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E-mail me at gandalfdc@aol.com NEWS ARCHIVE
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WEDNESDAY 29th SUPERMAN THE MOVIE TRANSFER ISSUES??? Thanks to Jim Bowers, a reader has brought something to our attention, check this comparison:
Here's an email Jim received: Mr. Bowers I purchased Superman The Ultimate 14 Disc Collection on Tuesday and I know it was stated about the recent problems and to me their seems to be another problem but with Disc 2 Superman The Movie Expanded Cut as it looks worse then the Theatrical Cut not as crisp and looks washed out and scenes seem poppy in areas. At the opening credits their is a red hue to the right side especially when the Superman logo appears. It looks like it is not remastered and the Theatrical Cut does. At the 2hrs 15min 26second mark of the Expanded Cut just before he takes off to safe Lois it has a visible flicker when it zooms in on his face. It could be that I have a defective disc because it doesn't look as good as the first time it was released years back. Could you compare your versions of Superman The Movie Original Cut and the Expanded Cut to see if it is a problem as well and get back to me with your findings because I would like to be sure so I can return it for another set if it is just mine. Thanks. What do you guys think?
WARNERS U.K. WILL ADDRESS THE STM DVD Warners U.K. publicity has told me that they plan to make available the rectified discs for Superman The Movie at some point. Once I know the actual procedure, I'll let you all know here. The studio are to be commended for their swift action. Ryan chimed in with his experience with Warner Bros. customer service in the U.S.A.: Ok after calling and calling and calling, I was
able to get through, but I was on hold for a long time. After talking
to a guy for 15 min (due to the fact he couldn't hear me, other people
were talking in the background) I gave him all my info. Eventually the rectified discs will make their way into the boxsets and to stores at some point and they'll have different SKU numbers so you can differentiate but it will take some time. My advice is to buy the discs now and call Warners for the correct discs.
TUESDAY 28th WARNERS WILL ADDRESS THE DVD PROBLEMS Warners have put their hand up, somewhere along the line mistakes were made. Here is the official blurb: Statement from Warner Home Video, November 27,
2006 I have absolutely no idea how international customers will be treated. As soon as I know, I'll let you know. I don't know about the regions, but I'll check on that. Superman III replacements are expected to be fulfilled soon but Superman The Movie disc ONE will take longer because it has to be re-authored. Anyway, call that number if this applies to you.
TUESDAY 28th HARRISON ELLENSHAW TALKS S4 DELETED SCENES Harrison Ellenshaw [and if you don't know who he is then check out the interviews here] sent us a note on the deleted scenes It's been years since Isaw that [Superman 4 deleted
scenes] wonder where the guy got it? It's obviously workprint [seeing
all those quickdissolves indicated by grease pencil] with a goofyadded
music track -- that makes it seem even worse! SUNDAY 26th ILYA SALKIND IS 'Produtora Executiva' IN BRAZIL Fernando from Brazil: The Brazilian Box (region 4) which came in a can and contains the following items has a little mistake on their covers. In Superman I, II and III, where they inform about the commentary of Mr. Ilya Salkind, it is infomed as being a "female" Executive Producer. In portuguese we write "Produtor Executivo" for male and "Produtora Executiva" for female. The Brazilian pack contains:
SUNDAY 26th SFX 'SARAH DOUGLAS' INTERVIEW "I mean, it was months and months later before I came back, and suddenly I had a different director. And, of course, a director that I knew a lot about having been a great Beatles fan. I knew exactly who he was. But he had a completely different approach. And that, for me, was a shock to the system. I think to my American friends it was particularly a shock, because Richard Donner definitely had a laid back Californian approach. He was probably my first experience of a Californian. He thrived on Superman. But I remember I was fascinated because he wore blue-tinted glasses and I had never met anybody who wore blue-tinted glasses. And he had a very laid back, wonderful approach to everything. He was very much, ‘This is something that we’re all in together, and we’ll sort it. And if we can’t work out how you throw the bus across the street today, we’ll do it next week.’ Whereas Richard Lester undoubtedly had a, ‘This is what you do when you come onto the set… you lift this… you throw this… and that’s it…’ approach. He had a much more technical approach which for me worked extremely well, because I work well when I’m told to do things, and this is how it’s going to be. But he had a delivery which was, um, certainly without a lot of humour, I think it would be fair to say. Whereas Dick Donner was really a laugh a minute; a lot of fun to be around.
