Superman: The Bulleteers (1942)
“A speeding bullet on wheels meets the only thing faster than itself.”
Streamed free from the Internet Archive · no signup, no cost — this film is in the public domain.
Synopsis
The Bulleteers is the fifth entry in the landmark Fleischer Studios Superman series, a run of seventeen Technicolor theatrical shorts produced for Paramount Pictures in the early 1940s. Lavishly animated and famous for their moody, rotoscoped realism and Art Deco cityscapes, these cartoons set the visual template for superhero animation for decades. In this installment a trio of helmeted thieves pilots a streamlined bullet-car that smashes through police headquarters and demands the city treasury, forcing Clark Kent to change into Superman and chase the speeding machine to its mountain lair.
Cast
About the Director
Dave Fleischer — Dave Fleischer received screen credit as director across the Superman series, presiding over a studio of gifted animators whose attention to weight, shadow, and machinery gave these shorts a startlingly cinematic feel. The Bulleteers shows off the studio's love of sleek hardware, lavishing detail on the villains' rocketing vehicle.
Why It’s Free: The Public-Domain Story
The short is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright was never renewed by the owner, so federal protection expired and the film passed into the public domain.
Behind the Scenes
Released in March 1942, The Bulleteers came from the Miami studio Max and Dave Fleischer had built after leaving New York. The Superman cartoons were among the most expensive ever made at the time, and their ambition contributed to the financial strain that led Paramount to take over the studio later that year, renaming it Famous Studios.
Did You Know?
- Bud Collyer, the voice of Superman, famously dropped his pitch when changing from Clark Kent to Superman, an audio cue audiences came to expect.
- The villains' bullet-shaped vehicle is an original creation of the cartoon and, like the short itself, is in the public domain.
- The Fleischer Superman shorts were nominated for an Academy Award, a rare honor for the genre at the time.
Reception & Legacy
The Fleischer Superman cartoons, including The Bulleteers, are widely regarded as among the finest animation of the era and a foundational influence on the superhero genre, praised for fluid movement and atmospheric design that still impresses modern viewers.
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