Superman - The Movie (Four-Disc Special Edition)
by Richard Donner
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DVD details
Actor: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Marlon BrandoDirector: Richard Donner
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 143 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-28
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 75341
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- A box-office smash, an Academy Award winner* and a fan favorite since it first flew into theatres in December 1978, Superman: The Movie assembles a cast and creative contingent as only a big movie can. At its heart (just as in three sequels) is Christopher Reeve's intelligent, affectionate portrayal of a most human Man of Steel. Watching Superman again isn't just like being a kid again. It's bette
DVD Reviews of Superman - The Movie (Four-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: The four stars are for the movie, not the extras!
Summary: 4 Stars
If you already own the 2001 DVD Expanded version of Superman: The Movie, then hang onto it and save your money. The upgrade to this four-disc collection simply isn't worth it in my opinion, unless you're a die-hard Superman fan.
This is what the four-disc collection includes. On Disc 1 is the theaterical version the movie with a feature-length commentary by the producers, Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spemgler. Disc-2 has the expanded version (though techincally correct, I don't really consider an extra eight mintues to the film to be an expanded version) with a feature-length commentary by Richard Donner and Tom Mankievicz. This is also on the 2001 DVD. On Disc-3 are the three documentaries that can also be found on the 2001 DVD, each one running about thirty minutes in length--Taking Flight: The Development of Superman, Making Superman: Filming the Legend, and The Magic Behind the Cape. There's also a look at some deleted and restored scenes. Finally, on Disc-4 is a fifty-minute 1980 TV documentary on The Making of Superman: The Movie. A lot of this is already included in the three documentaries on Disc-3. There's also the fifty-minute 1951 movie, Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves and Phyllis Coats, plus nine Superman cartoons from the 1940's.
I hadn't seen Superman: The Movie since it originally came out in 1978, and I was surprised at how well it held up. I watched the expanded edition, instead of the theatrical version. I have to admit, however, that I enjoyed the first half of the film more than I did the second. The first half was much more serious in tone, while the second half was striving to be campy and joke-filled. There were also a couple of plots holes in the second half of the movie that the viewer just has to overlook. An example is that if Superman can fly fast enough to turn the earth's orbit backwards in time, why couldn't he get to Lois Lane's sinking car fast enough to save her? Anyway, because it had been so long since I'd seen the movie, I didn't really notice anything different with the expanded edition. Nothing stood out for me, which is why I don't think eight minutes amounts to much, though it is better than the minute-and-a-half that Donner added to Lethal Weapon 3 for the Director's Cut.
I did enjoy the documentaries on Disc-3. It was fun seeing just how skinny Christopher Reeve was when he auditioned for the role. Also, I didn't know that Richard Donner had been fired from Superman II, though he already had 50-to-70% of the movie in the can. He was actually doing Part I and II at the same time. It was interesting to hear how Warner Brothers didn't want anything to do with the movie at first, but then began to cought up money once they finally realized just how good the film was going to be. And, before Richard Donner was brought in to direct the film, the producers had hired Guy Hamilton to do it. Hamilton was the director of Goldfinger. It was only because the shooting location of the film was eventually changed from Italy to England that Hamilton was dropped (he hadn't paid his taxes in England) and Donner was brought on board. Hamilton had already been involved in a year of pre-production with the film, but Donner couldn't use any of it and had to start over from scratch. Donner was under a tremendous amount of pressure by everyone (for example, the producers had Richard Lester ready to step in at any moment as the director), yet he managed to get the movie made. It turned out to be one Warner Brother's biggest hits. Donner's reward was to be fired from Superman II. Hollywood!
Disc-4 didn't do that much for me. As I said, parts of the 1980 documentary had been included in the three 2001 documentaries on Disc-3. I did watch the short movie, Superman and the Mole Men, which was pretty funny. The Mole Men were played by little people with rubber bald caps on and a black jump suits. I found myself laughing out loud when Lois Lane first sees them and freezes in absolute fear. The expression on her face is priceless. Then, a mother in the near-by town sees them and screams so loud that people several blocks away can hear her as if she's standing right next to them. Man, that was one loud scream! I will say that George Reeves was a much better actor than people gave him credit for. I felt he was smart to play Clark Kent as a straight, hard-hitting reporter, rather than as a bumbling, navie innocent the way Christopher Reeve did. As far as the cartoons go, I didn't watch any of them. Wasn't interested.
If I had it to do over again, I'd pick up the 2001 DVD edition of the expanded film and save fifteen dollars. Last, but not least, for any of you interested in Superman II, there are now two versions of it out, so be careful in buying. One is the Richard Lester version, which I got by mistake, and the other is the complete Richard Donner edition. I barely made it through the Richard Lester version. Though Sarah Douglas is sexy in it as Ursa, the film just doesn't hold up for me and seems too silly.
Description of Superman - The Movie (Four-Disc Special Edition)
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