Max Fleischers Superman cartoons

[Zoid]

I just bought the animated Superman shorts from the 1940's on DVD for $5. And while the animation is truly awesome the plots are almost non-existant. Even more formulaic and two-dimensional than the comic books... But the cartoons can be watched solely for the animations

As they are now in the public domains they can be watched for free at www.archive.org

Mechanical Monsters :

http://www.archive.org/details/mechanical_monsters_1941

[BeBMan]

"Fleischer" means "butcher" in German. That is all.

[Q Classic]

"Japoteurs" is the best.

[snoopy369]

Hmm, surprised they put them in the public domain... unusually nice for a major corporation (or are they not owned by DC?)

[Zoid]

Not these, they were owned by Paramount Pictures. I have no idea why they were released into the public domain.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

All seventeen cartoons were sold to Motion Pictures for Television (producers of the TV series The Adventures of Superman) in 1955, and all eventually fell into the public domain (their copyrights having not been renewed by either Paramount, NTA/Republic, EMKA, Ltd./Universal Studios, or even Motion Pictures for Television and DC Comics), and have been widely distributed on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD. Nonetheless, Warner Bros., via parent Time Warner's ownership of DC Comics, now owns the original film elements to the cartoons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1940s_cartoons)

[snoopy369]

Ahh, they just didn't bother renewing the copyright... interesting.