Launched in September 1941, the original Superman cartoons were produced by Max Fleischer. Joe Shuster drew the model sheets for Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and Superman. The first cartoon was received to critical acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award. The Superman shorts look like feature films, complete with tracking shots and a stunning variety of camera angles, each of which necessitates a new background. Artists duplicate real illumination, molding the characters with light and dark, and providing them with dramatic shadows. The films move at an accelerating pace, with cuts coming faster and faster toward the climaxes, propelled by Sammy Timberg's dynamic musical scores. Special effects involving fires, rays, and explosions set the screen ablaze. The episode shown here is "Electric Earthquake" which originally appeared in movie theatres in May 1942.
