DVD REVIEW BY website consultant, Ahem.

Lois Lane receives an envelope from her newly made friend. In one close up insert the viewer is treated to the contents of the written message.

"Hold that shot for the Eight year old" notes director Richard Donner, on the accompanying commentary track of Warner Brothers Superman Special Edition DVD. It is this comment from the director that summarises the attention span reality of today's enormous mass-market, consumer audience, and particularly decides the style and content of an antiquated, Twenty year old movie's re-release.

PICTURE

The most ambitious cinematography EVER committed to celluloid. Aspiring cinematographers MUST respect this film like fire, and if you cannot seriously accept it as a landmark piece of photography, cinematography is NOT for you so find another long-term goal. Delicate and ethereal but equally rough and natural, I have spent many hours at this site describing my feelings towards Geoffrey Unsworth's Christmas dinner of a visual feast, but after watching this print I can only say a few words: SEE IT FOR YOURSELF. Technology seems to suggest that whatever is produced in the past is primitive by 'today's standards', and that progression 'dates' and subtracts the excellence of past beauty. Well, after comparing Unsworth's Superman to Newton Sigel's TV movie X-men camerawork and clips from Don Burgess' upcoming Spiderman lighting I must confess you are NEVER going to see such attention to detail craftsmanship again. EVER. You will never see a Rembrandt in the Tate Modern, you will never see a vintage wine in a stack of Sunny Delight boxes, you will never see the crown jewels in Miss Selfridges - you will NEVER see cinematography like this EVER again.

Particularly mind blowing were those scenes shot by Alex Thomson, specifically the interior of the San Andreas fault (pre-dating his own future Alien3 work with reddish-browns and humid smoke) and the trial by ice, fire and bullets ( if only Stephen Goldblatt had seen how the ice scenes of this sequence were lensed prior to his fluorescent eye destruction on Batman & Robin).

The re-colour timing of the costume is also genius, one notoriously shoddy travelling matte shot seen as Superman flies into the clouds to meet the image of Jor-El received the best treatment here. The shot still looks pasted and rushed (as it was), but now has the added benefit of a BLUE costume, almost as though Doc Brown himself had travelled back to '78 and convinced WB to give the film an extra day of post production.

SOUND

'NEW SOUND' is often discussed as a two fold argument: old VS. new, 'improved enhancements' VS. 'the dated'. Well, let's not kid ourselves, the VHS and laserdisc transfers were certainly NOT representative of the original mix- they were tinny, stuffy and poorly transferred, light-years away from the sounds of the theatre. Additionally, Superman WAS recorded in Dolby Stereo six track but was also shown in a variety of different theatres with different capabilities, so already, there are parts of Superman we have never heard, and to call the VHS/Laserdisc sound representative is INSULTING. A few years back I met an OAP who was complaining about the 5.1 remix of the Wizard of Oz, claiming that it was only shown in mono theatrically when they were young, and therefore the new presentation destroyed the film as a historical document. I then reminded them that the film WAS recorded in 6 track (which is true) and that they were now watching not at the theatre but on DVD. After looking at it that way, they looked at me and said they were so happy to now have access to the ENTIRE film the way it was made. The film had not been 'improved and enhanced', but RESTORED.

Well, one must remember that being Superman, legalities and restrictions on availability of the original sound FX made a new sound mix compulsory for presentation reasons. Bare in mind also that most of the original sound FX recordings had been taped over as production was going along, so HOW can the sound be preserved? Most of the irreplaceable Chris Greenham sound crew of the film had all died by the early 1990s, and they had won an Oscar nomination for their outstanding Superman work.

So, do I LIKE the sound? well, I am a purist who knows the film inside out so naturally, I have to say...... YES. No seriously, YES, the sound RESTORATION would make Chris Greenham proud- Watching this film I realised for the first time how monumental and important this epic is - the Krypton scenes now play bigger than any contemporary apocalyptic blockbuster destruction scene - but unlike the shallow works of Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich, Richard Donner's Superman is an intelligent, beautiful piece of work that doesn't insult it's audience by overusing it's tools- it merely uses them to TELL A STORY. THIS is the closest you'll get to the original theatrical sound mix in my opinion- when you consider all the stuff we never heard as the film was done in 6 track and the distortion, flatness and inaccurate hissing of the VHS/Laserdisc transfers you'll appreciate that only the most rose tinted glasses would claim that Superman has ever sounded better on a home system. A lot of fans were blown away last year when hearing the main title march on the restored Rhino Superman soundtrack- some die-hard fans like myself even claiming it sounded like another film altogether- the score had not been 'improved or enhanced' but RESTORED, and this suggests allot about the DVDs restored sound. This MUST be heard on a good 5.1 set up or at the theatre. Again, not an 'Enhancement and improvement', but a RESTORATION.

