like scene is missing, as suddenly Lois and Henderson are captured by bird people. Cave dwelling bird people. Okay. I wonder if they’re supposed to be Thanagarians that got lost or something… They’ve got Henderson’s father’s body on display in their great hall as a golden statue. Clark searches the cavern and sees the flying bird people. Lois and Henderson are going to be sacrificed in a pit of boiling gold. Clark does his costume change and starts fighting bird people. There is a lot of them, but he’s Superman, they just distract him long enough so that the rescue is super close. He grabs Henderson and Lois and flies out of their cavern. He drops them off, grabs the dynamite from the boat and throws it to seal the cavern. Later, Mr. White says it’s a great story, but he burns it, saying non one would believe it.

 

Secret Agent

 

The short opens with Clark heading into a drug store. He calls his boss and tries to convince Mr. White to assign him a different story, Mr. White says no and tells Clark to get to his assignment. Things take a turn when some crooks crash into the store. They’re chasing a woman in another car and are VERY interested in catching her. So much so that they steal Clark’s car to keep chasing her. Clark leaps on the back of the car to follow them. The goons shoot at the car, but they aren’t able to slow it down. Some cops see the chase happening and start chasing both cars. The goons try to shoot at the cops, but Clark disarms them. They shoot out the fleeing car’s tire, but are forced to keep driving because of the cops. Clark is captured, but the woman they were chasing is able to escape the gang. She has secret documents that will expose the crooks, and she needs to get them to Washington.

 

The woman tries to make it to the airport, but she’s delayed when the thieves mess with one of those mechanical bridges and she’s trapped on the rotating bridge. There’s an explosion and she falls onto the gears. A goon calls the boss and says she’s dead, but he’s stuck. They go to recover the records, leaving Clark time to escape as Superman.

 

The goons enter the elevator. Superman grabs the elevator cable, pulls the elevator car to the top and then ties the cable to leave them trapped. He then flies to the bridge and saves the woman at the last possible second. He flies her to Washington and drops her off at the Lincoln memorial. He flies off and salutes the flag as he goes.

 

Well, that was a rollercoaster. I am glad I broke this up into two parts, because those last couple of shorts would have broken me last night. I assumed there’d be some problematic depictions of different cultures given the time period, but it was extremely weird to see Superman opposite some pretty terrible depictions of Japanese and African people. Like, I saw the Japanese Saboteur and instantly got the ick. I know, the short came out in the eight of WW2, still it was weird. Also, I know it’s a short, but I’d really like to know how Clark finally got freed from his internment. Because… he was in Japan. If they didn’t free him, that kind of implies that he was in the area when the bombs were dropped. That’s a moral conundrum if I’ve ever seen one. Does Clark let the bombs drop to let the US definitely win the war, or does he stop them to prevent a massive loss of life? I bet Superman as a character is glad that he’s not traditionally shown in the 1940s anymore, to avoid this very moral conundrum. And the less said about the African tribesmen the better. Like… holy crap, those drawings had to be seen as kind of racist even in 1945. But ya, other than the “yikes” moments from the couple of wartime shorts, there’s not much to say about these. Trouble happens, Superman shows up, day is saved. Rince and repeat. If I had to pick the single craziest story, it was The Underground World. Who were the bird people? Why did they dip Henderson Sr. in Gold? When did they show up and grab Lois and Henderson Jr.? I swear a scene was missing. These shorts were interesting to watch if only to see an example of early Superman. But like, you’re not missing much if you just watch one or two instead of the whole thing like I did. Have a good night, everyone. Happy Halloween! Stay safe.

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social