My son has recently gotten into Superman (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=57496&start=484), and to be more specific the Fleischer Superman cartoons. In the last few days I have watched all these episodes, numerous times. And, I still love them!

So, I thought I would start a thread that just deals with these classic cartoons. Pics, favorite episodes, best copies . . . you name it.

The sculptor that did this has some great work. Worth checking out.

http://www.freewebs.com/davejames/

It's pretty much my favorite non-comic book version of Superman EVAH. I have this statue--



If they have enough material, I'd like an "Art of Fleischer Studios Superman" book to be produced.

I liked the homage in the Legion of Superheroes episode of JLU where Supergirl punches back the force beam a la Superman in a Fleischer cartoon.

I really like the Fleischer version of Clark Kent. He is such a dapper dresser and cool, too. The perfect balance.



I would buy that.

I am continually trying to find the perfect version of the cartoons. If you go to Amazon, they have one set, from Bosco, that apparently is really nice. Another, actually from Warner Bros. has commentaries etc. Both intrigue me. The best though, would be to see all of them, back to back in a theater. I would drive in a snow storm to go to an event like that.

I have this and have watched into the first few Famous Studio efforts without the Fleischers. I like the Fleischer ones better. The pounding surf intro is strange. Also the weird "Harveytoons" comedy relief has been unwelcome.

I like them better too, but they still are great fun. My favorite episode was Japoteurs.

The Bosko set is the one that I am watching. It is a nice print quality (aside from the giant ape one, which is a horrible quality print). I believe Warner's has access to the masters though, so those prints should be very clean too.

I have the ones that came with the remastered Superman movies, which they eventually put in a set on their own.

I find the use of shadows to be interesting in these cartoons. If you really examine them, they use shadows a lot. For example, in "Mechanical Men" the open shot is the shadow of the robot. In fact, the viewer has to wait a nice little while before the robot is actually revealed (which, like in Jaws, creates a nice bit of anticipation) . In "Terror on the Midway" (when the circus runs amok) a large portion of the cartoon is done with silhouettes and shadows. And of course, the ending of "Magnetic Telescope" is great when Louis thinks she is kissing Superman, but when the lights are turned on it is Clark . . . a nice little moment.

Part of me thinks this was done to create mood; But, then again I think it may have been done to cut corners as it would seem animating shadows is a lot easier. Whatever the case, one has to give the animators credit, because it is done so well, one doesn't notice it as a cost cutting device (if that was the case). It just looks cool.

I have never seen a clean copy of "Terror on the Midway" (the one with the giant ape). I want to.

That is the set from Warner Bros, who have access to the orignal negatives. From Amazon it says they shortened some of the intros and the music/sound effects. I don't know if that is that big of deal to me.

Let me ask you this; How are the commentaries?

Agreed.

The way Clark's voice transforms into Superman's as he's saying "This is a job for Superman!" is just magic. Well done by Bud Collyer.

The only thing that marginally bugs me about the Fleischer Superman is Superman's continual appearance of squinting. That is from the original comics, I assume, so I shouldn't complain.

I have read that rotoscoping was done for these cartoons, but I don't see it. Have any of you noticed that?

His tranformations are the best. I still get goosebumps when they do that. I have been thinking about trying to make an avatar out of one of them.

Just the other day when my son and I were playing Superman, my boy went behind the sofa, said, "This looks like a job for Superman." He even made his voice deeper when he did it. He is only three. It was pretty cool.

I LOVE the Clint Eastwood squint. If I directed a Superman film, the lead actor MUST have that squint.

Also, the voice was perfect. To me, visually, the Fleischer Superman is the ultimate Superman.

You are obviously raising your son right.

Hanzo- Have you checked out that sculptor's page (David James) linked above? There is a lot things I think you will find of interest. He does a nice Kirk sculpt and a fun golden age Batman sclupt.

I have the Bosco Diamond Anniversary DVD set, and it's really nice.
The video and sound are sharp and clear. Probably one of, if not the best set of prints available.

Wow, he does a lot of great sculpts! The Jim Lee Superman is spot on and better than the actual statues DC put out.