Superman: Showdown (1942) User Reviews

Superman's Impostor

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 14 December 2013]

I love the Fleischer Superman cartoons. The animation is smooth and fluid with vivid colors. The distinct art-deco style, vintage science fiction imagery, and use of noirish shadows gave them a look unlike any other cartoons. The music and voice work is superb. They're fun, accessible, enduring animation classics. While this is a cartoon from Fleischer Studios' successor, Famous Studios, it still tries to maintain the Fleischer style.

In the eleventh in the series, someone disguised as Superman is committing crimes all over Metropolis. Lois and Clark are assigned to cover the opera and, while there, Lois has a run-in with the impostor. Clark wastes no time changing into his red & blues and confronting the fake. Impostor Superman leads the real Supes to his boss, who won't be taken easily. The second Superman short from Famous is their best and one of the most different in the whole series. It's the closest any of the shorts come to being a comedy. The fake Superman is very funny. An interesting note is that Jack Mercer and Jackson Beck, who voice the fake Superman and his boss respectively, also did the voices of Popeye and Bluto in Popeye cartoons.

Ah! The Old Fake Superman Bit

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 27 December 2016]

In this one, the population believe that Superman has turned into a jewel thief. I suppose it's believable in that the poor guy probably has to live on Clark Kent's salary. But it is not true. Clark needs to get to the bottom of this and it turns out a look-alike guy has been doing the pillaging. Clark/Superman sees him at the opera and confronts him. It turns out there is a guy called the "Boss" (that Bruce Springsteen is everywhere) who is really behind all of this and apparently Superman and everyone else knows exactly where he is. This is more of a police episode and that's refreshing. I recently saw the dreadful movie, "Batman v Superman" so we know the poor guy can really be given a bad rap. Oh! Lois doesn't get captured by the bad guys. That should be on the cover of the Dailly Planet.

What happened to Jimmy's face?!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 9 January 2014]

I know this is cruel, but the biggest thing that jumped out at me while I watched this cartoon was Jimmy Olsen's face. I kept thinking 'Oh, my....what horrible accident happened to make Jimmy THAT hideous?!'. At least I assume that was Jimmy--he was the office assistant and seemed to act a bit like Jimmy!! Let me explain further. In the Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoons, unlike other Fleischer shorts like Popeye and Betty Boop, the characters look more like real people. So, when in the middle of the cartoon a freakish and hideous character who looks like a cartoon imp appears, it just seems weirdly out of place! Okay, I've finished my rant about ugly Jimmy. I promise.

As for the rest of the cartoon, it's pretty good stuff. A local baddie is having his dopey assistant run about town committing crimes while dressed up as Superman. Apparently, the town is full of idiots, as they soon believe Superman has turned bad--even though this incarnation of the 'hero' cannot fly, stop bullets or do anything very super. So, it's up to the real guy to capture the two baddies and restore America's faith in its heroes. What a guy! Overall, this was enjoyable (apart from Jimmy) and well done. Worth your time and a decent installment in the series.

Superman #11

[Michael_Elliott · 17 May 2009]

Showdown (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A fake Superman is going around robbing various shops and people but the real one gets a chance to grab him, which leads to another criminal. This isn't the greatest cartoon ever made but it's mildly entertaining simply because it breaks free from the plot lines of previous shorts. The movie mixes it up a little bit and for that I'm extremely grateful considering the previous shorts were starting to go down the same path. What really goes against the film is that the fake Superman is about a quarter the size of the real one so when they finally reach their showdown, it's pretty disappointing because the fake guy is so small and not much of a match.

"It IS Superman!" exclaims a gullible . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 7/10 · 3 January 2020]

. . . and disloyal chameleon-like "Lois Lane:" toward the beginning of SHOWDOWN. This is the "Man of Steel" episode in which Lois displays her True Colors. She proves to be as fickle as her varied skin tone pallet, turning upon the Super Hero who has already saved her bacon a dozen times at the drop of a piece of costume jewelry. With wenches around like Lois, who needs enemas? She is perfectly content to suspend her disbelief, and libel Superman as being guilty in a string of grand larcenies. (It's nearly as bad as when that Dakota bushwhacker--Tom Broke-Claw--told a nationwide TV audience that the FBI had all the evidence needed to send RICHARD JEWELL to the gallows as the Atlanta Olympic Bomber!) Since Lois has spent more time in Superman's arms than any other skirt on Planet Earth, her inconstant, back-stabbing, accusatory attitude toward Krypton's lone survivor seems to verge upon sending him off on a quest for friendlier galaxies far, far away. After all, if his time here so far hasn't been enough to convince even one dithering dame of his intrinsic worth, why bother with Earth? Surely there must be some other world out there where such a straight shooter will be appreciated for his chiseled chin!

