More than any of the live-action Superman feature films to follow, this short cartoon, the first of 17 in the cinematic series, better integrates the meta-storytelling devices surrounding the Man of Steel's alter ego as reporter Clark Kent for the Daily Planet newspaper. Even before it gets to that, a prologue includes voiceover narration to tell Superman's origins from Krypton to Earth in the style of an old--or, in 1941, contemporary--newsreel. "Citizen Kane" (1941) did something similar the same year as this. There's also a shot of regular people listening to the story over the radio. The mad scientist even addresses himself to the Daily Planet in a letter, whereupon we learn the brief storyline of the short. Clark similarly uses media and his position in it to discern when to deploy his superheroics. Finally, the entire story--the movie--is what Lois Lane writes for the paper. She's no mere damsel in distress or even just a New Woman (and an aviatrix, to boot); she's the surrogate within the film of the author of the film. Quite clever for 10 minutes.
The actual superhero story is perfunctory; I mean, the supervillain is generically named "the Mad Scientist," after all, and he turns some sort of death ray on Metropolis for... reasons, I guess. Today, one might say the animation is rather minimalist, as well, but this was an early color animated cartoon, and a lot of work seems to have gone into the simulated lighting, which often resembles a black-and-white film noir or horror picture, while at others times the sleek lines add to the simple Art Deco designs (the Daily Planet's building being a prime example). Even the--by today's standards--leisurely pacing of the camera panning on the scenes seems to recall to me one gazing over comic-book panels. It's too bad not more superhero films since have put such effort into how the story is told and shown.
The actual superhero story is perfunctory; I mean, the supervillain is generically named "the Mad Scientist," after all, and he turns some sort of death ray on Metropolis for... reasons, I guess. Today, one might say the animation is rather minimalist, as well, but this was an early color animated cartoon, and a lot of work seems to have gone into the simulated lighting, which often resembles a black-and-white film noir or horror picture, while at others times the sleek lines add to the simple Art Deco designs (the Daily Planet's building being a prime example). Even the--by today's standards--leisurely pacing of the camera panning on the scenes seems to recall to me one gazing over comic-book panels. It's too bad not more superhero films since have put such effort into how the story is told and shown.