Superman - Series 1 Ep. 7 - Secret Agent

Exceptional Superman installment

06 December 2008

"Secret Agent" was the 17th and final Superman cartoon produced by Paramount Pictures. Made in 1943, it came at the end of a run that started with nine cartoons produced by the Fleischer brothers who left Paramount in 1942. In contrast with the other Superman cartoons, this one is essentially a straight-ahead action-crime thriller with less of an emphasis on Superman and more on a group of spies and saboteurs trying to stop a gorgeous blonde (an undercover Fed) from getting her list of names to Washington DC. There are high-speed car chases, shootouts with the police, and a climax on a moving bridge platform. Other than a relatively brief display of Superman's powers, there are no science fiction elements. It all takes place at night in richly detailed urban settings. It's an astounding, breathtaking work and indicates a possible direction American animation could have taken.

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