Billion Dollar Limited

A SUPERMAN Cartoon

A huge shipment of gold is being sent across country by train. Using ultra-modern techniques, a sophisticated gang of hooded thieves try to waylay the gold. With intrepid reporter Lois Lane as the only passenger on board, it's Superman to the rescue. But now that it's become a runaway train, can even he stop the BILLION DOLLAR LIMITED?

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.

If you enjoyed the numerous other "Superman" short animated stories from the 1940s, then you will definitely also like "Billion Dollar Limited".

Writers Seymour Kneitel and Izzy Sparber put together an enjoyable and entertaining script here, despite the fact that "Billion Dollar Limited" is only running at 9 minutes. It is a well-rounded script and story, and I definitely found it to be enjoyable, and very much in the spirit of "Superman".

The art and animation style in "Billion Dollar Limited" is similar to that in most of the other 1940s animated short "Superman" stories, for better or worse.

My rating of the 1942 animated short story "Billion Dollar Limited" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Crooks are stealing a shipment of a billion dollars worth of gold from a government train.

Lois Lane is on the train and she takes on the baddies with a machine gun.

Pretty soon Superman flies in and does battle. He faces machine gun fire and has bombs thrown at him as he needs to pull the train to safety.

A brisk cartoon. It is surprising that Clarke Kent did not suspect anything as the baddies rushed by as Clark was waving goodbye to Lois.

While all of the Fleischer/Famous Studios "Superman" cartoons are excellent, "Billion Dollar Limited," the third in the series, is probably the best of the lot in terms of overall animation, plot, and pacing. Why it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar as Best Animated Short for 1942 (Incredibly enough, only the first one was) in inexplicable.

Here, Lois Lane is assigned to cover the transfer of one billion dollars in gold to the U.S. Mint. Masked gangsters in their super-powered (for 1942) car take off after the train, determined to get that gold. Without giving too much away, what ensues is a thrill ride for both the characters and the audience, with truth, justice, and Superman triumphant at the end.

As they did in all the Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons, Clayton "Bud" Collyer and Joan Alexander, who played Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane on radio, have the voice work honors here, and Fleischer perennial Jack Mercer gets a little to do as one of the bad guys, as well.

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.

The third in the series is about a train carrying a gold shipment to the mint that's hijacked by well-armed masked robbers. Also on board the train is Lois Lane, who at one point picks up a machine gun and attempts to fight the robbers off herself! Superman flies to save Lois and deliver the gold shipment, but the robbers don't make it easy for him. Gotta admire their tenacity. They see Superman show up and they not only don't run away, they start throwing cans of tear gas at him. Talk about doubling down on stupid.

This is another exciting Superman cartoon with non-stop action and fun. I love train stories so that was an added bonus for me. Like many of the Fleischer cartoons, this features very little dialogue. It's driven by the action and the exciting music.