SUNDAY 26th L.A. TIMES ON DICK'S 2 What's truly historic here is that Donner was given Warner Bros. resources and the blessing of his old foe, Ilya Salkind, to recut and reimagine a movie that was once a poisoned memory. Warner Bros. has even bundled it with the Reeve movies in a giant boxed set of "Superman" DVDs, giving Donner's revisionism more credibility. One thing they didn't give him was a paycheck. "I didn't negotiate it at the beginning of the talks to do all this, so they said it was too late once we were underway," said Donner, whose next project is slated to be "Sam & George," starring Mel Gibson. "In the old days, when there was honor, they would have taken care of me. It's ridiculous and shows a lack of class." Warner Bros. execs say they are laying out big money for the re-edit, advertising, marketing, etc. But really, the most compelling subplot in all this is that Salkind will make more money off "The Donner Cut" than the man whose name is in the title.
SATURDAY 25th SUPER BLUNDERS - SERIOUS DVD ISSUES! A number of negative issues have cropped up on the Ultimate Collection set/Reeve Collection; here's a list of them: Superman The Movie Starship Escape and Fortress of Solitude *M4A format Notice how artifical the 2001 mix sounds? It's not organically layered with the imaginary; the original mix is intrinsic with the feature. This affects all regions!
Superman III Deluxe Edition * The same transfer, and yes, the color timing is wrong in certain flying scenes. You can clearly see the wires. It embarrasses the technicians and the illusion is lost. We complained about this in 2001! Here's the original post from May 2001: Tim P, our resident f/x expert tells all: WB have done a BAD job remastering S3- In fact, they HAVE tampered with it - they have 'corrected' skies which were intentionally white washed to hide the wires- this ISN'T how the film looked in 1983- it's disgusting and physically DESTROYS the inventive skill of colour processing to hide wires- sure the process looses picture resolution because of its photo-chemical execution, but they are SUPPOSED to be white skies, NOT perfect skies - the reason the timing is off is to HIDE the wires, a technique used by the Supes crew long before digital wire removal(see the wire removal article on the special features section of this site) Somebody posted a link the other day that showed Supes at the chemical plant with visible wires- the shot had a BLUE SKY with cloud detail- THIS IS HORRENDOUS- the sky SHOULD be WHITE as it clearly appears on the 35mm prints- IT IS *SUPPOSED* to be a flawed image, it is a PHOTOCHEMICAL trick shot that DEPENDS on the ugly altering of the image. Okay, if the DVD remastering people were ordered to maintain a more grainless picture then they should have erased the wires digitally afterwards, because the bottom line is these wires have NEVER been seen before. Hopefully, corrections can be made, but as it stands, the film has visually been made a laughing stock due to PISS POOR knowledge of vintage special effects techniques. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE GUYS- Do not judge the SFX
of S3 by this ANACHRONISTIC DVD. It IS NOT representative of the 1983
film, it HAS been digitally distorted. This affects ALL regions. We expect to hear from the studio next week and keep you updated on the situation.
THURSDAY 23rd A BLOODY GOOD TOM MANKIEWICZ INTERVIEW Daniel Robert Epstein has published an excellent Tom Mankiewicz interview: Donner and the Salkinds just loathed each other. Donner had called them assholes in print. The old man, Alexander Salkind, had paid the government of Costa Rica money to make him the cultural attaché to Switzerland. This gave him a diplomatic passport which made him immune from arrest because he was wanted on lots of fraud charges. Alexander Salkind couldn’t even attend any of the openings in the United States because there was a warrant for his arrest. The FBI said, “I’m sorry, cultural attaché from Costa Rica to Switzerland doesn’t cut it with us. That’s not a diplomatic passport as far as we’re concerned.” So he couldn’t show up for any of the openings. In the meantime, another parallel story was going on. Richard Lester was owed several million dollars by the Salkinds because of his share of the profits from directing The Three and Four Musketeers. Lester sued them and he won the lawsuit except he won it against a Bahamian corporation which was a company that was broke. So he couldn’t get any money. In essence the Salkinds did two things when the first Superman opened. They fired Donner immediately because they hated him and they said to Lester “If you finish Superman II we’ll pay you the money we owe you.”
