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Superman: Japoteurs (1942)

Name: Japoteurs
Genre: Animation
Released: 1942
Duration: 9 min

19429 minAnimationStrong rights evidenceTV episode

Superman: Japoteurs (1942) is a 9-minute animated cartoon that airs free on Starlite TV's Laugh Track (CH 3) channel. Our rights research indicates it is in the U.S. public domain (evidence below).

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About Superman: Japoteurs (1942)

Japoteurs (1942) is the tenth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The first Superman cartoon produced by Famous Studios (the successor to Fleischer Studios), Japoteurs covers Superman's adventures stopping Japanese spies from hijacking a bomber plane and bringing it to Tokyo.

A group of Japanese spies hijack a new prototype bomber plane by taking out the nighttime guards, hiding inside empty bomb shells, and emerging to take out and replace the pilots as the plane prepares for its maiden flight. While Clark Kent and Lois Lane are taking a tour of the bomber plane for the Daily Planet, Lois stows away in a locker. When Lois emerges from her hiding place and heads to the cockpit, she notices that the Japanese spies have hijacked the plane. She calls for help on the radio, and fighter planes are sent to stop the hijackers.

Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article Japoteurs (text available under CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Airs on

Laugh Track - CH 3, Comedy TV

Rights & source

Basis: Documented as U.S. public domain (e.g. copyright not renewed / no notice)
Evidence: Listed in Wikipedia "List of animated films in the public domain in the United States" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animated_films_in_the_public_domain_in_the_United_States), which cites Film Superlist / copyright renewal records (not renewed). Character names/designs may remain trademarks; no character art used in site branding.
Credit: Content note: This cartoon contains ethnic and racial stereotypes and/or wartime propaganda that were wrong then and are wrong now. It is presented as a historical document.
Music: Film soundtrack falls with the film; separately published songs not individually cleared.
Source: Internet Archive

How we check every title: Content & Rights.

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