DVD REVIEW: SUPERMAN – ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S EDITION

As you can see, there�s a shitload of stuff to cover here, and I�m sure by the time you�re done reading it, you�ll be almost as fried as I was writing it. I�m also going to try to add fuel to the recent fire with the release of the Donner Cut of Superman II by putting it head to head in a DVD Battle with the original theatrical cut (the Lester Cut). I’ve also slapped 49 captions on this thing (I thought 50 would have abeen a bit too much).

Superman: The Movie (Four-Disc Special Edition)

The Pitch

You will believe a man can fly…and set the standard for all superhero movies to come.

The Humans

Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Valerie Perrine, Terrence Stamp, Sarah Douglas, Jack O�Halloran.

The Nutshell

The film opens with Jor-El (Brando), a scientist and member of the ruling council of the planet Krypton, presiding over the trial of three murderous Kryptonian criminals: General Zod, Non, and Ursa, who sought to sieze control of the government for themselves. Jor-El casts the deciding vote that sends the three of them to the Phantom Zone, a prison that glides through outer space, imprisoning them forever. Before he is sent off, Zod swears vengeance upon Jor-El and his entire lineage, no matter if it takes an eternity.

“Jor-El, you realize that he won’t have any diapers for three years…”

Later, Jor-El is conferring with the ruling council of Krypton, in a vain attempt to convince them that their planet is doomed and they must escape before the inevitable occurs. But unable to sway their minds, and forbidden from leaving himself or persuading others to do the same, Jor-El resolves to send his only son, Kal-El, away in a space ship to earth. He does this so that he can both have a chance to survive Krypton�s destruction and also so that he can aid humanity through a difficult period in their development. For Jor-El knows that, although Kal-El will look like a human, he will have abilities unto like a god when under the influence of their yellow sun. These abilities will consist of being nearly invulnerable with immeasurable strength, the ability to fly at unimaginable speed, highly enhanced senses, including being able to see through anything (except lead) and projecting heat from his eyes.

When Kal-El arrives on earth, he is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, two farmers in Smallville, KS, who secretly raise him as their own son, ever wary that he has been sent for a reason. Named Clark Kent, Kal-El has as normal a childhood and adolescence as possible, and he revels in his superhuman gifts on in their small town yet he is tormented by his inability to share them with anyone save his parents. When his father dies suddenly of a heart attack, this spurs a series of events that leads Clark to the North Pole, guided by a special crystal implanted in his spacecraft by Jor-El. The crystal creates the Fortress of Solitude, a monolithic crystal palace which houses the accumulated knowledge of Krypton and also Jor-El�s very essence which he uses to instruct and guide Kal-El in his destiny of serving mankind. Years pass as Jor-El takes Clark on a journey of instruction in the ways of his heritage, and his birthright as earth�s protector. When he emerges, young Clark is now the fully-grown Man of Steel (Reeve, in a once-in-a-lifetime role) in the familiar suit and goes off to fulfill his destiny.

“Whoa, you’re right: weed is better a 10,000 feet…”

He emerges in Metropolis as a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper. Hiding his identity with a pair of glasses and a bumbling demeanor that is the polar opposite of his true persona of Kal-El. He meets and instantly falls for Lois Lane (Kidder), a gung ho and doggedly intense reporter with a penchant for getting into trouble. When she becomes involved in a helicopter accident and is threatened with imminent death, Superman emerges for the first time and saves the day, stunning the world in the process. It�s Lois who gives him the moniker of Superman, and it�s not long before Superman becomes a fixture in Metropolis and all over the world, lending aid when needed and becoming the object of Lois� affections, as she is for his.

Of course, not everyone is happy with Superman�s emergence, and his most ardent opponent is Lex Luthor (Hackman), a criminal genius with a plan of enacting the biggest real estate con in history, which also involves destroying most of California with a nuclear-aided earthquake in the process. He challenges Superman to come meet him and manages to incapacitate him with the one thing on earth that can kill him: a radioactive piece of meteorite from his home planet � Kryptonite. Through the aid of Luthor�s mistress, Miss Teschmacher (Perrine), Superman manages to escape and stop Luthor�s plans, but he is unable to rescue Lois, who was caught in the aftermath of the earthquake. Making a fateful decision, one that was expressly forbidden by Jor-El, Superman turns back the earth to undo all of the damage done and save Lois in the process. Having succeeded in making the world a much safer place, Superman flies up into space and flashes his megawatt smile until his next great adventure.

The new Village People lineup was different to be sure…

The Lowdown

This is the superhero film, period. This set the standard. Even now, when we�re in the midst of a superhero movie smorgasbord, Superman still stands as the way it should be done and invariably, all superhero movies are compared to it. As a kid who used to read comics books voraciously, I�m a huge fan of the superhero movie and I�ve seen them all. But so far, none of them, even with the brilliance of both Spider-Man 2 and X2, quite measure up because usually they�re lacking one or more crucial ingredients. In the case of both of the aforementioned titles, it�s a truly great score, and in the case of the Spider-Man flicks in general, it�s chemistry between the leads.