TUESDAY 21st MISC. STUFF It's been a busy few days, I've done a few radio interviews but had to turn down various national television news appearances. I had a blast talking about the films and thanking the fans. Anyway, I'll go over that on another day. Here's the Guardian newspaper piece:
The DVDs have been released in the U.K. this past Monday! I don't have the DVDs, I haven't even ordered them yet. It looks like the original audio track for Superman The Movie has not made it on the disc despite assurances from Warner Bros. Michael Thau told me that he specifically wanted the 1978 audio track on the DVD. Quite a few people have already cancelled their pre-orders! Here's more from Variety on meeting Ilya Salkind.
SUNDAY 19th SR DVD PARTY The Superman Returns DVD party took place last week. Plenty of pics and a video interview with Ilya Salkind here. There's a report at Variety here.
MONDAY 13th JAY TOWERS TALKS DONNER CUT Jason Towers is a huge Superman film fan, check out this report on FOX TV Detroit -- stay to the end cos you get to see snippets of the DGA party. Click Here.
DONNER S2 L.A. SCREENING The Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills will be screening “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut” on Saturday, November 25th. November 25 @ 7:30pm
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Thanks to Ed Peters for the heads-up.
FRIDAY 10th MEETING MICHAEL THAU I met Michael Thau on two nights, the first night was at the famous Munos and Franks on Hollywood Blvd. Call me stupid but I didn’t know I was actually walking on the famous walk of Fame for a few minutes – it was night, that’s my excuse. I expected it to be much more glitzy, how deceptive can E! News be? It’s no different than a British nightclub hotspot.
You can’t miss Michael, he’s a tall guy. A lot of things have been said about him, rabid fans have attacked his decisions on the newly re-created sound mix and, the inclusion of several deleted scenes into the narrative. I’m not a die-hard fan of the original sound mix nor am I enamoured by everything in the 5.1 mix. Hearing gears as the dome opens, the sound of glass as the Krypton implodes and the main titles metallic soft sound are examples that don’t work for me. I could never understand why they couldn’t re-create the intensity of the main titles' booms and whooshes in 5.1
We spent time in the bar talking about the sound mix, Michael wanted to make it clear that the original sound mix was done incorrectly because they were rushing to the finish without much though to the preservation of the sound generation. They couldn’t reconstruct and isolate because all they had was mono stems. What he was articulating made a lot of sense. He highlighted the dvdfile piece:
In 1978, Dolby was just beginning to become prominent and on their recording dubber they could put a 6-track head up, a 4-track head up, a 3-track head or a 1-track. The 4-track would be for the standard Dolby mix: left, center, right, surround and the Dolby system had an crossover, where anything below a certain frequency would go to a subwoofer. The 6-track would be the same except they would have two added channels of baby-boom (low frequency bass) with more volume. The 3-track would be for the mono stems: dialog, music and effects, and the single-track would be for the mono mix. But they didn't have three recorders; they only had one at the time, the same here in the U.S. as well. So they could not record simultaneous 4-track dialog, music and sound effects stems (left, center, right, and surround.) You do a whole mix, and then you do another mix. They recorded first, the 6-track mix, then the four, then the mono mix, then the mono stems. They tried to make them one after another so they would sound the same. There really isn't much of a difference in the 6-track or 4, except in volume and bass. But you weren't preserving your stereo stems at that point. So, what came off the stage was the full mix or mono stems, which is one reason why we couldn't even reconstruct anything. We only had the mono stems. With dialog it doesn't really matter that much because you normally put the dialog down in the center channel anyway. Superman was different; they actually draped it across the whole front three speakers, which really prevented us from using any of the original mix. It doesn't work that well and sounds strange. Stereo was kind of a new gadget and I think they were just playing with the new toy. Dialog is best kept in the center channel for clarity. The next day he projected the film to Dick for final approval - the print was shown at the DGA.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have my recording device with me, yeah I know, a good reporter eats with his… Unfortunate issues threw me off the rails that day.
I did record the interview on the second night.
Michael is a nice guy, confident in his views -- I’m not sure we actually became friends, perhaps not, but his generosity was commendable and his company enjoyable. He does enjoy the villains rule the world message board threads.
