SUPERMAN 5-FILM COLLECTION (1978-1987)
SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (1978)
Label: WBHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 143 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, TrueHD 7.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.39:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Valerie Perrine
Based on the DC character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Richard Donner (The Goonies) directed Superman (1978) was the iconic Man of Steel's live-action film debut. In it Kal-El the last son of from the doomed planet Krypton is sent to Earth in a rocket ship by his parents Jor-El (Marlon Brando, The Godfather) and Lara (Susannah York) as the planet was imploding. His craft crashes outside of Smallville where he is found and adopted by Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford) and his wife Martha, and named Clark. They raise the sun-powered super-kid to be a honest and well-intentioned boy, keeping his super strength and phenomenal abilities a secret. After the death of his father Clark embarks on journey of self-discovery to Antarctica, eventually reemerging as an adult in the city of Metropolis, where he works as a mild-mannered reporter at the Metropolis Daily Planet - and also secretly also fights crime as caped hero Superman. We also have intrepid reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder, Black Christmas) as Cark's newshound co-worker, who also serves as a love interest for Superman, who is unaware that her co-worker the Man of Steel. Clark's arch nemesis is real-estate obsessed baddie Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman, Night Moves) who decides the best way to turn a profit in the real estate game is to hijack a nuclear missile and drop it on on a fault line - sinking California into the ocean and turning his worthless Arizona land into instantly profitable beach front properties. A truly wonderful superhero film that is hard for me to watch without being all gooey and nostalgic for, the movie came out when was five and unfortunately my parents did not take me to see it, but I did catch the TV premier a few years later and remember sitting close to the TV bathing cathode rays and being mightily awestruck by it. I still have that same awe today when I watch it, Reeves as Superman captured something magical for a lot of us. The movie still stuns after all these years, it has a sense of innocence and wonder, after all this was made at a time when superhero movies weren't jaded - this was one of the first super hero movies, don't forget that. The stuff that worked then works still now, though it is slightly dated, the miniature work is sort of laughable now, those trains and images of the dam crumbling do not hold up, but for the most part the scenes of Superman flying around still make you believe! Reeve's is the one true Clark Kent/Superman in my eyes, everyone in his wake has paled in comparison, his sense of honor, nice guy naivety and super-strength embody everything we've come to love about this character, and this movie in particular still manages to make magic that keeps me in awe.
Audio/Video: Superman: The Movie arrives on 4K Ultra HD as part of this 5-film set, having also been released back in 2018 as a standalone release. This is not that exact same disc, but it's the same 4K restoration (with a slightly higher bitrate) with lush film grain and wonderful saturated colors. It looks fantastic, but I do say temper your expectations, the flick was shot with a diffused lens that gives it a hazy/dreamy quality so it lacks a certain crispness, but this is how it is meant to be, it's baked-in. The HDR Dolby Vision colors looks phenomenal, Superman's suit is vibrant and most importantly the proper shade of blue and not that awful teal color from the Blu-ray releases. Audio is a mixed bag, we get the same Dolby Atmos/TrueHD 7.1 track which was sweetened with gimmicky sound effects and not authentic to the original theatrical presentation. That small niggle aside the Atmos sounded great, but if you're looking for something truer to the theatrical presentation I would go with the DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo theatrical mix. Now the previous 4K UHD from 2018 included a fan favorite audio option, a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that replicated the 6-track 70 mm theatrical experience, but it is not carried over here, so that's a bummer. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it's silly that it was dropped for this release.
