Terror on the Midway

Terror on the Midway (1942)

** (out of 4)

Ninth film in the Superman series has Lois and Clark going to the circus to write a story on it when a large gorilla breaks loose and starts causing damage. When Lois finds herself in trouble it's up to Superman to save the day. This is a pretty weak short in the series as Superman actually doesn't show up until the six-minute mark, which is even stranger when you consider the short doesn't even run nine-minutes. It's nice seeing him not having to battle some sort of mad scientist but instead just a large gorilla. It's also nice seeing him take a beating from the creature, which was another new touch to the series. With that said, that's pretty much all there is here because the rest is pretty dull. Not enough action to make the film worth viewing and as with the rest there isn't any comedy.

The band strikes up a march as playful kids wave pennants, Lois smiles and shifts her gaze lazily; clowns caper, elephants dance. It's a high moment of oblivion, humanity with its guard down. --The sort of scene Hitchcock laid out with such care, so that the mayhem, when it strikes suddenly, is fully felt.

Outside, a tiny monkey playing with a bright metal ring starts at a shadow. Jumping away, he doesn't release the ring in time; this pulls the cord that it's attached to, which springs open the latch on a circus wagon. Brief transition, and we hear a low growl at the entrance of the main tent, over the music and sounds of the crowd. We track reactions in montage as every person freezes in place. Then, only after we have been allowed take in the ripeness of the delicious moment of growing terror, are we shown what has paralyzed everyone.

The few minutes of this cartoon work exactly like prime early Hitchcock. It builds deliberately, lovingly toward a pivotal/revelatory brilliant set piece that is still exciting.

Before every large budget film tried to encompass the destruction of planet earth and the end of space time within its plot thread, choice nuggets of time-- like the one in this simple little cartoon-- were what cinema was all about. You'd wait for a moment. The moment built slowly and deliberately. Everything wasn't yielded at once. The experience was cumulative, not all sensory avalanche from first shot to last. Ultimately, the overdone-gasm sort of film doesn't last. It is seen through; the novelty, which is all it has, exhausts itself after a few viewings. Claptrap-- even well-mounted, noisy, big, breathless claptrap-- is still only that.

I see this great short as a wonderfully fresh, storyboard-like look at how feature films used to be put together. For that reason, I give it ten stars.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent are sent to cover a circus (for some reason). They separate to cover more ground. While Lois is watching a show in the Big Top a HUGE (and very fierce-looking) gorilla (or ape) is accidentally let loose.

He proceeds to wreak havoc and, in the mayhem, other animals escape from their cages. Lois saves a little girl from the huge gorilla (or ape) but then it goes after her? Can Superman save her and the circus?

Very strange Superman cartoon. For once he isn't battling mad scientists or creatures--just animals. Also it seems kind of strange that he has trouble beating a large gorilla (even though it IS huge). And he doesn't even show up until 6 minutes in (this is only 8 minutes long). Still, it's pretty good.

While Clark and Lois are at an amusement park, the parks main attraction Gigantic the gorilla escapes and wrecks havoc. This a job for Superman! Superman helps the police round up the escaped animals and saves Lois from the clutches of Gigantic the gorilla.

Sort of "Superman vs King Kong" except the giant ape doesn't fall in love with Lois and take her atop the tallest building in Metropolis. What can be said about this entry in the Superman cartoon series can be said about the series as a whole; superb animation and art work, fast pace and action, and beautiful vivid technicolor. These forties Superman cartoons are highly recommended to those enjoy good cartoon animation.

This is the ninth, and final, Superman cartoon made by Max and Dave Fleischer. While the rest of these initial series of animated shorts are virtually made by the same crew, the Fleischer brothers are nowhere near them since they would get ousted by Paramount due to financial and personal troubles between them. In this one, Lois and Clark are assigned to cover the circus which isn't one of their more exciting projects...until a gorilla is inadvertently let loose by a monkey and causes havoc to his surroundings. As always, Lois is the damsel in distress and it's up to Superman to rescue her...Quite exciting seeing all the animals reacting to the gorilla's presence and Superman struggling to keep the simian at bay though, as always, it all ends a bit too soon. Still, Terror on the Midway is well worth a look.