Terror on the Midway

TERROR ON THE MIDWAY is a great monster-on-the-loose short. When a gigantic go-rilla escapes from his cage, mayhem breaks out, including the release of other circus animals. Lois finds herself cornered by the angry ape, bringing Superman into the picture.

As the final entry by the Fleischer bros., this is a good one. The fierce go-rilla is well-realized and Superman actually takes it easy on the big lug, when he could simply turn him into oatmeal.

More fantastic animation, and so much action crammed into 8 minutes! Great fun for kids and adults...

It is Superman versus Kong in this atypical Fleischer Brothers cartoon. It looks rather dark and murky.

A trip to the circus sees the animals run amok. Lois Lane gets into trouble as she goes to save a child.

It is a job for Superman. The first thing to do is to take on the black panther. The fight is not a marvel.

Then the big gorilla gets testy as it starts to go up a ladder which can strangely supports its weight.

Somehow Superman struggles with Donkey Kong but does manage to save Lois as a fire rages.

This has always been one of my all-time favorites of the original SUPERMAN series, but also one of the most puzzling to me.

It is very different in tone, feel, design and execution from all the rest of the series. Most particularly because of its "darkness." I mean this both literally and figuratively.

While all the others are, for the most part, bright and cartoonish in their color design, TERROR is dark, gloomy, murky and downright sinister -even in the opening scenes of what should be a bright, cheerful circus setting.

The opening shots of the circus posters and scenes appear to me more to be still-frames, rather than intended snapshots, as though the original footage has been replaced with these artificial still shots. I am strongly tempted to believe that these particular shots were modern substitutions for the original footage.

Later, when the gorilla makes his appearance, it is plainly evident (from the excessive graininess) that the original image has been photographically enlarged to produce the close-ups of Lois Lane and the gorilla.

The unusual (and uncharacteristic) lack of detail in the close-up of Lois, combined with the strange quality of the speed at which she moves suggests that the close-up was manipulated from a much longer shot and perhaps slowed down somewhat.

The initial close-up of the gorilla is even more extreme (and highly effective as a terror shot) and suffers more from darkness and lack of detail.

A later shot of Superman wrestling with the ape also shows signs of tampering, like the poorly framed shot of Superman and the ape which, because of the clumsy re-framing of the image, results in an awkward and lengthy close-up of Superman's backside. Surely this was NOT the original intent of the film-makers.

Can anyone provide any insight?

The band strikes up a march as playful kids wave pennants, Lois smiles and shifts her gaze lazily; clowns caper, elephants dance. It's a high moment of oblivion, humanity with its guard down. --The sort of scene Hitchcock laid out with such care, so that the mayhem, when it strikes suddenly, is fully felt.

Outside, a tiny monkey playing with a bright metal ring starts at a shadow. Jumping away, he doesn't release the ring in time; this pulls the cord that it's attached to, which springs open the latch on a circus wagon. Brief transition, and we hear a low growl at the entrance of the main tent, over the music and sounds of the crowd. We track reactions in montage as every person freezes in place. Then, only after we have been allowed take in the ripeness of the delicious moment of growing terror, are we shown what has paralyzed everyone.

The few minutes of this cartoon work exactly like prime early Hitchcock. It builds deliberately, lovingly toward a pivotal/revelatory brilliant set piece that is still exciting.

Before every large budget film tried to encompass the destruction of planet earth and the end of space time within its plot thread, choice nuggets of time-- like the one in this simple little cartoon-- were what cinema was all about. You'd wait for a moment. The moment built slowly and deliberately. Everything wasn't yielded at once. The experience was cumulative, not all sensory avalanche from first shot to last. Ultimately, the overdone-gasm sort of film doesn't last. It is seen through; the novelty, which is all it has, exhausts itself after a few viewings. Claptrap-- even well-mounted, noisy, big, breathless claptrap-- is still only that.

I see this great short as a wonderfully fresh, storyboard-like look at how feature films used to be put together. For that reason, I give it ten stars.

As is the case with the other Superman cartoons from the Fleischer Brothers, this cartoon can often be found in multi-cartoon packs for little money. However, you can also download them for free at archive.org--legally, since they are in the public domain.

The short begins with Lois and Clark at the circus. Lois is doing a story and taking photos and Clark decides to head back to work. However, just as he's about to enter the Daily Planet Building, he sees a commotion and rushes back to the circus. An enormous ape (Kong-sized) escaped and in the process freed a lot of other dangerous animals. So, it's up to Superman to round up the beasts and save Lois.

As usual, Superman saves Lois--though at least here she isn't being stupid but ends up in harm's way because she's trying to save a child. The plot is interesting and a bit atypical for the series. Worth a look.