My First Movie
I got the Superman Ultimate Collector’s Edition and I just finished viewing the first installment, “Superman, The Movie”.
When it comes to Childhood/Nostalgic pieces like “Superman, The Movie” (which by the way is the very first movie that I ever saw as a child), you sorta set yourself up for a let down. But this film still works.
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Did you get the Richard Donner Director’s Cut for Superman 2? I hear it’s a completely different movie.
Yeah… I finished the “Donner Cut” of Superman II.
Very different…
There was one continuity error in Donner Cut of the film that was very odd.
In this scene that was cut back into the film, you can clearly see that Clark’s Glasses were 2 different rim styles.
The “Donner Cut” was kinda rough around the edges Visually. It could have used a little more polish. Hey… if Lucas can do it for the Original Trilogy, why can’t Donner do it to Superman II.
The story line IMHO was not as good as Original Theatrical. Everybody else say the opposite.
I guess you can say, I’m partial to “Lester”, the original Theatrical Cut.
I don’t plan on watching Superman III & IV. Those were Complete Crap, especially IV.
Also I’m changing my e-mail signature to,
“Kneel Before Zod!!!”
=D
Just finished the “Lester Theatrical Cut” and I definitely like Richard Lester’s version better.
Also…
Can I just say, John Williams is the MAN!!!
Keep in mind that Donner wasn’t even allowed to film all the scenes he intended for Superman II. So, the Donner cut is rough because they were working with an incomplete film. Even with the Donner cut being rough, it treated Superman with much more respect than Lester’s version (no slapstick comedy). I think Lester was just getting warmed up on Superman II with his slapstick humor and he reached his full height of slapstick crap in Superman III, because that film was all his.
Donner’s cut was much more epic than Lester’s. Taking Jor-El out of Superman II was such a mistake. A major part of the story was the relationship between Jor-El and Kal-El. And with Donner’s cut, seeing how Jor-El made yet another sacrifice for his son definitely left an impact on me when I watched it. Also, the scene where Superman left Lois on her balcony in the end was so heart-wrenching. Margot Kidder’s tears were genuine because even she was caught up in the emotions.
Wow, that definitely sounds deeper than the Superman 2 I remember where the Evil Kryptonians were using their super breath and a guy on rollerskates was being blown back, another guy had his toupee blown off, and a guy in a phonebooth is knocked over (yet still continues to talk).
I have to agree with you, Arnold, the story is better but as a whole I like Lester’s final version, Slapstick and all. Maybe if they held off releasing the Donner Cut for another year or two to work on polishing it off. Then I may like the Donner cut better.
In the Special Features Donner was in Editing and he mention that he wanted to clean up the Special effects. But, I think it was Mankowitz (I’d have to watch it again) who said that they did not have the recourses to do what Donner wanted.
I guess we can expect a “Superman II, Donner Cut Special Edition” 5 or 10 years from now.
WARNING!!!
SPOILER AHEAD!!!
IMHO, you can only turn back time once before it starts getting “Play Out”. =D
Also… what was up with Lois wearing that Superman T-shirt. Yuck!!! Completely unflattering. =P
Man, I’m really curious about this now. I’ll have to borrow these DVDs from you when we’re in town next week, Bernard.
Okay, if you want to make an argument along the special effects lines rather than story quality, Donner’s version is still better. Just compare the scenes where the villains are released from the Phantom Zone by the nuclear explosion. In Lester’s version, it’s obvious cartoonish animation, whereas in Donner’s version, the special effects are believable.
Also, the aerial fight sequences in Donner’s version are more realistic. In Lester’s version, when Superman flies toward and kicks one of the villains, it looks so slow that it couldn’t possbily do any damage. Whereas in Donner’s version, the punches look hard and the receiver flying backwards, spiraling out of control definitely looks more realistic.
Even in the scene where Superman is spinning around the Zod ragdoll before hurling it into the Coke sign is more believable in Donner’s cut. Donner had the good judgement of zooming up at Superman so the ragdoll was not visible while he was spinning it around.
Before the Donner Cut, all I knew was the Original Theatrical Release. I’m just saying… I’m coming at it from a Childhood/Nostalgic point of view.
Come on now… you can’t tell me that when you first saw Superman II “AS A KID”, that you probably thought it was the “Best Movie Ever”, I sure did.
As for comparing the two visually? The Donner Cut had a few “Fill in The Gap” sequences that were terrible.
WARNING!!!
SPOILER AHEAD!!!
The leveling of the Washington Monument by Zod and his cohorts.
Superman turning back time at the end. (Like I said before, it gets played after doing it once)
Okay… Going back to the story.
The “Outing of Kent”.
Donner did it with a gun loaded with blanks. For some reason I can’t see Lois carrying around a gun. I like Lester’s version where Kent trips into a fireplace. Donner’s version felt like “Ah Ha… I Gotcha!!! You are Superman”. While in Lester’s version, you “Felt” the exact moment when Lois finally falls in love with Superman.
I’ll concede that when I watched the theatrical version as a kid, I DID think it was the best movie ever. But if I were to see the Donner version as a kid, I would have thought THAT was the best movie ever.
And actually, I much prefer the leveling of the Washington Monument to them magically changing the faces on Mount Rushmore. THAT was not believable. The Washington Monument scene showed how scary they were. The Mount Rushmore scene was actually comical.
The turning back time scene was intended only to be at the end of the second movie, but the producers made Donner put it at the end of the first movie. And they fired him before he could film a new ending for the second movie. So, that’s not Donner’s fault. And personally, I don’t mind it because of the way it was filmed. It had an eerie feel to it in the second movie.
If Donner were actually allowed to film the outing of Kent scene, it would have been much better. But all they had to work with was the screen test. As for Lester’s version of Kent tripping into the fireplace, THAT was unbelievable. Kent would never make a stupid mistake like that. He acts bumbly to get out of situations of being outted, not to out himself.
Okay this topic is getting close to rolling off the front page of MCOJ. We can argue untill we are both Red, Yellow & Blue in the Face. So let’s just agree to disagree.
Both versions had their Merits and there is room in this world for two Superman II. =D
We started the Donner Cut of Superman 2 late last night. So far, I like it.
I like how Lois started suspecting that Kent was Superman at the very beginning of the film. She makes a good point about how simple details like that shouldn’t get past hard-boiled investigative reporters. The special effects do seem better in the Donner Cut.
We’ll try and finish the movie next week.
Oh, real quick… I liked how they showed Clark running at super speed in the beginning.
I think that was the only time it was ever done in the movies like that.