In honor of thefiftieth anniversary of Superman (he burst on the scene in Action Comicsin 1938), we present the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons of the fortiesin sparkling new 35mm prints struck from the original Technicolornegatives. Representing the pinnacle of animation during its "goldenage," the Superman cartoons were a bold step away from the animalescapades that had come to characterize screen animation. Max Fleischerand his brother Dave, working for Paramount, brought America's favoritecomic-book hero to life in the screen's first "realistic" animatedadventure stories, filled with action and special effects. (The Supermanfigure himself was a new innovation based on rectangles rather thancircles.) In Superman, the first cartoon (in which the much-amplifiedbreaking open of an apple was used to created the sound of Kryptonexploding), when Metropolis is threatened by a mad scientist's"electrothanasia ray", Superman battles the death beam in a superblyrealistic showdown. The Mechanical Monsters (featuring what are perhapsthe prototypes for today's Gobots and Transformers) introduces twoenduring Superman clich?: Clark Kent's phone booth-dressing room, andSuperman's x-ray vision, depicted in startling close-up. Happily,Superman chose a major metropolis (the Metropolis) in which to fight forTruth, Justice and the American Way, so many of the films, with actiontaking place at night, have the effect of animated film noir-an addedtreat for PFA audiences! The Fleischer brothers were removed from theSuperman project n mid-1942, after which the fantastic elements of thecartoons gave way to more mundane episodes of wartime sabotage. Superman (September 26, 1941), Mechanical Monsters(November 21, 1941), Billion Dollar Limited (January 9, 1942), TheArctic Giant (February 26, 1942), The Bulleteers (March 26, 1942), TheMagnetic Telescope (April 24, 1942), The Electric Earthquake (May 15,1942). Also: Volcano (date?).