Superman: The Movie – Academy Award winners Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman head an all-star cast in the fantastic, action-packed film that made Christopher Reeve an international star playing the greatest superhero of all time. From the doomed planet of Krypton, two parents launch a spaceship carrying their infant son to earth. Here he grows up to become Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet. But with powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary men, he battles for truth and justice as Superman.
Superman II – Unwittingly released from Phantom Zone imprisonment, three superpowered Planet Krypton criminals Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O’Halloran) plan to enslave Earth – just when Superman (Christopher Reeve) decides to show a more romantic side to Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). Gene Hackman also returns as Lex Luthor in this sequel that features a top supporting cast, witty Richard Lester direction, and visuals that astound and delight.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut – 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. In 2006, Donner’s original unique vision was released for the first time. Jor-El (Marlon Brando in footage cut from the theatrical version) appears in key scenes that amplify Superman lore and deepen the relationship between father and son. Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) plots more schemes to unmask Clark Kent as Superman (Christopher Reeve). With so many changes, large and small, including a different beginning and resolution, this version is an eye-opening alternate experience.
Superman III – Meet Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor), a naive computer-programming natural. For him, a keyboard is a weapon – and, as a result, Superman faces the microelectronic menace of his life. Christopher Reeve reprises his signature role, deepening his character’s human side as Clark Kent sees Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole) at a Smallville High class reunion. And when the Man of Steel becomes his own worst enemy after exposure to Kryptonite, Reeve pulls off both roles with dazzling skill. Relive Superman III with all its heart, heroism and high-flying humor.
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace – Christopher Reeve not only dons the title hero’s cape for the fourth time but also helped develop the movie’s provocative theme: nuclear disarmament. To make the world safe for nuclear arms merchants, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) creates a new being to challenge the Man of Steel: the radiation-charged Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). The two foes clash in an explosive extravaganza that sees Superman save the Statue of Liberty, plug the volcanic eruption of Mount Etna and rebuild the demolished Great Wall of China.
For thoughts on the Superman 1978 – 1987 5-Film Collection, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
Video Quality
The four films in the Christopher Reeve era of Superman make up this new deluxe collection, including both the theatrical cut and the Donner Cut of Superman II, for a grand total of five films. There is a singular 4K UHD disc for each of these films, including a dedicated one for each cut of Superman 2 with the older Blu-Rays for each film provided for special features purposes.
Superman: The Movie was previously released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray while the remaining films have not been given a new master in some time. This brings us to our first of numerous knocks against this set. That original 4K UHD release was a slight disappointment in terms of quality; the release was a bit rough around the edges compared to what we have come to expect from the format, but far from a disaster. When this set was first rumored to be coming out, there were reports that Warner Bros. had remastered the first film in the past few years, and fans were finally going to be getting that fresh master in this epic new collection. Fast-forward to the present, and now we have almost the exact same disc included here that was released in 2018 (actually worse – see the Audio section). Why this new master was not used here we will probably never know, but it feels like a missed opportunity, even if the first disc is pleasant enough.
The remainder of the films debuting on 4K UHD are where we start to see a bit of the magic of the format. Almost as if a cruel twist of fate, the best looking discs of the set are Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, two films that many fans probably want to treat as coasters. Whatever argument you might have to their narrative quality, we always want the best technical presentation from every film, and these largely look pretty incredible. Superman II is right up there with them, but it does trail them slightly in a few areas. One of the benefits of the set using the 2018 transfer of Superman: The Movie is that it recycles the Dolby Vision encode, whereas the new remaining movies only employ HDR10 as their HDR of choice. Warner Bros. has been very erratic in terms of when they provide Dolby Vision for their discs, and we wish it would become a standard practice across all discs. In an effort to not duplicate descriptions, I will largely attempt to group the films together while pointing out noticeable differences.
These films thankfully preserve their filmic quality for all the movies in the set with natural grain that yields a stunning amount of detail. The previous dated Blu-Ray releases had very chunky grain that became a bit of an eyesore, but this new presentation keeps things very refined. Detailed textures come through in all of the expected places such as costumes and the production design. Skin tones mostly look natural, but Superman II seems to struggle a bit with warm skin tones. Compression is not a significant issue here as the encode appears to hold firm.
