Volcano

"Volcano" is a very weak installment of the short-lived Superman series from the Fleischer Brothers. I say weak because they made Lois very despicable and I really found myself rooting for her to die! This is because Lois and Clark are sent to cover the same story--a volcano is about to erupt (WHY WOULD YOU NEED TO GO NEXT TO THE MOUNTAIN TO COVER THIS?!). However, Lois wants the story for herself and deliberately sabotages Clark so he will be left out in the cold. So, when the volcano explodes, she is about to die and Clark jumps to save her. She learns NOTHING from the situation other than selfishness and stupidity pays! I really wish they'd made Lois less a jerk and victim and more a tough-as-nails and resourceful lady like they did in "Secret Agent" (1943). Overall, a rather weak installment, as fomenting hatred for your female lead is NOT a positive thing!

A volcano is about to erupt in Mount Monokoa which is in a small island.

A team up American scientists are going there to change the direction of the lava.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent are accompanying them to report from the island.

Only for Lois to take Clark's press pass. So he cannot get access. Although why they need a press pass is another question. They were the only two journalists travelling.

While Clark Kent goes to the police station to get another press pass. The volcano erupts.

Lois Lane is trapped. Mainly because she waited around until someone told her to get out of there.

It takes a while for Clark to notice the tremors. When he does, it's a job for Superman.

It is simply a case of Superman saving the island from the volcano and saving Lois Lane.

It is a misstep in making Lois Lane so selfish.

Volcano (1942)

** (out of 4)

Eighth film in the Paramount series is by far the weakest so far. Lois and Clark are sent to report on an active volcano when the thing starts to go off trapping Lois inside, Superman must once again come to the rescue but all the results are rather lame. There's really not too much going on in this short, which is why it's the weakest of the series so far for me. The movie even has some fairly poor animation including one scene where we see Lois walking through the lava and yet nothing every happens to her because of it. The short also runs about a minute shorter than the previous films and all the action seems missing. There's one good sequence where Superman must save something from crashing into the lava but that's about it.

This is the eighth Superman cartoon made by Max and Dave Fleischer. In this one, Clark Kent and Lois Lane are assigned to an island whose volcano is about to erupt. Lois ends up going alone since Clark "lost" his press pass (Ms. Lane hid them in her purse). Too bad for her since she ends up almost surrounded by lava. Good thing Superman happens to be around...Pretty exciting when the lava flows especially whenever Lois is climbing on an overhead wire as she tries to escape to a nearby cablecar. I'm not sure how Supes can save all those people down below with the lava flowing nearby though I have to assume they all knew the dangers involved and evacuated just in time. So in summary, Volcano was pretty exciting for a Superman cartoon.

As part of sitting through the old 1940s "Superman" animated stories, I came upon the 1942 "Volcano".

I have watched it before, during my childhood in the 1980s, so it wasn't exactly anything new and undiscovered for me. However, I will say that it was nice to get to sit down and watch it again. I watched it for the first time about some 40 years after it was initially released, and then watched it against some 40 years after my first time watching it. I am sort of seeing a pattern here.

The storyline in "Volcano" was pretty straight forward. However, I found the story that Bill Turner and Carl Meyer wrote for this particular short animated feature to be a bit too simplistic. Sure, it is limited what you can manage to accomplish in just 8 minutes, but some of the other stories from the same era were more well-rounded.

Sure, "Volcano" was watchable and enjoyable, and definitely felt like something in the spirit of "Superman". The narrative was just a bit too generic and predictable.

All in all watchable for what it was. My rating of "Volcano" from directors Dave Fleischer and Willard Bowsky lands on a six out of ten stars.