There are no new extras here (or anywhere on this set), the 4K UHD disc only has archival Audio Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spangler, and the recycled 2011 Blu-ray features the commentary plus a wealth of other previously issues extras, my favorites being three WB Superman themed cartoons. it's also a missed opportunity not including the 188-minute Superman: The Movie - Extended Cut of the film which has been released previously on Blu-ray.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spangler
- The Making of Superman – Vintage Featurette (52 min)
- Superman and the Mole-Men – Vintage Featurette (58 min)
- Super-Rabbit – 1943 WB cartoon (8 min)
- Snafuperman – 1944 WB cartoon (5 min)
- Stupor Duck – 1956 WB cartoon (7 min)
- TV Spot (1 min)
- Teaser Trailer (3 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (31 sec)
SUPERMAN II (Theatrical Version) (1980)
Label: WBHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 127 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, TrueHD 7.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Valerie Perrine
While Superman (1978) director Richard Donner shot about 75% of a sequel he was fired by the producers and director Richard Lester (A Hard Day’s Night) was brought in to complete the sequel. The film utilizes about 30% of what Donner shot, what it was replaced with is tonally goofy and oftentimes straight-up corny. The sequel continues with a dangling thread leftover from the first film, that of the Kryptonian baddies (Ursa, Non, and General Zod) who were sentenced to an eternity in the Phantom Zone for crimes against Krypton, but they manage to escape their imprisonment when a nuclear bomb hurled into space by Superman conveniently collides with the Phantom Zone portal freeing them near Earth. Now exposed to the same yellow sun as Supes the three villains arrive on Earth (after savaging a NASA moon expedition) with plans to enslave Earth's population. Also quite conveniently Clark (Reeves) admits his secret identity to Lois Lane (Kidder) just before their arrival, and now that he has found love he goes to the Fortress of Solitude and asks his holographic-father to remove his super powers - what!?! Now without his powers superman can't defend himself from a shit-heel trucker who makes moves on Lois at a diner let alone three super-powered villains from Krypton who have teamed up with Lex Luthor (Hackman). Now I might sound like I don't like this film, and I don't love it, even as a kid I had problems with how slapstick it was, but it is still quite an entertaining watch, and I love the fight sequences between Supes and the trio of Kryptonian terrorists. Hackman and Stamp (as Zod) are aces, there's some great old school special effects, and a lot of the Donner material looks phenomenal - it's just inconsistent in look, style and tone due to the problematic nature of the production, but it's still the second best (third if you count Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut as a separate film) in the Reeves era of films.
Audio/Video: Superman II looks fantastic on 4K Ultra HD with excellent depth and clarity, organic looking grain textures, and a very pleasing HDR10 color-grading. Supe's suit is the right color blue, and other colors are vivid and bright throughout. Audio comes by way of an immersive Dolby Atmos track plus a DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo theatrical mix, which is also quite strong in it's own right.
Again, there are no new extras here, the 4K UHD only has archival Audio Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spangler, and the recycled 2011 Blu-ray features the commentary plus a wealth of other previously issued extras, including the Fleischer Studios’ Superman Vintage Cartoons (1941-1943) in SD. Note, these are not the new restored versions from the Max Fleischer's Superman (1941-1943) Blu-ray, which might be either good or bad depending on your thoughts on how those seminal toons were treated on that new release, reviewed HERE with over 100 screenshots.
Superman II (Theatrical Cut) Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler
- The Making of Superman II (1980) TV Special (52 min)
- Superman’s Soufflé – Deleted Scene (40 sec)
- First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series (13 min)
- Fleischer Studios’ Superman Vintage Cartoons (1941-1943)
- First Flight (10 min)
- The Mechanical Monster (11 min)
- Billion Dollar Limited (9 min)
- The Arctic Giant (9 min)
- The Bulleteers (8 min)
- The Magnetic Telescope (8 min)
- Electric Earthquake (9 min)
- Volcano (8 min)
- Terror on the Midway (2 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT (1980)
Label: WBHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 116 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, TrueHD 7.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Valerie Perrine
Director Richard Donner began shooting Superman II while concurrently filming Superman: The Movie, though the theatrical version of the film was ultimately directed by Richard Lester after Donner was unceremoniously let go by the producers. His vision remained unseen for nearly 30 years until 2006, when Donner’s original vision was released finally for the first time. It's an assembly cut that still has about 20% of Lester's footage in but also features tons of footage never before seen, including Marlon Brando in footage cut from the theatrical version. It thankfully excises the cornier stuff from the the theatrical version and reconstitutes footage in both the beginning and end, and even adds more to Lois's attempt to unmask Clark Kent as Superman, including a suicidal leap from the Daily Planet. I like this version more but it's not without it's faults, no new footage was shot and they did what they could with the material to stay true to the Donner footage, but they did end up keeping about 20% of Lester's theatrical cut, so there are a few holes that don't get filled and dots that don't connect, and the digital effects work look pretty bad, and Superman resorting to reversing time once again to fix things up is pretty silly. Even still, Donner's cut does recapture some of the movie magic of the first film, and excises a lot of the corny shit that bugged me about the theatrical cut. It might be more of a "What if?..." curiosity than an actual complete film but I will take it over the theatrical cut.
Audio/Video: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut looks terrific in 4K, the various sources give it a bit of unevenness with wavering in sharpness and clarity as it switches from theatrical, to the unused Donner material, and even some test footage that was never meant to be see at the cinema. Regardless the 4K presentation is a appreciable bump over the Blu-ray release with super depth, clarity and contrast. Colors enhanced by the HDR color-grading are vibrant and well-saturated throughout, the 4K resolution offer tighter grain structures and more refined detailing in the close-ups and texturing. As has been pretty widely reported there is an issue during the iconic closing shot that looks to have been squeezed a bit, which is a pretty sloppy issue for QC not to have noticed. The sole audio option is Dolby Atmos/True HD 7.1 with optional English subtitles. The track is full-bodied and decently robust the John Williams score swells quite nicely, and there are no audio issues that were not inherent to the source that I detected.