The roughest moments of any of these presentations are the special effects and optical shots, but the blending of the footage is admirable without being touched up unnaturally. These effects are part of the charm of the original films. This even applies to the “worst” presentation out of this set, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Calling this transfer the worst feels almost disingenuous as it is made up of so much footage that was never intended to be a part of the finished film. The fact that we ever got this cut in the first place was a minor miracle, and for that you had to appreciate its flaws. That being said, there is an actual improvement to The Donner Cut compared to the Blu-Ray, as much of the material does in fact blend in a bit more seamlessly and with a bit more nuance than we have previously seen.
The HDR provides colors that really look wonderful on screen with a palpable vibrancy. There are slight shifts in color timing that seem slightly off in Superman II, but for the most part these transfers are fairly consistent. Black levels are improved on this format, but there are still moments where fine detail gets eaten up a bit in some sequences. Highlights hold pretty tight without showing signs of blooming. There is a very brief error near the end of The Donner Cut where a shot is oddly squeezed, but none of the other titles seem to be impacted. Overall, the core masters allow these films to look the best they ever have, but the process of putting those on the discs lessened some of their amazing qualities. Not quite the care the classic series deserves, but far from a complete disaster on the video side.
Audio Quality
The audio portion of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray set offers up a list of issues that should make Warner Bros. implement a replacement program if they want to do right by the fans. The most egregious error of this set comes in the Dolby Atmos track for Superman IV, in which the track uses an alternate take for the opening theme which sounds poor compared to the original track. How no one noticed this insane screw up is incomprehensible. There is also some noticeable distortion in the music during two brief moments in the Atmos track for Superman II, which should not be happening with a newly created immersive audio experience.
Another knock against this set is not actually an error per se, but more of a baffling production decision. The original 4K UHD Blu-Ray of Superman: The Movie included a 70mm Dolby Digital 5.1 track that most fans appreciated as a robust and pleasant theatrical audio option that was preferred to the Dolby Atmos track. As mentioned in the Video Quality section, Warner Bros. did not give fans their new master for the first movie, but instead of recycling the exact same disc from 2018, they provided the disc with this 70mm track removed – for no good reason. Now fans are having to flock to the secondhand market trying to find the old 2018 disc with this preferred audio track. It is like the company went out of their way to make this release worse. Superman II and Superman III also had 70mm tracks on the Blu-Ray that were not ported over to their 4K UHD counterparts. The company did try to make up for this by upgrading the 35mm audio source to a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio presentation, but even this cannot compare to the 70mm source, which also should have been given the lossless bump.
Outside of these hiccups, the new tracks are not altogether an unpleasant experience. Every film is given a new Dolby Atmos presentation along with their original theatrical audio in DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio, save for The Richard Donner Cut which features its “original” audio in Dolby Digital 2.0. Outside of the noted issues, most moments maintain a decent fidelity with a good spread that saturates the room with sound. The height channels are rarely used to carry the weight, but they do add some texture to the world. Dialogue comes through clearly, and the special effects are delineated capably. With all of its issues, it feels wrong to give this a pass. There are issues that Warner Bros. should strive to rectify, but most casual audiences should find these to be a satisfying listen.
Special Features
Superman: The Movie
- Audio Commentary: Executive Producer Ilya Salkind and Producer Pierre Spengler provide commentary tracks recorded separately and edited together in which they discuss their pride in the movie, the genesis of the production, their sometimes strained relationship with director Richard Donner, the nuts and bolts of the production, the film’s legacy and more.
- The Making of Superman: The Movie: A 52-minute archival documentary featuring interviews with the cast and creative team in which they discuss the creation of this epic film along with some wonderful behind-the-scenes footage.
- Superman and The Mole-Men: A 58-minute feature film from 1951 starring George Reeves as Clark Kent, Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane and Jeff Corey as Luke Benson. This film would lead to the 1952 series The Adventures of Superman also starring George Reeves. This is presented in standard definition with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
- Cartoons
- Super-Rabbit: An eight-minute Merrie Melodies cartoon is provided here starring Bugs Bunny as a take on the caped hero. This is presented in standard definition.
