For many Star Wars fans, the best gift that George Lucas could give them this Christmas would be an untouched Star Wars original trilogy on DVD and HD-DVD, with all the CG imagery and tampering stripped away.

Meanwhile, a far less vociferous yet equally insistent group of fans, Superman fans to be precise, have also been lobbying for an unaltered instalment of their beloved franchise- the fantastically flawed Superman II. However, these guys aren’t calling for an issue of the theatrical release, they have been calling for a shiny disc containing a version of the movie that has NEVER been seen.

I vaguely remember a cricket once singing “If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme, when you wish upon a star as dreamers do“. Being the eternal cynic, I took that sentiment with a pinch of kryptonite, but recent news might make me adjust my stance somewhat, because Warner Home Video have decided to release a director’s cut of Superman II in the mother of all box sets due for release later this year. The intention is to celebrate the Year of Superman and coincide with the release of the new movie. This confirmation follows months of speculation going back to the tail end of last year.

Richard Donner

Father and son production team, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, fresh from theatrical success with the Musketeers movies began filming for Superman and Superman II on March 28, 1977. Although the first movie was a theatrical and critical success there had been considerable tensions on set between the Salkinds and director Richard Donner, which led to the helmers firing during the production of Superman II after only about two thirds of the project had been shot.

Richard Lester, who had overseen proceedings for The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) was brought in as his replacement. It was at precisely this point that things started to go horribly wrong :

· Lester advised the Salkinds to postpone the production to refocus efforts on prepping Superman I for its scheduled Christmas release date.

· Marlon Brando, who had made history by earning the biggest movie paycheck at the time for his role as Super Daddy Jor-El filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Salkinds. The end result was that all of the scenes featuring Brando were cut from Superman II which had the knock on effect of a huge plot hole revolving around the restoration of Superman’s powers. Susannah York was brought back to play Superman’s biological mother. Interestingly, it is these deleted scenes that will be used for the upcoming Superman Returns.

· In sympathy for the plight of Richard Donner, Gene Hackman refused to shoot any new scenes under Lester’s direction. His completed scenes were cut down and a dubious double was used for new ones.

· During the period after production was postponed and then resumed in 1979, three key figures had died: production designer John Barry, cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth and visual effects specialist Les Bowie.

· There ended up being huge continuity errors between the old and new footage. Margot Kidder’s hairstyles mysteriously change during two key sequences and Christopher Reeve himself is noticeably more muscular in the later Lester-shot footage.

This catalogue of disasters resulted in a movie that was admittedly heavily flawed, but in part saved due to the exiled Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone. The marvellously malevolent and deadpan Terence Stamp made one of cinema’s greatest, and perhaps campest villains.

With some claiming that as little as 50% of the original Richard Donner footage is present in the theatrical version, fans are in for a treat when the directors cut premiers on DVD and HD-DVD (no Blue Ray). DVD Superman SE restoration expert Michael Thau has teamed up with Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz to deliver the disc which will be part of a huge 14 disc super set which includes:

· Superman SE (1980)
· Superman II Director’s cut (1980)
· Superman III SE (1983)
· Superman IV: The Quest for Peace SE (1987)
· Supergirl (1984)

Fans are going to need deep pockets for this one, but this promises to be the definitive set for blue tights fans. One can only feel sorry for those that purchased the Complete Superman Collection last year.

Posted by Elgar in Commentary, Movies • Add to del.icio.us Add to Digg