Again, there are no new extras here, the 4K UHD only has archival Audio Commentary by Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz, and the recycled 2011 Blu-ray features the commentary plus a wealth of other previously issued extras, including the Famous Studios’ Superman Vintage Cartoons (1941-1943) in SD. Note, these are not the new restored versions from the Max Fleischer's Superman (1941-1943) Blu-ray as reviewed HERE with over 100 screenshots.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz
- Introduction by Richard Donner – Featurette (2 min)
- Superman II: Restoring the Vision – featurette (13 min)
- Deleted Scenes (9 min)
- Lex and Ms. Teschmacher head north (1 min)
- Lex and Ms. Teschmacher head south (2 min)
- The villains enter the fortress (1 min)
- He’s all yours, boys (2 min)
- Clarke and Jimmy (1 min)
- Lex’s gateway (2 min)
Famous Studios Vintage Cartoons (1941-1943)
- Japoteurs (9 min)
- Showdown (8 min)
- Eleventh Hour (9 min)
- Destruction, Inc. (9 min)
- The Mummy Strikes (8 min)
- Jungle Drums (9 min)
- The Underground World (8 min)
- Secret Agent (8 min)
SUPERMAN III (1983)
Label: WBHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 126 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, True HD 7.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.39:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Margot Kidder, Jackie White, Marc McClure, Annette O’Toole , Robert Vaughn
Superman III is also directed by Richard Lester and amps up the corniness and comedy of the sequel, upping the ante by adding comedy legend Richard Pryor (Stir Crazy) as Gus Gorman, a computer-programming genius who works for Luthor-lite villainous CEO Ross Webster (Robert Vaughan, Battle Beyond the Stars) and his diabolical sister Vera (Annie Ross, Basket Case 2 & 3). While working for Webster Gus hatches a get rich scheme that involves a computer program that skims micro-cents from the company payroll system, a plot that is later recycled in the comedy Office Space. Webster catches onto the scheme, but instead of firing or pressing criminal charges he is impressed by his ability and instead uses Gus's gift for microelectronic tech savvy to help him further enrich himself; first by attempting to control the world's coffee supply (truly diabolical), but when that is foiled by Superman he turns his attentions to manufacturing an artificial oil crisis. Of course Christopher Reeve returns in his signature role of Cark Kent/Superman but Kidder as Lois is put on the backburner. The main story starting out is Clark's return to Smallville to write a puff piece about his own highschool class reunion, where he reconnects with his recently divorced highschool crush Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole, Smallville) and spends a lot of time with her and her young son, eventually saving the kid from being mutilated by a combine harvester. Webster ends up manufacturing a synthetic form of Kryptonite to kill Superman to keep him from meddling in his schemes, the alien green crystal doesn't kill him, but it does have the unintended effect of dramatically changing his personality for the worse, with Supes being becoming more and more self-absorbed and negative, he's eventually seduced by Webster's girlfriend Lorelei (Pamela Stephenson), who convinces him to waylay some oil tankers in the ocean causing an oil spill. Eventually Superman must literally split into to personas with Clark Kent facing off against the evil Superman in a junkyard. After which he battle Gus's latest creation, a self1aware super computer that can emits Kryptonite rays and turns humans into cyborg slaves! Now if that sounds like a lot, it is, this movie is all over the place and doesn't hold up all that well, though I loved it as a kid, but I am such a Pryor fan that I still not-so-secretly love it, Pryor is in fine form and had me cracking up this watch as well. Reeve's is still fantastic in the dual-role of Clark/Superman, especially when Superman turns dark, how he transforms from charming to somewhat chilling is mighty impressive and a testament to Reeves acting abilities, but it's all wrapped-up in that corny Lester comic comedy that is pretty terrible.
Audio/Video: Superman III looks great on 4K UHD, the grain is tight and details are striking, the HDR10 color-grading is also quite eye-catching, very deep saturation of the primaries and the blue, reds and yellow highlights of the suit are outstanding, and depth and clarity far surpass the previous Blu-ray editions. Audio comes by way of Dolby Atmos/TrueHD 7.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with Optional English subtitles. Dialogue and special effects sounds great, the score comes through full-bodied.
