Japoteurs

Plot synopsis:
The story begins with a shot of the front page of the Daily Planet. The headline reads "World's Largest Bombing Plane Finally Completed." The man reading the newspaper is Japanese, he stands up and looks at a picture of the Statue of Liberty in his office, then pushes a button on his desk, and the picture changes into one of the Japanese flag. He bows to it and jams his glowing cigarette into the news headline. Later, the Japanese man and some acquaintances knock a guard out as the plane is being loaded for a test run. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are taking a tour of the new bombing plane for the Planet. When everyone is told to get off, Lois stays behind and hides in a locker on board the plane.
As the plane takes off, we see that there are other stowaways aboard. Hidden inside what look like bombs are the Japanese men. The spies tie and gag the pilots and hijack the plane. Meanwhile, Lois emerges from her hiding place and moves over to the cockpit. As she's about to open the door, she notices that the Japanese spies have hijacked the plane. She sneaks into the room and calls for help on the radio, however the spies seize her. In response to her calls for help, fighter planes are sent to stop the hijackers. In response, the hijackers deploy a bomb, which stops the fighters from taking off. Clark Kent goes into an elevator and changes into Superman as it goes up to the roof.
Superman enters the plane to stop the hijackers, but one of them has Lois tied up and is ready to drop her out of the plane through the bomb hatch. Superman jumps out of the plane and comes back in through the bomb hatch to save Lois as she's being dropped. He unties her and starts fighting the hijackers. One of them breaks the plane's controls, and the plane starts falling towards the city. Superman takes Lois out of the plane and places her on the ground, then flies back up and catches the plane, bringing it to a safe landing right in the middle of the street.