The one with the impostor

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 6 May 2016]

"Showdown" is a 1942 8-minute cartoon from the days of World War II again. But it is entirely unpolitical In here, Superman goes up against a man posing as Superman while robbing banks and stealing jewelery. Apparenty his (or better his master's) intention was to change the hero in the public eye. It is really a stupid idea though as, obviously, Superman would do his best to catch him quickly. We are talking about a man here who stops big dinosaurs and volcano eruptions. Anyway, I still kinda enjoyed this one and I believe it is one of the better entries to the franchise, perhaps because Lois is really supporting in here and does not play a great role, also won't get kidnapped this time. This one is Superman's battle and his battle only. I recommend the watch. By the way, this one had Izzy Sparber directing and not Dave Fleischer.

One of the best Superman cartoons

[preppy-3 · 9/10 · 11 March 2005]

Someone disguised as Superman is committing robberies all over Metropolis. He's doing it under orders from The Boss (that's all he's ever called--and he sounds like Orson Welles!). Immediately the police start searching for Superman. One night Lois Lane and Clark Kent are covering the opera. The fake Superman decides to rob the patrons there that night. Lois scares him off---but Clark decides to meet him face to face and get to the bottom of this.

This has to be one of the quickest-moving Superman cartoons I've ever seen. It moves like lightning and (for once) Lois is NOT captured or put in danger. I do love how she casually jumps into the police car (in her beautiful new dress) to join them as they go after the villain. It's never explained how they KNOW where The Boss is though. Who cares? This is fun, fast and beautifully animated. A definite 9.

Showdown was a slightly different Superman cartoon in the way the plot works out

[tavm · 5/10 · 23 June 2011]

This is the second Superman cartoon made by the Famous Studios which was an outgrowth of the original Max Fleischer Studios after the ouster by Paramount of him and brother Dave. Being the eleventh overall, this animated short is interesting in that the villain is...Supes himself? Actually, it's someone dressed as him that's doing all the stealing of jewels for his boss. When Lois and Clark are assigned to review an opera, that not-too-convincing-Superman-doppelganger shows up to get more bling. Wanna guess who also shows up? Well, I won't tell but I'm sure you already know. Anyway, this short is unique as for once, Lois doesn't get captured and the robbers aren't anyone wanting to destroy or conquer the world. But that also makes this a little less exciting. Still, Showdown is worth a look for that slight difference in Superman plots.

Faster Than A Streak Of Lightning

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 3 June 2000]

A SUPERMAN Cartoon.

Someone, disguised as Superman, is pulling off a series of daring robberies throughout Metropolis and it's time for the real Man of Steel to force a SHOWDOWN with the Big Boss behind it all...

This was another in the series of excellent cartoons initially created by Max Fleischer for Paramount Studio. They feature great animation and taut, fast-moving plots. Meant to be shown in movie theaters, they are miles ahead of their Saturday Morning counterparts. Bud Collyer is the voice of Superman; Joan Alexander does the honors for Lois Lane.

Showdown

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 20 April 2021]

The Boss has a great plan. Get someone dressed up as Superman to carry out various robberies.

The crook even carries out his thefts under the noses of the patrons at the opera.

Luckily Lois and Clark are there covering the opera for the newspaper.

Lois grapples with the robber and Clark goes after him as Superman.

For some reason once Superman goes after the Boss. He ceases being faster than a speeding bullet. Superman even forgets how to fly when he gets the drop.

My Double's in for Some Trouble

[Cineanalyst · 8/10 · 25 September 2020]

Besides the comic-book superheroics, an interesting thing about some of these old Superman cartoons is the role of the narrator. They all begin with a voiceover from an unseen narrator who introduces the general concept of Superman, of course, but I'm talking about a character as narrator. In the original "Superman" (1941), Lois Lane was the storyteller; the film we saw was or became the story she wrote as a reporter for The Daily Planet. In this one, "Showdown," Lois takes a back seat to Supes and his alter ego--or double--Clark Kent. Added here is another doppelgänger for the man of steel in the form of a crook impersonating him (as, meanwhile, his crime boss impersonates Edward G. Robinson).

The short doesn't conclude with a story by Lane, either, but with Kent waking up from a snooze. One may read this as him continuing his impersonation of not being Superman, but another way to look at it is that the entire story of doubles (Clark/Superman and two Supermans) was Clark's dream after a boring night at the opera. In this final scene, Lois says she has a story to tell him, but we never hear it. This is Clark's story.