The only extra on the 4K UHD is the archival Audio Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spangler, and the remaining extras are present on the recycled 2011 Blu-ray which features the commentary plus a couple of other previously issued extras.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler
- The Making of Superman III (1983) TV Special (49 min)
- Deleted Scenes (19 min)
- Save my baby
- To the rescue
- Making up
- Going to see the boss
- Hatching the plan
- The con
- Rooftop ski
- Boss wants this to go
- Superman honored
- Gus’ speech
- Hanging up on Brad
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)
Label: WBHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.39:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Sydney J. Furie
Cast: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Jon Cryer, Sam Wanamaker, Mark Pillow
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace was last of the Christopher Reeves era Superman movies, this time directed by Sydney J. Furie (The Ipcress File) and produced by, wait for it... Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan - that's right, Cannon Films got ahold of the Superman rights - and it's just as weird and bad (and cheap) as you might imagine! The third film was no great shakes, and I wouldn't say that this entry is worse, but it's not better either, but it is great to have Hackman back as Lex Luthor. This round Superman is down for some worldwide nuclear disarmament, with Supes sending the world's nukes into the sun in an effort to create a world peace. Of course the diabolical Lex Luthor (Hackman), who has just escaped prison yet again with the help of his dipshit 80's doofus of a nephew Lenny (John Cryer, Dudes), sees this as an opportunity to make tons of money, teaming-up with a coalition arms dealers to send a strand of pilfered Superman hair into the sun to somehow create the radiation-charged Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). The two sun-powered foes clash several times with some fun if silly set-pieces that revolve around the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall of China, with Supes being clawed by NM's claws, giving him radiation poisoning. The budget is obviously much lower this time around, and you can tell right from the opening credits, these looks terrible, but they do the favor of broadcasting just what you're in store for with this turd, I mean third sequel. The main cast really makes a go for it, but like the turd it is, it's hard to polish, this crap.
Audio/Video: Superman III: The Quest For Peace looks remarkably strong on 4K Ultra HD, the image is crisp and detail rich, the colors really pop thanks to the HDR color-grading, it's really a vibrant presentation with excellent contrast and deep black levels. Audio comes by way of Dolby Atmos/TrueHD 7.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with Optional English subtitles. Dialogue and special effects sounds great, the score comes rather buoyantly. As a sidenote, I am aware of there being complaints that there are alternate music cues being used on this and the previous Blu-ray that were different than the theatrical version, and while I am aware I am not familiar enough with the film to have noticed, so that's that.
As With the other films on this set the only extra on the 4K UHD is the archival Audio Commentary by Mark Rosenthal, and the remaining extras are present on the recycled 2011 Blu-ray which features the commentary plus a couple of other previously issued extras, including 31-minute of deleted scenes. Apparently the test screening for this film was so famously bad that the studio scrambled to excise 45-minutes of it's run time, and to this day there are still about 15-minutes of deleted scenes that have never been unearthed. Now would I want to see a 2+ hour version of this? Heck yes, I love taking and watching long craps, if they ever unearth it and slap together a longer cut I will be all over it.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Mark Rosenthal
- Superman 50th Anniversary Special (1988) TV Special (48 min)
- Deleted Scenes (31 min)
- Clark’s morning
- Jeremy’s letter
- Superman’s visit
- Nuclear Man’s prototype
- Metropolis after hours
- Lex ponders
- Flying sequence (extended scene)
- Battle in Smallville
- Battle in the U.S.S.R.
- Nuclear arms race
- Superman’s sickness
- Red alert
- By my side
- Lark and Lacy say goodbye
- No borders
- Theatrical Trailer (1 min)
It's worth noting that if you own the previous Superman: The Motion Picture Anthology Blu-ray set you might want to hang onto it for film and bonus features not ported over here. What we don't get is the Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, including a bonus disc of Superman Returns-centric extras, but we also don't get the eight disc from that set that included the following Christopher Reeves era extras:
- Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman (111 min)
- You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman (90 min)
- The Mythology of Superman (20 min)
- The Heart of a Hero: A Tribute to Christopher Reeve (18 min)
- The Adventures of Superpup (22 min)
The 5-film set arrives in a sideloading slipbox that's pretty flimsy all things considered, but I do like the artwork of Reeve's Superman standing inside the Fortress of Solitude. Inside the five films are housed in individual keepcases with single-sided sleeves of artwork featuring Reeves Superman. I would have preferred some original theatrical artwork - like the LE Steelbooks - but they look fine, just not Super. Inside the first film there's a code for a digital copy of the 5-film set. If redeemed on Vudu there are no extras, when redeemed via Movies Anywhere there are select extras, but not many, and unfortunately not the Max Fleischer's Superman animated episodes. So, this is not a comprehensive set, it is however the best the five films here have ever looked or sounded on home video. Obviously if I had my druthers I would have rather had all the TV cuts and extended editions, and every extra ever included from all previous releases, but it's not what we got. I would not call this a botched release by any means, the A/V presentations are gorgeous (with some minor issues that should have been caught during the QC process), and the extras are plentiful, it's just not the most complete set, but it is the best-looking edition of these films and worth owning if you're a fan.
