Volcano

A SUPERMAN Cartoon

After slumbering for 300 years, the volcanic isle of Monokoa erupts in molten fury. The world watches anxiously as scientists race to protect the lovely town at the mountain's foot from imminent destruction. When intrepid reporter Lois Lane finds herself in danger of being immolated, it's time for Superman to get involved. But can even the Man of Steel fight the awakened fury of the VOLCANO?

This was another in the series of excellent cartoons Max Fleischer produced 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.

In VOLCANO, Superman must save a village from annihilation while also rescuing the adventurous Lois Lane. A volcano has erupted, spewing lava.

Another entertaining entry in the Fleischer brothers' animated series. True to the formula, Lois goes off on her own, leaving Clark behind. Soon enough, it's up to Superman to save her and everyone else.

Lots of volcano action ensues. The template for all future superhero films has been set firmly in place...

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.

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.

Lois Lane acts in the most selfish of ways, endangering the life of Clark Kent for her own gain. Yes, she is a successful reporter, but if it weren't for Superman, she would be in a cemetery. In the one she steals his press pass, not allowing him to investigate the eruption of a major volcano which endangers a whole village and herself. She doesn't know that Clark is Superman (one of those amazing things, but that's the way it is). Superman is there, naturally, but her actions make it incredibly hard to do his job. He must divert a lava flow and keep a mass of the molten rock off our fair maiden's head. There are some nicely drawn scenes concerning the erupting volcano.