Tags: psychedelic, comic

Review:
LOOK, Up In the Sky!
It's a Bird!
It's a Plane!
It's a JAPOTEUR!
Hollywood Wartime Efforts even included making up new words!.
FOLLOWING the business coup of the year of 1941, Max and Dave, the Brothers Fleischer were removed from their own Studio by Paramount Pictures Corporation.
Former employees such as Seymour Kneitel and Izzy Sparber were put in charge of the new operation, now renamed Famous Studios by Paramount.
Early on, the finished product of Famous was indiscernible from that of the recent output by Fleischer.
The existing series (Popeye, Superman) continued as if nothing at all had transpired.TODAY'S subject, JAPOTEURS is one of the earlier Famous Studio's SUPERMAN Shorts.AS had been the custom, the SUPERMAN Cartoons were a great combination of fine, fittingly fashioned music in the score.
That goes for the theme (overture) as well as all the multi-mood background (incidental) music.
It was if each cartoon short had its own background music, as all was kept fresh by apparently recording it anew with each picture.WITH regards to JAPOTEURS, we must remember that this was filmed during the first year of the United States' involvement and the characterization of the enemy was very stereotypical, short-handed and outright evil.
The dialog and personality of the villainous Japanese saboteurs was strictly from the stock characters of the old pulp magazine stories, with their every word being said in a sarcastic, totally insincere politeness as the characters would flaunt their cold bloodedness as they made the most demonic of threats and outrageous acts toward the occidental world.JAPOTEURS is visually bright and uplifting, stunningly laid out and makes use of some multi plane or table top animation in order to give its flying sequences a real depth.MAKING good use of the tie-ins between the animated cartoons, the SUPERMAN Radio Show then heard over the Mutual Broadcasting Network; the cartoon bears a close resemblance to the Comics Page and uses the very same talents of voice actors Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander from the Radio Show.WE rate it with a *** ½ stars.POODLE SCHNITZ!!.
Superman Enters the War. 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 addition to being the first Superman cartoon from Famous, this tenth cartoon in the series is also the first with a World War II theme.
The plot is that a new American bombing plane (world's largest, according to a newspaper headline) is hijacked by Japanese saboteurs.
Lois Lane is on board the plane, of course.
Superman must save Lois, stop the saboteurs, and safely bring the expensive plane down.
This first effort from Famous Studios is a nice WW2 thriller with some good action, particularly the climactic scene of Superman catching the plane.
It's a good effort, about equal to the last couple of Fleischer toons, but not a patch on the best of the series..
Wartime Wasn't Funny...But One Could Get Carried Away.
Artistry can go out the window when propaganda comes in the door.
Here we have a plot that could be used in any setting.
Because we recently were attacked by Japan and made to enter the war, the villains are the Japanese.
They are portrayed with slanted eyes and big grins (of course, the must have been laughing at us through the whole war).
Anyway, instead of fighting crazy scientists and extra-terrestrials, the Mand of Steel is faced with the yellow horde, smiling and attacking at will.
We know who will get the better of this.
One issue that would have to be dealt with, considering the world of these cartoons.
If the U.S. had a weapon like Superman, would any force be able to attack anyone.
Our boy is straight shooter could be the ultimate defensive weapon.
Interesting..
Good Superman cartoon.
In WWII, America has developed a brand-new HUGE bomber plane.
Lois Lane and Clark Kent go to cover the story when the plane is going on its first mission.
Lois stows away on the plane before it takes off.
There are also some Japanese saboteurs on board who have every intention of flying the bomber to Tokyo.
Will Lois be able to warn Superman?
What do you think?Fast-moving, colorful cartoon.
The animation is a little jerky but much better than anything we see today.
The color and sound have been beautifully restored.
Just two problems--the lousy music score and the racism (especially in the title).
That aside this is pretty good.
Superman Versus Axis Villains.
A SUPERMAN Cartoon.When America unveils its colossal new bomber, the JAPOTEURS, an elite force of Japanese spies & saboteurs, strikes.
Stealing the behemoth, with intrepid girl reporter Lois Lane aboard, and the destination either Tokyo or destruction, it's time for Superman to get involved...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..
Ooooooo, those evil Japoteurs!.
"Japoteurs" is interesting because now, suddenly, Superman can fly.
In the earliest Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoons, he could only JUMP.
Big jumps, but certainly not flying.
But, soon he added a new ability to his repertoire and so the intro was changed and he flies about in this one in order to thwart evil Japanese espionage.The cartoon begins with an announcement that the Americans now have made a super-bomber--one that is pretty ridiculous as it's about 5 to 10 times bigger than a B-17 bomber!
But, the evil Japanese spies are lurking behind every corner and soon sneak aboard the plane.
And, Lois being a complete moron, she also sneaks aboard and is soon about to be killed for her trouble.
Of course, Superman saves her and the city is grateful...and Lois has learned absolutely nothing.This is an interesting curio, as it shows us the sort of propaganda they used in the States to bolster the war effort.
Reinforcing the notion that enemy agents are lurking behind EVERY corner, the show drives home the less than subtle message with extremely nice animation..
Superman #10.
Japoteurs (1942) ** (out of 4)The title itself should prepare you for the rather un-PC content in this WW2 era Superman episode.
This time out the Americans are building a huge plane, which is where we find Lois and Clark who are doing a story on it.
Lois ends up staying on board as it takes off and later some Japanese men take it over and threaten to drop a bomb on America.
If you've seen one of these shorts then you should know Superman must come to the rescue.
This short really isn't too entertaining but it's interesting to see as a film buff because of how Fleischer took a look at Japanese people during the times of WW2.
I'm sure many will be offended by the look and talk of the Japanese people here so it's important to keep in mind what was going on in this country at the time.
As far as the film goes, it's pretty much the same thing we've seen in the previous shorts with very little excitement..
Japoteurs is another World War II era Superman cartoon.
Despite some racism, Japoteurs is another pretty good Superman cartoon.
Clark and Lois are invited to inspect a new bomber.
A Japanese spy has stowed away in one of the bombs.
Lois, having stayed on after everyone left, informs the control tower.
The enemy spy manages to sabotage opponent by bombing it.
Clark turns into Superman and quickly manages to save Lois from being ejected before defeating spy after spy destroys instrument panel.
Supes then flies Lois to safety before going to plane's head and slowing its rough landing (just like he did in the recent Superman Returns).
All is well in the world again as Clark and Lois ride on an amusement park plane...Like I said, the pidgin English spoken by the Japanese spy borders on the offensive but worth a look for anyone interested in World War II propaganda.
Or for anyone interested in all things Superman..
Superman gets political.
"Japoteurs", which probably stands for Japanese saboteurs, is a 9-minute cartoon from 1942, the days of Woorld War II, so I am actually a bit surprised it took Dave Fleischer that long to become political with his Superman cartoons.
But this one here does and very much in your face so.
Japanese are trying to hijack a gigantic military jet and Superman has to make sure they don't and later on make sure it won't crash.
Lois is in the middle of it again as well acting as if she is some female James Bond I guess.
Looks like her stupidity knows no boundaries.
As for the action here: It is interesting in terms of the political climate back then, maybe mildly racist even, but in terms of the story, it is just not convincing I personally felt.
At least I wasn't convinced and I give it a thumbs down.