Superman made his comic book debut in 1938, appearing in Action Comics #1 (dated June 1938, but officially published on April 18, 1938), and the Man of Steel’s popularity grew with his subsequent radio program. Max Fleischer gave the world’s first Super Hero his initial animated spotlight, producing 17 theatrical animated shorts from September 1941 to July 1943 that further elevated the character’s profile, and added many significant aspects to his canon – including coining many of Superman’s patented catchphrases and attributes.
For thoughts on Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
Video Quality
Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 comes to Blu-Ray with what should be a knockout presentation from Warner Brothers Discovery. The company did go through the trouble of conducting a complicated remastering process that began with a 4K, 16-bit scan of Fleischer’s original 35mm successive exposure negative. The company then took the highest quality raw image, scanned it and then recombined the successive exposure Technicolor negatives into a single RGB color image. Judging by the glimpse we see of the raw 4K scan in the new “Speeding Towards Tomorrow” supplemental feature, this was shaping up to be a stunning release for fans.
Unfortunately for fans, we had the main Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment team working on this release instead of the champions at Warner Archive. While this release is far from an abomination (though some will certainly argue it is), it does represent a huge missed opportunity to make this perfect like fans have prayed for longer than they care to remember. Whereas Warner Archive has an unspoken mandate to preserve classic animation in its purest artistic form (see Tex Avery, The Herculoids, Josie and The Pussycats, etc.), the WBDHE team seem to have been given the mandate to make their animated releases as mass-market friendly as possible, which in corporate parlance means scrubbing away the film grain and making it sparkly and new (see Scooby Doo, Batman: The Animated Series, etc.). While newly restored animation is what we all want, the goal should not be to wipe away the brilliant nuances that these animators put into their work in the first place. Grain is good.
Max Fleischer’s Superman is another victim of heavy grain scrubbing, leaving the presentation feeling downright sterile in some instances. This is technically the best the films have ever looked, but the rich texture is missing, and some of the line work has become less crisp than it should be. During this process, subtle line details within the animation often get mistaken for dirt, leaving these elements to be removed entirely. If you are not familiar with classic animation, there is a good chance you will watch this release and wonder what all the negative fuss is about. These shorts are so good that it is easy to get wrapped up in the stories and understand that you are not seeing blatant damage, flickering, or anything of that sort. The colors are fairly vibrant overall, and the contrast holds pretty firm. We did not spot any egregious black crush or blown highlights, and banding is kept to a minimum. Compression is the weakest element outside of the DNR.
This release is good enough for the average consumer. Yet, those who still go to the effort of actually collecting physical media are rarely an average consumer. We all deserve better than watchable. If this set sells well, it will be seen as reinforcement that halfhearted work will be rewarded. If everyone were to vote with their dollar and reject this release, the studio would just take this as a sign that no one cared about the release in general. We all want this release because the shorts are incredible, and we have been waiting for so long. It will get the job done, but there will always be the lingering disappointment of knowing this could have been so much better. If anyone from Warner Bros. is listening, we beg of you to stop compromising animation to suit what you believe consumers want. We want you to succeed!
Audio Quality
The audio quality of the Blu-Ray discs is much better with its DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mono track. If you have only seen these shorts on public domain releases with all manner of age-related wear and tear, these tracks will serve as a noticeable improvement in the clarity of the dialogue, sound effects and music throughout. This lossless audio presentation beefs up the audio source on the previous Warner Bros. DVDs, but that also means a few episodes are still provided with the incorrect intro and some slight sync issues.
Outside of these small issues, everything is working together in perfect harmony to give you the best listening experience possible. The sound can be slightly boxy at points, but this is to be expected given the vintage of this material. Warner had delivered the most stable presentation possible for this release. This disc also includes optional English (SDH), French and Spanish subtitles available on these discs.
Special Features
- Max Fleischer’s Superman – Speeding Toward Tomorrow: A great new 13-minute retrospective featurette with interviews from director Matt Peters, producer Jim Krieg, supervising producer Rick Morales, and screenwriter Jeremy Adams in which they discuss the legacy of this series, how it cemented the character of Superman, the visual majesty of the animation, how it influenced what came after and more.
- First Flight – The Fleischer Superman Series: A 13-minute archival piece which takes a similar approach to examining the series with interviews from Fleischer relatives, animation historians, modern animators and more. There are some really great insights into why this series is such an enduring piece of art.
- The Man, The Myth, Superman: A 14-minute archival piece which expands out a bit and takes a broader look at the character of Superman, his place in contemporary folklore and more.
Final Thoughts
Max Fleischer’s Superman offers up the type of magic which makes one a certified fan of the titular character. It is one thing to know Superman, and it is another to experience his heroism through the lens of Max Fleischer. The stories are a bit formulaic and kid-friendly, but they offer the purest distillation of The Man of Steel that we could hope for. Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has released a much-anticipated collection that serves up heartbreak in the video department while delivering a fairly solid audio presentation. There are some big disappointments with this set, but we know it will be difficult to resist having these classics in HD (even if they are flawed). Many will view this set and be thrilled, and we certainly understand why. We also just know that it could be significantly better. We would love for Warner Archive to be given a chance to make up for this release in the future, but for now this is as good as we get.
Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.