Eleventh Hour

Superman goes to war in this propaganda cartoon.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent have been interred in Yokohama.

Each night at 11 o'clock. Superman commits acts of sabotage against the Japanese such as sinking its naval ships.

Only for Lois Lane to find herself in peril if Superman does not stop.

A simplistic cartoon short, I reckon Clark Kent must have deliberately ended up interred so Superman could take on the Japanese.

A SUPERMAN Cartoon.

Every night at the ELEVENTH HOUR, Superman engages in another act of sabotage against the Imperial Japanese Navy in Yokohama. But now the enemy has kidnapped intrepid girl reporter Lois Lane & will execute her the very next time the Man of Steel strikes...

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.

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.

Twelfth short in the Superman series is another WW2 story. This one sees Lois & Clark prisoners in wartime Japan. Every night at eleven o'clock Clark changes into Superman and commits acts of sabotage. The Japanese take Lois and threaten to execute her if Superman doesn't stop. The story is very simple and seems to be a point of contention for many, judging by other comments and reviews. I'm not sure why the Superman cartoons are held to a stricter standard than other cartoons from the period. Naysayers seem to expect more well-developed plots for shorts that are under ten minutes. Perhaps because they involve humans instead of animals, people seem to expect more realism? It bears pointing out that an "alien from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men" is not more realistic than a wisecracking rabbit or a cat & mouse that beat the hell out of each other with household appliances.

Mini-rant aside, this is an enjoyable short. The sabotage scenes are beautifully animated and there's some creative use of color throughout. One last thing I would point out is that Superman, in addition to being a wartime saboteur, does kill in this cartoon. Another reviewer said he did not. However, one of the acts of sabotage he commits was to blow up a bridge that had Japanese military vehicles moving across it at the time. I seriously doubt all of those soldiers survived.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent are in Yokohama. Why? We're never told. At 11:00 each night Clark changes into Superman and commits acts of sabotage against the Japanese. Why 11:00? We're not told. And isn't sabotage against the law? Would Superman really break the law? When it's discovered he is doing it Lois is kidnapped and posters are put up telling Superman if there is one more act of sabotage Lois will be killed. Somehow Superman misses the posters, commits an act of sabotage and is buried under a pile of steel bars. Lois is immediately bought out to be shot to death. Will Superman escape, find out and save her?

As you can see this story is slap-dash with no explanations for many events (including the title). The racism against the Japanese is in here--but it was done during WWII. What bothered me was Superman committing sabotage--and this was seen as a good thing! For that alone this cartoon is interesting. I give it a 6.

The Superman theatrical shorts faced a noticeable dip in quality after the Fleischers were fired in 1942; the shorts became more overtly political and racist corresponding to America's then anti-Japanese sentiment following the attack on Pearl Harbor. And this short was the victim of that 'politicization' that many cartoons were going through at the time. They couldn't just be straight-up entertainment neutral to cultural ideologies; these shorts were propaganda showcases to fight against the Axis Powers during World War Two. And of course the animation wasn't as sharp without Dave Fleischer directing the films. And this short clearly shows these shortcomings: there's recycled shots of Superman from pre-existing shorts and Lois doesn't look nearly as refined as she does in 'The Mechanical Monsters'; production corners were cut because the Fleischers were too expensive to keep hiring for the job, but that's no excuse in the fudging of supposed cinematic art.

This short: Superman fights the Japanese; a little racist but Supes still kicks some ass like he ought to. The film hasn't aged all that well, but it's still got some nice little touches here and there.