Too much of everything

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

It is nothing really new that Superman occasionally needs to go up against nature phenomenons rather than bad guys and this 8-minute cartoon from the days of World War II is just another example. "The Magnetic Telescope" has a whole bunch of meteors flying down to the earth after a scientist lost touch with reality. And the man in blue is the one who needs to get things straight again. And of course he does. As delusional as the scientist may have been, he is no antagonist in here and he disappears quickly out of the picture. I personally did not enjoy the watch here too much, even if I believe it is not one of the worst from Fleischer's Superman series from 75 years ago. Still, a thumbs down.

"The Magnetic Telescope" is one of the better cartoons from the Superman series that the Fleischer Brothers made. The plot is very exciting and is has a neat scene at the end where Clark gets to smooch Lois! It begins with a stupid and very irresponsible scientist testing out his insane telescopic device. It uses magnetics to bring objects closer to the Earth! And, not surprisingly, when he brings a meteor near the planet, it causes some serious damage. However, he's determined to try this again--but on a much larger object!! When a comet is brought near, folks rush the observatory and smash the device--but the comet STILL comes hurtling towards the Earth. Now here is the kicker--Superman tries repeatedly to stop the comet but it's too big and powerful. So, he must do something fast to fix that darned device and hope that it can be used to reverse the path of the object.As I noticed in several of these cartoons, Superman is NOT all-powerful. He gets knocked down, hurt and overwhelmed from time to time. I actually like this as it added to the suspense. I also loved when the day was saved and Lois THOUGHT she was kissing Superman and it turned out to be Clark (well, at least it was Clark dressed as his alter ego, Clark Kent). Well done.

This is the sixth in the Superman series of cartoons produced by Max and Dave Flesicher for Paramount. In this one, a scientist uses his giant magnet to get a comet to come closer. Why he would want to do that, I don't know but the police is so intent on stopping him they put a steel stick in the generator that causes to power in the building to go off. Of course, Lois Lane the reporter is there and, as usual, gets herself in a jam which means Superman will rescue her...Couple of things to note: For once, Clark doesn't say, "This is a job for Superman". And that he and Lois share a kiss at the end with her thinking it was with Supes since it was in the dark (but of course, it is!) The special effects in these cartoons are the thrilling part that makes these worth the effort to watch since unlike the usual stilted Saturday morning weekly efforts done by Hanna-Barbera and Filmation from the '70s, these artists have all the time and money to do these right. So on that note, The Magnetic Telescope was another worthy Superman cartoon.

FALLING into a rather long line of tales featuring rather off-beat Scientists, 'THE MAGNETIC TERLESCOPE' ranks as # 6 in the original 17 SUPERMAN Animated Cartoon Short Subjects that came from the Fleischer Brothers/Famous Studios & Paramount Pictures in the early 1940's. While the picture had so many of the hallmarks that were an integral part of the SUPERMAN Cartoons format, it seems to have a certain freshness of presentation that sets it as a stand-out in the fine series.DEVELOPING the story as the work of a misguided, only slightly mad (perhaps just "fatigued" from slaving at his telescope), but not evil research astronomer; the story became the tale of technological discoveries outstripping our ability to safely use it in a controlled situation. They say that Our Reach should not exceed Our Grasp!" (Hey Schultz, just who are "They" anyway?) AS one would expect, the Staff of The Daily Planet is involved in the business of getting all of the dope on the sudden and unaccountable movement of many of the asteroids, planetoids and comets that are a part of our home solar system.THE culprit, a lone, self-righteous and megalomaniacal scientist just happens to be in full time residence in an extremely well equipped observatory located conveniently on a mountain top overlooking the city of Metropolis. His Mt. Palomar look-alike stronghold is invaded by Miss Lois Lane and the usual interplay occurs between Miss Lane, Superman and the Scientist. (No Schultz, that's not a threesome!) JUST as is prevalent in all of the entries, the artwork is astoundingly beautiful, captivating backgrounds and fine character animation. If such a category is used in animation, the "Special Effects" animation featuring the magnetic force and its capture and of that Comet (Name we can't recall).THE scene where the heavenly body is crashed into the Metropolis street in a slowed down motion and its eventual return to its proper position in our solar system.THE overall success of the Fleischer/Famous Studios/Paramount Pictures SUPERMAN Series should have been a clarion call to others in Hollywood's Animation producers to attempt to do some similarly serious cartoon shorts with some other characters from features in Newspaper Comic Strips or the more juvenilely oriented world of the Comic Books.INTERESTINGLY enough, there were never any other such series attempted until the great Comics Revival & Bonanza of that post BATMAN craze of 1966. Fittingly one of the first of such animated comics series wad THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (Filmation Associates, 1966). In keeping with tradition, the voices for the characters of Kent/Superman, Lois Lane and Perry White were rendered by Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander and Jackson Beck; all being veterans of the SUPERMAN Radio Show on Mutual Radio.* THE wheel had spun a full! NOTE * Both Clayton "Bud" Collyer and Miss Joan Alexander had voiced the characters on three different occasions; being the SUPERMAN Radio Show, the SUPERMAN Theatrical Cartoon Series (Fleischer/Famous Studios/Paramount) as well as the THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (FIlmation Associates/CBS TV, 1966). Mr. Jackson Beck did the Radio Show and the Animated Television Series; but not (as far as we know) the Theatrical Cartoons.POODLE SCHNITZ!!