Max Fleischer's Superman Coming to DVD
Warner Home Video Releasing 1940's Theatrical Shorts
Dec 29, 2008
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . . you know the rest.
According to DVD Active, Warner Home Video will packaging all 17 Max Fleischer Superman shorts onto a 2-disc DVD set.
Warner Home Video Releases Fleischer Studios' Superman on DVD
For those of you who haven't seen (or own) these episodes already, these Superman theatrical shorts are considered some of the finest cartoons made during the 20th century.
In order to capitalize on the early success of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's comic book creation, Paramount Pictures agreed to bankroll a stunning $50,000 per episode. As a result, no expense was spared to bring the DC Comics superhero to the silver screen; a lot of rotoscoping (a technique many people credit the Fleischers with inventing) was used to make the human characters look realistic.
The animation in these theatrical shorts was light years ahead of its time, influencing later cartoons like the 1990's Batman: The Animated Series as well as top artists and animators like Alex Ross (Kingdom Come), the "god of manga" Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) and anime legend Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Ponyo on a Cliff).
This upcoming DVD box set, which will have an MSRP of $26.99, will not only contain those classic shorts made between 1941 and 1942 (totalling 170 minutes of footage), but will also feature a pair of retrospective featurettes. A new retrospective called "The Man, The Myth Superman," joins "First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series." The latter featurette was carried over from the 2006 DVD release, which was meant to coincide with the live-action flop Superman Returns.
The first 9 cartoons, which were personally overseen by Max and Dave Fleischer, had more science fiction-style story-lines featuring the Man of Steel battling mad scientists, giant dinosaurs and marauding robots.
After Paramount ousted the feuding Fleischer brothers in 1942 and renamed the the company Famous Studios, the budgets were cut and Superman went to do his patriotic duty, fighting evil Nazis and villainous Japanese. Considering that World War II was a going concern when these theatrical shorts were made, parents will need to give their kids a quick historical run-down should the little darlings view a propaganda episode like "Eleventh Hour" or "The Japoteurs."
A 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck – called The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals – listed Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons the #33 position.
Look for Max Fleischer's Superman DVD coming April 7, 2009.
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