Electric Earthquake

A Native American Scientist demands the return of Manhattan (Metropolis) to his people. Rebuffed, he unleashes an ELECTRIC EARTHQUAKE to destroy the city. With intrepid reporter Lois Lane his prisoner, and destruction mounting, it sure looks like a job for Superman.

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.

A political subtext in this cartoon short.

The mad scientist is a Native American who demands the return of Manhattan to his people.

Somehow he makes his demands to the Daily Planet who are in no position to acquiesce to them.

The scientist has wired up electrical charges underneath the seas to cause a series of earthquakes that destroys buildings.

It is a job for Superman and once again intrepid reporter Lois Lane finds herself in peril. She managed to sneak into the scientist's boat.

There is some good animation here with the destruction scenes.

A Native American man says that Manhattan (Metropolis) belongs to his people and demands that it should be returned to them. Naturally he's refused. So, he plants something like explosive charges in the water under Manhattan and sets them off causing earthquakes. Naturally Lois Lane (as usual) is captured and tied up by him. Looks like it's Superman to the rescue.

Very good and very interesting in that it has a Native American as a villain. Also bringing up how Manhattan belongs to the Indians was very advanced for a 1942 cartoon. Still it's not really dealt with--this was just for entertainment and the action scenes delivered. I especially liked the elevator that traveled underwater to the villain's hideout.

Lots of fun! A 10.

Electric Earthquake (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Seventh film in Paramount's series once again has a wack-o creating an earthquake machine that will make the city fall to its knees. Lois ends up kidnapped by the nut so Superman must save her and the city. This is another decent episode in a not too impressive series. Perhaps I was just expecting more but so far this series has been pretty middle-ground and can't hold a candle to anything out there by Disney, Warner or even MGM. This film does have a fairly decent story but not much is done with it because of the simple way it is carried out and the fact that it plays out just like the previous six films. The action scenes underwater were very entertaining and reason alone to watch the film.

This Superman cartoon, the seventh by Max and Dave Fleischer, has the politically-incorrect story of an American Indian (or Native American) claiming to speak for his people when he tells Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Perry White to give Manhatten back to his people and those three refusing (what can they do anyway, they're only reporters!). So he threatens them though Perry doesn't believe him so Lois sneaks away to where this man has his hideout while Clark changes into Superman...Plenty of exciting animated scenes of the title disaster not to mention Supes doing what he does to save the day though it's now par for the course that Lois will be in yet another compromising position with the Man of Steel rescuing her. And really, that villain is willing to destroy his land if his demands aren't met? Talk about inconsistent characterization! Still, Electric Earthquake is worth a look for those exciting scenes of destruction as implied by the title.