Terror on the Midway

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Terror on the Midway
Terroronthemidway1.JPG
Title card from Terror on the Midway
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Story by Dan Gordon
Jay Morton
Based on
Superman
by
Produced by Max Fleischer
Starring Bud Collyer
Joan Alexander
Jack Mercer
Jackson Beck
Music by Sammy Timberg
Winston Sharples
Animation byOrestes Calpini
Jimmy Davis
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • August 28, 1942 (1942-08-28)
Running time
8 minutes (one reel)
LanguageEnglish

Terror on the Midway (1942) is the ninth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. [1] It was the final Paramount cartoon short by Fleischer Studios. The eight-minute short features Superman attempting to stop the chaos created when several circus animals escape their cages and restraints, including a giant gorilla named Gigantic. It was originally released on August 28, 1942, by Paramount Pictures. [2]

Contents

Plot

Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at a midway, Lois to cover its events. She expresses her regret that she did not have a more exciting assignment. Clark leaves for his own assignment as the show begins.

The giant gorilla "Gigantic" escapes from its cage. Terroronthemidway2.JPG
The giant gorilla "Gigantic" escapes from its cage.

Later that night, a monkey wanders from the main tent and accidentally opens the cage of a giant gorilla, Gigantic. Growling, Gigantic sends everyone into pandemonium. Circus workers attempt to tie Gigantic down with ropes but are overpowered and forced to flee. While the workers struggle to keep the animals under control, some of the elephants stampede, or rear up against their owners, knocking other cages open.

Outside the Daily Planet, Clark hears police cars. He follows them in a taxicab. Back at the circus, Lois takes pictures of Gigantic and the fleeing attendees. She notices Gigantic lumbering toward a young girl who emerged from the wrecked cart. She lifts the girl out of the ring.

Clark and the police arrive but are unable to subdue the elephants, so he changes into his Superman costume and begins returning the elephants, lions, and black panther to their cages. He hears a scream: Lois is trapped at the top of a tent pole and Gigantic is climbing towards her. Superman tries to get her to safety but Gigantic seizes him. Struggling, they fall from the pole, knocking over the ladder, which then hits a power circuit, starting a fire. When Gigantic is distracted by the burning tent pole snapping, Superman deals him a subduing blow and ties him up in a safety net. Lois slips from the falling pole, but Superman flies up and catches her. He then smothers the fire with his cape.

At the Daily Planet Lois types the story, and Clark observes she got the kind of story she wanted in the end.

Voice cast

References

  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 139. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7.
  2. Terror on the Midway (1942)