40's style Superman

[Cassandra]

Have any of you seen those old fleishman Superman shorts they made back in the 40's (I think)? -they were really great, and I'd like to know who owns them now, if they are for sale (tapes/DVDs) or if they are ever aired anymore.

(whew, lotsa questions)

[Heehaw]

There are several different DVDs with the episodes. The one to own is the 50th Anniversary Diamond version. It contains all 17 episodes in the best quality your likely to ever hope for. Some of them are darn near perfect and a couple are pretty rough, but they are taken from the original negatives, supposedly, so unless someone steps up to the plate and does an extensive remastering, that's as good as it will get. Steps were taken to clean up the picture, and they do look very good(when compared with early VHS versions), but they are not truly remastered. Dirt/scratches abound and though some may disagree with me, I don't think they are framed in their proper aspect ratio. As is, they are 1.33:1 and if you view the title cards, for each episode, one will notice that there is cropping on the text, suggesting, to me, that it isn't framed properly. A minor gripe, though.

A couple of the other releases claim to have Dolby Digital 5.1 sound but the sound effects have been completely rerecorded for those and are just horrible. They are very out of place with the original soundtrack/dialogue. I really wish someone would rerecord the sound effects and the music. I'm talking about making it sound exactly like the old material, just producing it with today's technology. If they could rerecord all new voice acting, and maintain a very high quality standard, that would be interesting, as well. I'd still want the pure original sound, included, but if it were done right, I'd love to see it the other way(coupled with that extensive remastering I mentioned).

I believe these shows are public domain, so maybe one day it will happen.

[Shriek]

Is this the one with George Reeve as Superman?

[Heehaw]

No, they are animated, quite possibly the most beautiful and realistic animation ever created. The shorts were a HUGE influence on the look and feel of BTAS. One contribution was the use of the cool looking "painterly" cels BTAS is known for.

Those old Superman shorts featured them, as well, though they were fairly uncommon in them.

[Cassandra]

Wow, I was expecting a much more dissapointing answer.This is great! I remember watching them when I was little and being totally blown away by how FANTASTIC the animation was. I'll have to look around for it.

[Joe Wagner]

Check out your local Best Buy type of a store. You can usually pick up the diamond collection for around $15. There is also a set out that is called Superman: The Lost Episodes that has half of the series and comes in a keeper case. I can't remember what the companion DVD to this is, but it has the second half of the series on it.

-Joe!

[Heehaw]

The Lost Episodes DVD is one of those DD 5.1 releases, I believe. Stick with the Diamond.