- Snafuperman: A five-minute black-and-white Private Snafu cartoon is provided here in standard definition. These shorts were originally shown only to American soldiers.
- Stupor Duck: A seven-minute Looney Tunes short is provided here in standard definition which gives Daffy Duck a chance at playing the hero. This is presented in standard definition.
- TV Spots & Trailers: This disc provides a TV Spot (0:31), a Teaser Trailer (1:14) and the Theatrical Trailer (2:40).
Superman II
- Audio Commentary: Executive Producer Ilya Salkind and Producer Pierre Spengler provide commentary tracks recorded separately and edited together in which they discuss the troubled nature of the production, the differences between what Donner wanted and what Richard Lester created, the editing of the film, the release and its aftermath, and much more. While the track is somewhat defensive, it is a very interesting listen for fans.
- The Making Of Superman II: A 52-minute archival documentary featuring interviews with the cast and creative team in which they discuss the creation of this epic film along with some wonderful behind-the-scenes footage.
- Superman’s Souffle Deleted Scene: A 40-second unused scene of Superman doing a little creative cooking.
- First Flight – The Fleischer Superman Series: A 13-minute archival piece which examines the classic animated series with interviews from Fleischer relatives, animation historians, modern animators and more. There are some really great insights into why this series is such an enduring piece of art.
- The Fleischer Studios Superman: Nine Max Fleishcher’s Superman cartoons are provided here in standard definition. The complete run was just released on Blu-Ray, which you can read about here.
- Theatrical Trailer: The two-and-a-half minute trailer is provided here.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
- Introduction by Richard Donner: A two-minute introduction from Donner, who discusses this mammoth process of restoring this film to as close as what he intended as possible.
- Audio Commentary: Director Richard Donner and creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz delivers a great commentary track in which they reflect on the production of this film, the process of restoring it to this preferred cut, analysis of the plot and production and much more that is well worth a listen.
- Superman II – Restoring The Vision: A nearly 14-minute featurette which details the efforts to restore this cut and the challenges faced along the way.
- Deleted Scenes: Six unused scenes totaling nine minutes are provided here which were wisely eliminated from the film.
- Famous Studios Superman Cartoons: Eight more cartoons are provided which complete the run included on the new Max Fleishcher’s Superman disc.
Superman III
- Audio Commentary: Executive Producer Ilya Salkind and Producer Pierre Spengler provide commentary tracks recorded separately and edited together in which they discuss the mixed reaction to the film, the casting of Richard Pryor, the reduction in the presence of Margot Kidder, the new villains, Clark’s dark side and more.
- The Making Of Superman III: A 49-minute archival documentary featuring interviews with the cast and creative team in which they discuss the creation of this film along with some wonderful behind-the-scenes footage.
- Deleted Scenes: Eleven scenes of unused material totaling 20 minutes are provided here.
- Theatrical Trailer: The three-minute trailer is provided here.
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace
- Audio Commentary: Screenwriter Mark Rosenthal provides a very thorough excavation of the film including the thematic intention, the direction of Sidney J. Furie, the character motivations, the film’s budget, dealing with the film’s new producers and more. This is the type of commentary you want for a failed film, as the participant is not trying to convince you that there is nothing wrong with the feature.
- Superman 50th Anniversary Special: A 48-minute special hosted by Dana Carvey which explores the legacy of Superman on screen from George Reeves to Max Fleischer to Christopher Reeve.
- Deleted Scenes: Fifteen unused scenes totaling 31 minutes are provided here.
- Theatrical Trailer: The minute-and-a-half trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
The Superman 1978 – 1987 5-Film Collection is a difficult release to contextualize. The first two films are some of the best superhero films one could ask for, but there are several minor issues that keep them from being perfect releases. The final two films are an acquired taste – if we are being generous – but they are closer to being standout releases despite some small issues of their own. This new release from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment features a generally good A/V presentation with room for improvement. The set drops a whole disc of special features that was included in previous box sets, which is just another strike against the release. If you are a less discerning viewer, you might have a blast with this release. Yet, this does not feel like the same Warner Bros. of yore which took more care in their releases.
Superman 1978 – 1987 5-Film Collection is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.