Superman: Sabotaje japonés

A SUPERMAN Cartoon.

When America unveils its colossal new bomber, the JAPOTEURS, an elite force of Japanese spies & saboteurs, strikes. Stealing the behemoth, with intrepid girl reporter Lois Lane aboard, and the destination either Tokyo or destruction, it's time for Superman to get involved...

This was another in the series of excellent cartoons initially created by Max Fleischer for Paramount Studio. They feature great animation and taut, fast-moving plots. Meant to be shown in movie theaters, they are miles ahead of their Saturday Morning counterparts. Bud Collyer is the voice of Superman; Joan Alexander does the honors for Lois Lane.

"Japoteurs" is interesting because now, suddenly, Superman can fly. In the earliest Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoons, he could only JUMP. Big jumps, but certainly not flying. But, soon he added a new ability to his repertoire and so the intro was changed and he flies about in this one in order to thwart evil Japanese espionage.

The cartoon begins with an announcement that the Americans now have made a super-bomber--one that is pretty ridiculous as it's about 5 to 10 times bigger than a B-17 bomber! But, the evil Japanese spies are lurking behind every corner and soon sneak aboard the plane. And, Lois being a complete moron, she also sneaks aboard and is soon about to be killed for her trouble. Of course, Superman saves her and the city is grateful...and Lois has learned absolutely nothing.

This is an interesting curio, as it shows us the sort of propaganda they used in the States to bolster the war effort. Reinforcing the notion that enemy agents are lurking behind EVERY corner, the show drives home the less than subtle message with extremely nice animation.

Artistry can go out the window when propaganda comes in the door. Here we have a plot that could be used in any setting. Because we recently were attacked by Japan and made to enter the war, the villains are the Japanese. They are portrayed with slanted eyes and big grins (of course, the must have been laughing at us through the whole war). Anyway, instead of fighting crazy scientists and extra-terrestrials, the Mand of Steel is faced with the yellow horde, smiling and attacking at will. We know who will get the better of this. One issue that would have to be dealt with, considering the world of these cartoons. If the U.S. had a weapon like Superman, would any force be able to attack anyone. Our boy is straight shooter could be the ultimate defensive weapon. Interesting.

I love the Fleischer Superman cartoons. The animation is smooth and fluid with vivid colors. The distinct art-deco style, vintage science fiction imagery, and use of noirish shadows gave them a look unlike any other cartoons. The music and voice work is superb. They're fun, accessible, enduring animation classics. While this is a cartoon from Fleischer Studios' successor, Famous Studios, it still tries to maintain the Fleischer style.

In addition to being the first Superman cartoon from Famous, this tenth cartoon in the series is also the first with a World War II theme. The plot is that a new American bombing plane (world's largest, according to a newspaper headline) is hijacked by Japanese saboteurs. Lois Lane is on board the plane, of course. Superman must save Lois, stop the saboteurs, and safely bring the expensive plane down. This first effort from Famous Studios is a nice WW2 thriller with some good action, particularly the climactic scene of Superman catching the plane. It's a good effort, about equal to the last couple of Fleischer toons, but not a patch on the best of the series.

FOLLOWING the business coup of the year of 1941, Max and Dave, the Brothers Fleischer were removed from their own Studio by Paramount Pictures Corporation. Former employees such as Seymour Kneitel and Izzy Sparber were put in charge of the new operation, now renamed Famous Studios by Paramount. Early on, the finished product of Famous was indiscernible from that of the recent output by Fleischer. The existing series (Popeye, Superman) continued as if nothing at all had transpired.

TODAY'S subject, JAPOTEURS is one of the earlier Famous Studio's SUPERMAN Shorts.

AS had been the custom, the SUPERMAN Cartoons were a great combination of fine, fittingly fashioned music in the score. That goes for the theme (overture) as well as all the multi-mood background (incidental) music. It was if each cartoon short had its own background music, as all was kept fresh by apparently recording it anew with each picture.

WITH regards to JAPOTEURS, we must remember that this was filmed during the first year of the United States' involvement and the characterization of the enemy was very stereotypical, short-handed and outright evil. The dialog and personality of the villainous Japanese saboteurs was strictly from the stock characters of the old pulp magazine stories, with their every word being said in a sarcastic, totally insincere politeness as the characters would flaunt their cold bloodedness as they made the most demonic of threats and outrageous acts toward the occidental world.

JAPOTEURS is visually bright and uplifting, stunningly laid out and makes use of some multi plane or table top animation in order to give its flying sequences a real depth.

MAKING good use of the tie-ins between the animated cartoons, the SUPERMAN Radio Show then heard over the Mutual Broadcasting Network; the cartoon bears a close resemblance to the Comics Page and uses the very same talents of voice actors Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander from the Radio Show.

WE rate it with a *** ½ stars.

POODLE SCHNITZ!!