JUST GET IT BOUGHT!!! (Superman (DVD))

Member Name: Flibble

Product:	Superman (DVD)
Date:	08/10/01 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's Superman!!, Superb extras, fantastic job done in sound and vision transfer

Disadvantages: none at all

Comic book to big screen crossovers have been a somewhat hit and miss affair over the years, for every X-men there’s a ‘Swamp thing’ but for me the original has never been bettered. In 1978 the world was made to believe that a man could fly, that man was Christopher Reeve and with the adaptation of ‘Superman’ the original Superhero movie was born.

This has been a DVD I have long waited a release for and I have not been disappointed. Of course most of us will have seen the Superman movies many times over the years, often staple fare for Christmas time schedules; this Richard Donner epic is truly a movie like no other. I haven’t watched this movie for a long long time now, but having revisited it on this special edition DVD I’m able to appreciate the characters and story ideas a lot more now.

All of us will be familiar with the plot premise. On the distant planet of Krypton tragedy is about to strike. The planet is doomed; Marlon Brando (playing Jor-el) and Sussanah York (as Lara) decide to send their son Kal-el to Earth before the planet is destroyed.

The young Kal-el crash lands on earth; abandoned and alone he is discovered by the Kent family. Raised as their own, it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary child, with displays of superhuman strength and speed the young Kal-El, or Clark as the Kent’s call him, spends his formative years raised on the Kent farm in SmallVille. Clark Kent is often seen as being the outsider by his peers and leads a somewhat solitary life. Working hard on the family farm he learns a great deal about right and wrong and of human values from his adoptive parents.

One day though Clarks father dies, remembering his fathers words that his is ‘put on this earth for a reason’ he leaves the rural pastures of his home town to head into the big city of Metropolis (which looks remarkably like New York) in an attempt to use his powers to hel
p mankind.

Clark gets a job working for the ‘Daily Planet’ newspaper, where he works in conjunction with Lois Lane (played by Margot Kidder). Lois is the young, keen-to- impress journalist who ends up risking her own safety in more than once occasion in an attempt to get the big story. The Clark we see here is quite different from the brooding young man who left Metropolis – a somewhat bumbling and clumsy individual who seems like a real fish out of water in the big city. As a side note I would have liked to see more of Clarks development, a minor grudge but a grudge all the same.

Not before too long though Superman himself comes into the newspapers after he starts his fight against crime. Such high profile events see him grab the attention of not only Lois but also criminal mastermind Lex Luthor (wonderfully played here by Gene Hackman). Luthor wants Superman out of the way though and sets about trying to take him out of the picture. Can Superman save Metropolis and America itself from the evil plotting of this, the greatest criminal mastermind of our time? Watch and find out!

First things first – this film is superb, no two ways about it. Essentially split over four acts, act one is set on Krypton itself where we meet Superman’s father and learn about the planets demise. The performance given by Brando (who earned $3 million dollars for effectively 30 minutes of work) is majestic, given with a style and grace – it would be easy to make a film like this somewhat hammy (like the early Batman film) but it gets itself just right – never taking itself too seriously yet never making a joke of itself either.

Act 2 sees Clark come to Earth itself and be raised by the Kent family in Smallville. Jeff East is the young actor who plays Clark in his formative years and I feel that his performance is sometimes criminally under looked. Sadly for Jeff his career never really took off after th
is role and I can’t understand why, consigned to made-for TV movies he has done little of note since this 1978 picture. Jeff shows Clark as a young man who often feels like an outsider, with no real close friends except for a girl called Lana Lang (who we would see more of in future Superman movies), he’s someone ill at ease with his peers and also his powers. His time of the farm at home helps him understand the importance of family values and hard work. The scenes with his father, particularly when his father dies are touching – the style of filming used (long lingering shots of the young Superman considering his life before leaving SmallVille) coupled with Jeff’s ability make for a credible and dynamic presence on screen that helps set the rest of the movie up.

Clark eventually leaves Smallville for the big city though and this forms act three of the movie. Following a time of understanding and teaching from his real father, Jor-el in the ‘Fortress of solitude’. The young Jeff becomes Christopher Reeve and Clark Kent becomes Superman. The rural landscapes of mid-America are replaced with the bustling and noisy city of Metropolis. This ‘new’ Clark Kent is very different from the one we first met and Reeve really gets into the part – you just can’t imagine anyone else playing the part so effectively. Gone is the outsider, we now have a ‘mild-mannered reporter’ in front of us who is in essence everything his alter-ego of Superman isn’t!

During Act 3 we also meet Lex Luthor and his henchman Otis (played by Ned Beatty) Lex is intent of wiping out Superman as part of a plot to take over America (no big ambitions here then) Hackman plays his part well with some nice comic touches and gags thrown in for good measure between Lex and the ever-bumbling Otis.

The final act sees the showdown between Luthor and Superman with some superb (for their time) special eff
ects used to great effect. A movie for young and old alike, Superman deserves a special place in anyone’s DVD collection.

