Superman: The Magnetic Telescope (1942)
“One scientist reached for the stars, and the sky came crashing down.”
Streamed free from the Internet Archive · no signup, no cost — this film is in the public domain.
Synopsis
The Magnetic Telescope is one of the seventeen Technicolor Superman theatrical shorts produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures. A scientist uses an enormous magnetic apparatus to pull comets close for study, but when authorities cut the power the captured comet breaks loose and a barrage of flaming meteors hurtles toward the city. With buildings ablaze and crowds in peril, Superman intercepts the falling fire and races to restart and then destroy the runaway machine, in a short that showcases the series' fascination with science gone dangerously wrong.
Cast
About the Director
Dave Fleischer — Under Dave Fleischer's direction, the studio's animators turned The Magnetic Telescope into a showcase of light and motion, rendering glowing comets and sheets of falling fire with the painterly effects work the Fleischers were known for. The result is one of the more visually dramatic entries in the series.
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, so its federal copyright protection expired and the film is freely in the public domain.
Behind the Scenes
Released in April 1942, The Magnetic Telescope continued the Superman series' run of mad-science premises, pitting the hero against the unintended consequences of human invention rather than a conventional villain. It remains one of the most widely circulated of the shorts in its long online afterlife.
Did You Know?
- The short's plot turns on a scientist's experiment going wrong rather than a criminal scheme, a recurring theme across the Fleischer Superman cartoons.
- Voice actor Bud Collyer later reprised Superman for radio and television, becoming the definitive early voice of the character.
- The Fleischer Superman shorts were among the first animated films to treat a comic-book superhero with big-budget, dramatic seriousness.
Reception & Legacy
The Magnetic Telescope is praised alongside its companion shorts for striking visual effects and tight pacing, and the Fleischer Superman series as a whole is routinely ranked among the most influential and beautifully crafted animation of its time.
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