Secret Agent (1943) is the last of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Famous Studios, the cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on July 30, 1943.[1] This is the only short in which Lois Lane doesn't appear, although a female federal agent who looks identical to Lois (just with blonde hair) appears, and is also voiced by Joan Alexander.
| Secret Agent | |
|---|---|
 Title card from Secret Agent. | |
| Directed by | Seymour Kneitel |
| Story by | Carl Meyer |
| Based on | |
| Produced by | Sam Buchwald Dan Gordon Seymour Kneitel Isadore Sparber |
| Starring | Bud Collyer Joan Alexander Julian Noa Jackson Beck Jack Mercer |
| Music by | Sammy Timberg |
| Animation by | Otto Feuer Steve Muffati |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 8 minutes (one reel) |
| Language | English |
Plot
editClark Kent is driving in town and stops at a drug store to talk to his chief about his assignment. Outside, there is a car chase by a group of men that are trying to gun down another car. The gunmen's car crashes into the drug store and they steal Clark's car. Clark dashes to catch up to the gangsters and grabs onto the rear of his car. The two cars pass by a police car who tries to chase them down. The gangsters try to shoot at the police, but Clark grabs the gangster's gun and throws it away. The gangsters use another gun to blow out their victim's tires. The gangsters speed off with Clark on their rear bumper.
The agent steps out of her damaged car and tells the policemen that she needs to see the police chief. She explains to him that she needs to take records to Washington, D.C., on the gang, who were just trying to gun her down. For six months, she tricked them into thinking that she was a part of them and got records of members' names and their plans.
Clark is captured and learns that these gangsters are trying to get the records back from the agent, so they plan to stop her at the bridge to the airport.
She gets a police escort to the airport, but it is attacked by the gangsters. During the gunfight, the policeman that was driving for the agent steps out of his car to shoot back at the gangsters. The agent drives through the fighting to the airport. Another group of saboteurs positioned at a bridge get to the controls of the bridge. They turn the bridge to block the agent, but she keeps on driving until she realizes that the road is not connected to the bridge and jumps out of the car. The car drives off the bridge and crashes into an electrical tower. The agent tries to reverse the bridge by getting to the bridge controls but is nearly shot by one of the gangsters. She reverses the bridge's turning, but the electric tower begins to fall and smashes into the bridge control room. She falls onto the bridge's turning mechanism and is knocked out while the massive gear in the turning mechanism slowly creeps toward her unconscious body.
The gangster on the bridge telephones his superior and tells him that the agent is trapped on the bridge and he is about to be overrun by cops but is cut off as the police open fire on him. The gangster's boss locks Clark in another room and leaves with his henchmen to get the agent's records. Clark breaks his bindings, changes into Superman, and jumps onto the cable of the elevator the gangsters were taking, pulls their elevator up, and ties off the elevator cable with the gangsters above the top floor to keep them from getting to the agent. Superman flies to the bridge and saves the agent. He picks her up, flies her to Washington, D.C., and flies away, with a salute to the flag.
Voice cast
edit- Bud Collyer as Clark Kent/Superman, Nazi Saboteurs
- Joan Alexander as Secret Agent
- Jackson Beck as the Narrator, Police Chief, Nazi Saboteurs
- Julian Noa as Perry White, Police Officer, Nazi Saboteurs
- Jack Mercer as Nazi Saboteurs
References
edit- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 139. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.