The Man of Steel fights a mad scientist who is destroying Metropolis with an energy cannon.The Man of Steel fights a mad scientist who is destroying Metropolis with an energy cannon.The Man of Steel fights a mad scientist who is destroying Metropolis with an energy cannon.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
- Clark Kent
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- …
- Lois Lane
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Perry White
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- The Mad Scientist
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Narrator
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMax Fleischer and Dave Fleischer were reluctant to take this assignment because it would require much more realistic designs and animation than they usually used. They tried to discourage Paramount by stating they would need a budget of around $100,000 per short, four times the budget of an average Walt Disney cartoon, which then had the highest budgets in animation. To their shock, Paramount executives agreed to at least half the amount, which made the Superman series--in adjusted dollars--the biggest-budgeted animation series in film history.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Voices: Up in the sky, look: It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman!
Narrator: [opening narration] In the endless reaches of the universe, there once existed a planet known as Krypton, a planet that burned like a green star in the distant heavens. There, civilization was far advanced and it brought forth a race of "supermen," whose mental and physical powers were developed to the absolute peak of human perfection. But there came a day when giant quakes threatened to destroy Krypton forever. One of the planet's leading scientists, sensing the approach of doom, placed his infant son in a small rocket ship and sent it hurtling in the direction of the Earth just as Krypton exploded. The rocket ship sped through star-studded space, landing safely on Earth with its precious burden: Krypton's sole survivor. A passing motorist found the uninjured child and took it to an orphanage. As the years went by and the child grew to maturity, he found himself possessed of amazing physical powers. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The infant of Krypton is now the Man of Steel: Superman! To best be in a position to use his amazing powers in a never-ending battle for truth and justice, Superman has assumed the disguise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
- Alternate versionsIn the scene in the editor's office, when Lois Lane runs off to "follow up her lead," Clark Kent originally asked Perry White, "Don't you think that's a dangerous mission for a girl?" In most current prints, the scene is cut so that the line now ends on the word "mission."
- ConnectionsEdited into Fantastic Animation Festival (1977)
I had first seen this decades back (not in 1941 because it would be a good several years until I was born) and recently I picked up a copy from a car boot sale. I watched it and enjoyed it throughly.
The story is perfectly simple. A mad scientist has some kind of ray aimed at Metropolis and he also kidnaps Lois Lane. Superman of course comes to the rescue. There is no complex plot, just plenty of action.
Lois and Clark are not quite equals in this adventure. Nowadays in the Superman comics I think Lois and Clark are married but Lois sort of looked down on Clark in these adventures-she doesn't even let him come out on assignment with her.
Another thing I liked was the way Clark changed into Superman. He would always say, "This is a job for Superman," before heading into a storeroom and changing. Magic!
For fans of Superman (particularly younger fans), I recommend they check this out if they can get a copy.
- Big Movie Fan
- Nov 20, 2002
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Superman: The Introduction
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $50,000 (estimated)
- Runtime10 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1