The Mechanical Monsters

The Mechanical Monsters see's the return of our favourite superhero as this time he takes on a villian with a small army of giant robots he uses in his jewellery heists.

Alike the others this is quaint and highly nostalgic, with action happening in time with the music, cheesy one liners and Lois Lane there simply to be saved.

At 10 minutes in length there isn't much to see but it makes up for it being a nice slice of old school wartime entertainment.

The Good:

Highly nostalgic

Charming

The Bad:

Very short

Somewhat cheesy

Things I Learnt From This Short:

Every good villian needs a moustache

A villians lair isn't complete without a lava pool

I'm suddenly genuinely curious whether the police actually had tommy guns

Sometimes you don't realize how drab something is until you see it juxtaposed against something really bright. And so it is with this old Fleischer Superman short.

Acting as the "bright", it illustrates just how "drab" the modern world, and by extension its pop culture, has become.

The animation here is just incredible. That it was done over 80 years ago makes it even more so. Can you imagine seeing this on a big screen in 1941? They must've been scraping the audience's Jaws off of the floor.

Completely free from the ironic, relativistic and naval-gazing zeitgeist of the 21st century, this "Oh, boy!"/"Gee whiz!" little serial is a breath of fresh air.

Do you like killer robots? Well, THE MECHANICAL MONSTERS is one of the earliest appearances of these audacious automatons. Superman must battle an army of them and uncover their human master.

One of the best of the series, this short cartoon is loaded with action, including the robots robbing banks, defying the police and their puny weapons, and flying!

The boffo finale pits Superman against all of them!

Innovative and meticulously animated, the Fleischer brothers really made a quality series of cartoons here. The robots themselves are wonders to behold. Their lair, complete with charging stations, is also worth mentioning.

A true blast from the past that's built to last!...

The second of the Superman cartoons released by the Fleischer brothers on November 28, 1941.A fleet of robots are terrorizing gotham. They strike at a jewel exhibit and make off with all the jewels. Luckily Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the exhibit. When Kent steps away to phone in the story, Lois Lane hides in one of the robots, and gets taken back to the villians hideout. It is Superman to the rescue.

This cartoon is one of 17 Superman cartoons made by the Fleischer brothers in the early 1940s. All Superman cartoons made during this time are available on VHS and DVD and all are in the Public Domain. Invest the time to look for a DVD that features all 17 cartoons for one price, and there are several available.

This is the only Superman short in which I have seen this X-Ray Vision method used, and I must say if it can put wonder and amazement in the heart of a 20 year old black kid from New York in the year 2003, imagine what it did for people in 1942 !! This is a truly priceless and classic peice of American animation.