But what about the DVD, billed as a ‘Special Edition’, does it live up to that name? It does, believe me, it truly does. Many ‘special editions’ now comprise of two discs, one for the film and one for the extras. Whilst this is often great for the viewer it does sometimes bump up the price of the overall package.

Superman is the exception however, rather than have two discs we have a single disc that is double-sided. Side A contains the movie, Side B the supplemental features, a nice way of keeping the price down for the buyer so well done Warner for that!

First the movie itself. When Superman was originally released the soundtrack was plain stereo, but for this DVD release it has been remixed into a 5.1 DD surround score and what an impressive job those involved have done. Never has the Superman theme sounded so wonderful. Blasting through your speakers, it sounds simply stunning. Spot effects sound neat and crisp through the rears with the dialogue coming across crystal clear from the central speaker – a pure joy to listen to.

The picture itself has also been smartened up too. Fair enough, some of the blue-screen effects look a bit dodgy, but that adds to the overall charm of the movie for me personally. Clean and sharp with no artefacts or colour bleeding at all, Supermans outfit of red and blue could easily have posed a problem for some transfers but not on this occasion. It’s easily up there with the best pictures I have seen and puts many a modern transfer to shame, 10/10 from me here too. Special mention should also go to some of the extra scenes that have been added to the movie, around eight sections in all they help to expand the movie and improve what was already an exciting script.

Filmed in 2.35 wide screen, the movie just looks and
feels different to the often pan/scan pictures you may be used to seeing on television. Watch the movie in a 4:3 ratio, then watch the DVD – you can really appreciate how the proper ratios can change the impact and feel of a movie. The long lingering shots of Clark at home shortly after his father dies are a particularly good example to use a reference for this.

We do get a couple of extras on side A of this DVD however. Firstly there is an isolated music score track from the ever-impressive John Williams (who also provided the soundtracks for such movies as JFK, the Star wars movies and Indiana Jones, a more impressive CV you’d struggle to find) The inclusion of an isolated score is wonderful – you’re effectively getting an extra CD included here really, powerful and strong, the soundtrack sets the tone throughout.

The other extra on here is a commentary from the director Richard Donner and creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz. Clearly two people who enjoy each others company; they sit and reminisce about troubles they had in trying to get certain scenes ‘just right’ as well as look at the technical requirements for making the movie. Many directors can sit and talk for hours without telling you anything, but these are two people I could listen to time and time again – a real treat.

If we flip the disc over we get our next set of Extras. These consist of three documentaries that run for nearly 90 minutes all in all. First up is ‘The Magic Behind The Cape’, here we get to look at the work done by the various special effects teams in making us belive that Superman could fly. We see the wire-work being used as well as the sets being designed and built as well as the use of models and camera-work. A very interesting documentary, but watch it after the film as it may spoil some of the magic for you!

The second documentary, entitled ‘Making Superman: Filming the Legend&
#8217; covers the production and release of the movie. Interviews with everyone involved show us how this movie became a special part of their lives. We get to hear Christopher Reeve chat about how he prepared himself for the role and some of the fun they had on set. Margot Kidder (who played Lois Lane) discusses how she hated such things as the flying scenes, as well as the tight time scale they had in getting things ready on time. Gene Hackman chips in too about how his character was developed – he really does have a strong love for this movie, that much is plain to see. The only notable absence from these documentaries is Marlon Brando – I’d be interested to find out why he didn’t contribute at all to them.

Superman was a movie that was plagued by troubles behind the scenes, with tight budgets and even tighter schedules; this makes for a fascinating watch, as those involved are often critical of the movies producers for the pressures placed upon them. Great stuff.

The penultimate documentary is for the screen tests involved in casting the right people for the various roles required. Concentrating mainly on the various actresses trying for the part of Lois Lane, it’s strange to see someone else playing ‘Lois’, but we can see why they opted for Margot Kidder to get the part. A young Christopher Reeve also makes an appearance as they only person shown to be playing Clarke. The Casting director talks us through each actors auditions and explains why they made the decisions they did.

Finally we look at the pre-production involved in the movie in ‘Taking Flight: The development of Superman’. This looks at how special effects were incorporated and also includes interviews with john Williams and how we wrote the themes we’ve all heard dozens of times. Marc McClure who starred as Jimmy Olsen presents all of these documentaries – he does the job well enough and it’
;s nice to see how young Jimmy turned out.

Other extras include slight variations on the musical score (eight all in all) as well as a short look at the deleted scenes and why they didn’t make it in the final cut of the movie.

Finally we get some trailers and TV spots for the film. It’s fun stuff seeing trailers from the ‘70’s and comparing them to the ones we get today. Also interesting to see Marlon Brando getting the top of the bill mention for the cast – Reeve comes in about third or fourth I think!

Superb menu’s throughout round off a truly super collectors edition of a super film. I think that, as Reeve and Kidder were relative unknowns it helps give their performance extra credence – ‘who are these people?’ That kind of reaction – if we watch a Arnie movie, we know he’ll always save the day, but for these actors they didn’t carry the same baggage with them.

Many might class Superman as a kids movie, go back and re-watch it again, it’s so much more than that. A fantastic buy, what more can I say?

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