Platypuschow
The Mechanical Monsters see's the return of our favourite superhero as this time he takes on a villian with a small army of giant robots he uses in his jewellery heists.Alike the others this is quaint and highly nostalgic, with action happening in time with the music, cheesy one liners and Lois Lane there simply to be saved.At 10 minutes in length there isn't much to see but it makes up for it being a nice slice of old school wartime entertainment.The Good:Highly nostalgicCharmingThe Bad:Very shortSomewhat cheesyThings I Learnt From This Short:Every good villian needs a moustacheA villians lair isn't complete without a lava poolI'm suddenly genuinely curious whether the police actually had tommy guns
Neil Welch
The Mechanical Monsters, the second Superman cartoon from the Fleischer studio, shows us quite clearly that a pattern is being followed.We see a bank which has been broken into, and what appears to be the shadow of an aircraft flying from the scene. We follow the shadow until it arrives at the secret hideout of an unnamed crook, at which point we discover that it is a robot with a aeroplane propeller at its neck. The robot - number 5 - opens a hopper in its back and deposits the proceeds of the robbery in a receptacle, at which point it joins more than 20 (going by the numbers painted on them) other robots, awaiting the next crime.The Daily Planet headlines the robbery on its front page, and also features an article about the House of Jewels exhibition. Lois and Clark attend the exhibition but, when robot 5 smashes into the building, having been unharmed by a hail of police gunfire, Lois drags Clark to "safety." Clark ducks into a phone box, where he actually makes a phone call to report the crime, but Lois sneaks back to the robbery and manages to climb into the robot's hopper. When Clark realises she is gone, he realises that "This is a job for Superman" and changes in the phone box.Flying after the robot, he uses his X-ray vision to spot Lois in her hiding place. He flies down and tries to pry the hopper open, but it isn't easy. The robot flips over, the hopper opens and the jewels fall out (although Lois manages to hang on), and Superman tumbles down and becomes entangled in power lines below.When the robot arrives at the secret base, the crook demands to know from Lois what happened to the jewels and, being unhappy with the response, he ties her to a hoist in order to lower into a vat of molten metal in the smelting works in his basement(!) (OK, so it's a cave). Superman, having extricated himself from the power cables, beats in the reinforced door but the crook powers up all the robots and sets them onto him. They are no match for him, however, and he catches Lois as she is about to fall into the molten metal, spreads his cape wide to deflect molten metal which is being poured onto them, and flies off with Lois and the crook. The flight to prison, Daily Planet front page, and knowing wink to the audience are an exact replay of the ending of the first cartoon.Some points to note: The Robots themselves are clearly the inspiration for the flying robots at the start of Sky Captain. My word, don't those policeman expend some ordnance on the utter futility of trying to damage the robot! The establishing shots at the World of Jewels are far too long. This short sees the first use of X-ray vision in a film. Superman falling and getting caught up in the power lines is, to be frank, a bit weedy of him. Superman's bounding into the crook's lair after breaking through the door is badly conceived - it appears quite effeminate. On the other hand, the rescue from molten metal is pretty good and, again, the effects animation is excellent.Overall, another very enjoyable one reeler, although it suffers from similarities with its predecessor.
Michael_Elliott
Mechanical Monsters, The (1941) *** (out of 4) Second in the Fleischer/Paramount series has another mad scientist moving into town and bringing along his giant robots. He sends these robots out to steal money and jewelry, which gets reporter Lois involved but of course she's taken hostage and Superman must save the day. I found this film to be much more entertaining than the first because, while the stories are just a like, this one here features much more action, which makes the film overall more exciting. I really liked the monsters this time out and especially the way they were drawn. I also liked most of the action sequences including the best one, which involves Superman having to use his cape to stop some burning fluids from getting on Lois. The story itself was rather weak and unoriginal but it's good enough to make this short worth watching.
Ron Oliver
A SUPERMAN Cartoon.Another mad scientist has sent his creations to terrorize Metropolis. Giant flying robots are pulling off daring bank robberies & jewel heists. When intrepid reporter Lois Lane is carried off by one of the robots, it's Superman to the rescue. But can even he stand up to the pounding he's about to receive from THE MECHANICAL MONSTERS?This was another in the series of excellent cartoons Max Fleischer produced 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.
