Search - The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection (Superman - The Movie/ Superman II/ Superman III/ Superman IV - The Quest for Peace) on DVD

So much to see, and so much to enjoy.

Alan Montgomery | Oberlin, Oh USA | 12/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Let me say that this edition has much going for it, and a few things that are fun - once. I will probably not watch all of the cartoons many times. They are late war years propaganda and terribly un PC today. But the point of the editions is not the cartoons or the single episode from the TV series. The point is the four movies. (See my review under Donner Cut for his edition of Superman II.)

Superman, the Movie has been cleaned up and given two times, theatrical release and expanded version. I enjoyed both, though I can see why the scenes were cut for theatrical release. I like, in the expanded version, that Noelle Neal, playing "Lois Lane"s Aunt", had lines with young Lois. Noelle Neal was the TV Lois (She also appears in Superman Returns). Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve are at their youthful best in this flick. And they are surrounded by great actors who live up to every part of their end of the script (except maybe Brando, who walks through his part with a sense of the monumental, but without much real passion). The "Making of . . ." movies are interesting to watch, too. Hackman and Beatty are a great team.

Supe II - Lester CUt - is a little too long. Some scenes of the three villains are simply there for laughs - except they aren't very funny. The sight gags during the fight between SM and the three are out of tone for the rest of the story. BUT, the kiss works at the end of the show - Donner's version does not. The making of carefully side-steps any reasons for Donner's dismissal.

Supe III - This movie tries too hard to be funny. Richard Pryor's character is a funny character - strange, quirky and off-beat. That's fine. But when the others start trying to be funny, it's really deadly. The story kind of works, and the special effects are great. The fight between SM and Clark Kent is really well done. (And one senses that some of that story line has been nipped for Spiderman III.)

Supe IV - is presented in the theatrical cut - roughly 90 minutes long. It is actually an entertaining movie, with good FX. The story line gets mildly preachy about disarmament, but at least they try to keep things moving with action and no long speeches. In the "deleted scenes" we finally get to see the 30 minutes or so of footage that was cut shortly before the movie hit theaters. Some of the scenes - the extended flying sequence for example - are really nice. Others are in character but not really needed. Others are longer versions of scenes that don't add a thing to the story and were better left out. The Nuclear Man I was a pretty silly - read: embarassing - attempt at humor where humor just did not work. But what a joy to have Hackman back. Jon Cryer as Lex's naphew was wasted. Better to have brought back Beatty. I once had a fan magazine that came out just before Supe IV opened. It gave pretty much the entire plot, so I knew about Nuclear Man I, and it indicated that Mariel Hemmingway took the part because it was interesting. With the deleted scenes at last visible, we now know why. The scenes are in an incomplete fashion - special effects are not fully finished. But why couldn't Warner Bros. take the marking pencil off the film so the image was not messed up by black crayon going across the picture. Or are they expecting an expanded series later of their own, and don't want enterprising home editors to re-edit Supe IV for home viewing.

All in all, an admirable and long awaited re-release. The last picture is the least of them, but it no longer had the Salkinds, Lester or Donner. No wonder it is less. It isn't only about the actors."

Christopher Reeve as Superman

Patrick R. Hancock | Seatac, WA | 01/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Christopher Reeve did a fantastic job in this series of movies. Obviously his legacy as an actor. He had big shoes to fill becoming the "new" Superman of the latter 20th century. How unfortunate we no longer have him in our lives and on the big screen."