COMMENTARY

Mankiewicz and Donner enjoy an insightful private party- sharing your living room with these guys makes for a very comforting evening. This is commentary at its most informal, it isn't the vastly informative Supergirl commentary but more of a 'hang out' with the guys. There is nothing here you didn't know at Superman CINEMA. Maybe a a separate audio track with GandalfDC prompting the director would have been more informative, but as it stands a very pleasing get together that is easy on the ears. Richard Donner is very much the Gordon Lightfoot of Directors who do commentary.

DOCUMENTARIES

Michael Thau and Jonathan Gaines have given Superman fans the most accurate reminiscing of Superman that could ever come from the Richard Donner family. This is very much the elite Donner circle of friends consisting of Tom Mankiewicz, Chris Reeve, Margot Kidder, Marc McClure, Stuart Baird, Roy Field and Gene Hackman, all of whom have remained good friends for the past Twenty odd years. Unlike so many shallow, less objective informers of today, Thau and Gaines have chosen to RESPECT the legalities as opposed to manipulate truth to favour a certain party. One particularly delicate moment handled with a poignant innocence is that of Donner's firing. Instead of kicking team Salkind to the ground in a fury of truth distortion, Thau gives us a tasteful pull-back shot of an empty directors chair with the name 'RICHARD DONNER' written across it. Thau shows us that the innocent storyteller was overwhelmed by the legal pressures that can so easily destroy ones passion for art, and in turn this communicates just how honest and ego-free Donner was and still is. The Salkind's extravagant producing style is represented most respectfully, reminding us how ambitious the team was and the fact that all of their producing faults were entirely legal based. Tom Mankiewicz reminds us that as far as artistic creativity went, the Salkinds would be open to ANY artistic decision and NEVER imposed their own style or values across the film. In a world today of Bruckheimer dictatorship and all last words going to the self obsessed and artistically tasteless producers, the Salkinds by comparison were too good to be true on a creative level, and Thau's documentaries celebrate this. Perhaps the greatest revelation of the entire documentary section is how Michael Thau is every bit as competent a director as both of his mentors Donner and Stuart Baird are. Of course, my only complaint is that these documentaries, as sterling as they are, are only a minor piece of the Superman movie jigsaw.

There is more to Superman than just Dick Donner. Nevertheless, this is the finest, most honest Donner Superman perspective likely to be seen on film (minus the legalities).

The final documentary showcases the special effects tests in an anticlimactic, unsatisfying final piece. It's wonderful to see the original FX test shots, but as soon as Marc McClure informs us that a miniature shot in the helicopter crash was produced using matte paintings it is enough to leave the die-hard Superman fans insulted. Worst of all is Roy Field's stilted cue-card prompted narration. Still, it is nice to see Mill Film (The ILM of the Superman movies) receive a credit for their contribution to all three of the documentaries, and when one considers the deadline/economic factors of filming the SFX documentary in England one can give credit to Thau's team for attempting and at least delivering something novel.

SUMMARY

The complaints:

No mention of Hips, GandalfDC or Superman CINEMA, the REAL Supermen who revived the fan-base and campaigned for years.

No theatrical re-release - inexcusable. Warner Bother sank this film's re-release (San Antonio?), and it is now a well documented part of the Superman movie history.

WAY to underplayed - this is SUPERMAN, a tale of galactic proportions and Warner Brothers treat it like............. well, as Warner Bothers would.

The good points:

Everything else. Michael Thau and Jonathan Gaines have given us a most satisfying piece of Richard Donner DVD - well done. Someone like Scott Bosco was definitely needed to show this as a part of the Superman movie history (as he did with the jaw-dropping Supergirl DVD) but what we have hear IS Donner's unpretentious feelings towards the only Superhero franchise that matters.