WEDNESDAY 8th SUPERMAN II TRDC - DVD REVIEW MAG UK The next issue hits newstands tomorrow, it features an extensive and indepth interview with Donner; James Christie goes through the entire with the director. Somebody will scan it for us...? :) I've done an interview with James Christie, watch for it soon...
MEETING WITH TOM MANKIEWICZ I met Tom on the morning of Thurs 26th Oct - me and my friend set out quite early. You know how many times I heard, "It's ten minutes away?" Ten minutes actually equals one hour in L.A. :) Tom lives up in the Hollywood hills; it's a magnificent drive - I really enjoyed the spiralling roads. His house is amazing - it reminded me of an old fashioned British stately house, very classy. He wasn't looking well at first but once he was motoring, he felt at ease and so did I. I agree with James Christie, Tom Mankiewicz is a fantastic interview, he's articulate, witty and sharp; he recalled some wonderful stories. We covered Bond and Superman, included are some new anecdotes which I don't think have ever appeared in print that I'm aware of. Donner lives around the corner, I was hoping we'd get a chance to hook up but he wasn't available. I was crushed - I really wanted to shake hands - so close yet so far.
I did get a chance to meet Ray Morton, the author of King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. He was a warm and generous guy, a very good friend. Thanks, Ray.
SATURDAY 4th ILYA SALKIND AT THE 'S2 DONNER' DGA SCREENING Ilya called, he shared some thoughts on the Donner Cut. He met and hug Dick and said a few words. He enjoyed seeing Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve living on the big screen again. There have been reports that he stormed out with an outburst, he denies he said anything, the truth is that he went for a piss during the End Credits and retook his seat for the panel. Someone did shout something but according to Ilya, it wasn't him. He wanted to say thanks to the fans for the kind words, he enjoyed the interaction at dinner with a few of you. Anyone who has photos, can you send them to me, thanks. MEETING WITH ILYA SALKIND By the time I met Ilya Salkind, it was 5pm on Thursday 26th Oct, the night before I didn't sleep much because in the next room a couple were shagging their hearts out. The continous orgasmic moans of pleasure and Earthquake-like bed shaking kept me up - The performance was followed by the Master's triumphant statement, "I'm a Stallion" and her subserviant reply, "Yes you are." Brilliant, thanks for the performance, can I get some sleep now? Anyway, it was a long day, so by the time I was at Ilya's place, I was bleary eyed. Ilya is an interesting person, I know a lot of people don't like him [based largely on the media] but I found him to be well-read, humourous and generous. We hardly talked Superman; enjoyed a beer with him and the subsequent dinner at Jerry's Deli. The waiter (struggling actor)who served us was hilarious because of over-the-top performance to attract attention - I never experienced such a virtuoso performance at dinner.
Stay tuned for interviews with Tom, Ilya and Michael before the year's end.
WEDNESDAY 1st LESTER WAS TO PRODUCE DONNER'S 2? I spoke to a source whilst in L.A. and he mentioned that there was a memo sent to production staff in 79 which clearly states that Richard Lester will produce Donner's Superman 2 [meaning that he'll finish off Donner's film and will be credited as producer only], this quote supports the memo: Richard Lester, who coordinated second-unit work on SUPERMAN (uncredited)
reportedly will take over producer’s reins on the sequel. Lester
who directed the Salkinds’ THE THREE MUSKETEERS and FOUR MUSKETEERS
two-parter would presumably also direct whatever footage remains to the
shot on SUPERMAN II although a Donner spokesman said the pic will still
be billed as “A Richard Donner Film”, and that Donner would
retain full director’s credit. I couldn't get ahold of the memo there but will be following up, so it's possible I'll get a scan of it.
S2 TRDC SCREENING AT THE DGA Tomorrow night at the DGA theatre, a packed audience will see The Donner Cut. Scheduled to attend is Margot Kidder, Tom Mankiewicz, Marc McClure, Jack O’ Halloran, Terrence Stamp, Sarah Douglas, Michael Thau and of course Richard Donner. And finally, Ilya Salkind will also attend, he and Dick have apparently made peace…again. There’s also a Q/A session after the screening. Watch out for some anonymous reports very soon. |
