The Arctic Giant (1942)
A dinosaur frozen in Siberian ice thaws inside a Metropolis museum and rampages through the city, and Superman must stop it before it destroys a dam, a bridge, and a stadium full of people.
Released twelve years before Godzilla, The Arctic Giant puts a giant reptile loose in a modern city well ahead of the trope it now seems to anticipate, all rendered in the Fleischer Superman series’ signature Art Deco Metropolis.
Background
The Arctic Giant is a 1942 Superman short produced by Fleischer Studios and directed by Dave Fleischer, one of the animated series that brought the character to cinemas during the Second World War. Bud Collyer voiced Superman in the series, and Joan Alexander voiced Lois Lane. In this short, a dinosaur frozen in Siberian ice thaws inside a Metropolis museum and rampages through the city. The plot follows the series’ standard formula, with the hero stopping a threat that endangers a dam, a bridge and a stadium full of people. The short runs about eight minutes.
What to watch for
Pay attention to the animation of the dinosaur and the city, which gives the short its sense of scale. The Fleischer Superman shorts were known for large-scale action and for using the city as a setting, and this one follows that pattern. Superman’s rescues are staged in quick succession, and the short ends with the threat defeated. Jackson Beck’s narration gives the short its dramatic tone, a feature of the Fleischer series. The film shows how the studio adapted comic-book action to theatrical animation, with its own particular mix of spectacle and urgency.