“Yeah, you know, come to think of it, I always thought there was some kind of connection between Billy Batson and Captain Marvel…don’t know how I could have missed it before…”

I didn�t need repeat viewings to be utterly disappointed in Elfman�s music for the movie, and hell, considering how his relationship with Sam Raimi ended up, neither was he apparently. And I doubt that I�m the only one who thinks that Toby was great…but Kirsten, perhaps not so much. In Superman, although Margot Kidder may not have appeared to be the first choice for Lois Lane, she absolutely works in the role next to Reeve. Their chemistry both in verbally sparring as Lois and Clark and falling in love as Lois and Superman are superb. Brando�s performance as Jor-El needs no explanation from me as it simply makes the first act of the movie. This film was also my introduction to Hackman�s work, and although when you�re six years old, you don�t necessarily care about the actor behind the role, this film helped me along the road to be a Hackman fan.

Getting that ‘Dear John’ letter from Lois about her and Jimmy wan’t a good thing…

On Disc 2 is the 2000 expanded edition, with several added scenes. I much prefer this version over the original as there were several key scenes omitted from the theatrical version; not the least of which is an extra scene between Kal-El and Jor-El after Superman first appears to the world. Others include an expanded account of what happened on Krypton prior to the explosion and the risks that Jor-El took to send his son away. And of course one scene that was criminally cut was that of Superman�s running of Luthor�s underground gauntlet of bullets, fire and ice when he first encounters Luthor. Not only was it cool, but it also shows beyond a doubt Supes� invulnerability right before the green rock turns him into jelly. Other minor ones include more footage of Superman tunneling underneath the fault (a bit too much actually) and reaction shots from the Hollywood sign when the big one is ready to flatten California.

Of course the two things that absolutely make this film are the work of Christopher Reeve and John Williams. My thoughts on Reeve have been made clear; as for Williams, I submit that this is his most iconic score, just short of Star Wars. Only he could make three minutes of opening credits one of the most memorable parts of a film as he does here. Since we�re a media generation, I also submit that John Williams� scores are classical music for our time. I still enjoy Superman as much as I did 28 years ago and that will never change for me.

“WTF?! No lawyer?!”

The Package

Ah the package. Well there�s an interesting tale to tell about the package that arrived for me in the mail. I�ll get to that at the end of the review. In the meantime, here is what�s available on the Superman: The Movie discs:

Discs 1 contains a new commentary by executive producer Ilya Salkind and producer Pierre Spengler, and the theatrical trailers and TV spots. In addition to the expanded edition, Disc 2 contains the 2000 commentary by Donner and creative consultant (i.e. writer) Tom Mankiewicz and a real treat, the music only audio track, where you can truly enjoy Williams� brilliance all on its own.

Disc 3 is all special features that were available on the 2000 release of the film, including the two 30-minute featurettes: Taking Flight: The Development of Superman, and Making Superman: Filming the Legend. There�s also the 23-minute The Magic Under the Cape. These are all quite good features and highlight much of the behind-the-scenes action on the film.

“Are we at least going to get conjugal visits?”

There�s also a plethora of Screen Tests, which were also available on the 2000 release. These feature several actresses who tried out for Lois, including Holly Palance, Stockard Channing, Lesley Ann Warren and a couple of Margot Kidder, including the pivotal scene in the Donner Cut of her tricking Superman into revealing his identity with a gun that shoots blanks. One of Christopher Reeve�s screen tests is also included, and you can see how much he had to bulk up for the role as he was about five pounds heavier than Nicole Richie when he started. This is one of the best features as you can really see how actors have to find the role with the help of the director. Reeve wasn�t anywhere near his onscreen self early on, but by the later screen tests, you could see how he was really worked into the part. There�s also some screen tests for actresses who tried out for Ursa.

“You know Clark, I prefer sleeping with you in the Donner Cut, for obvious reasons…”

There�s also over 14 minutes of Restored Scenes, not all of which made it back into the expanded edition. Finally there are Additional Music Cues, which are audio only tracks of key musical accompaniments throughout the movie such as the main titles and various themes.

Disc 4 is probably the biggest treasure trove for hardcore, old school Superman fans because it contains not only the original TV special, The Making of Superman, but also the 1951 George Reeves movie, Superman and the Mole Men and several of the 1940s Max Fleischer cartoons: Superman, The Mechanical Monsters, Billion Dollar Limited, The Bulleteers, The Magnetic Telescope, Electric Earthquake, Volcano and Terror on the Midway. I�m sure this is all great stuff, unfortunately, I didn�t get to see any of it… That�s another part of the interesting story I mentioned earlier. More on that later.

“Okay, okay, I get it, calling the Hulk a pussy wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do…”

DVD Battle: Superman II � The Donner Cut vs. The Theatrical (Lester) Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The Combatants

As Superman and Superman II were being shot simultaneously, the skids were put on II by the Salkinds to finish I and disagreements with director Richard Donner led to his firing from II, even though he had shot close to 80% of the finished product. Enter Richard Lester to finish up the film and reap all the glory, and Donner�s uncompleted vision to languish in film vaults for nearly thirty years and spur a three-decade-long fan obsession to see that vision come to light. Well now it has and the inevitable question can finally be answered: which version is better, Donner or Lester. In DVD Battle, the rules are clear: two films enter, one film leaves. In this case, however, it�s two cuts of the same film.

“Uh General…um, your zipper sir…”