Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11640 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-04
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 151 minutes

Synopsis
Born on planet Krypton but raised in Kansas, USA, Clark Kent (as his Earth parents have named him) embarks on a voyage of self-discovery to the Arctic, where he learns the truth about his alien origins, superhuman abilities, and responsibility to preserve and protect 'truth, justice and the American Way'. As an adult, Superman (Christopher Reeve) adjusts to life in the big city, posing as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent. However, he soon discovers that whether he's flirting with hard-nosed Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) or battling super-villain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), hiding his superpowers isn't easy. The film's all-star cast includes Jackie Cooper, Marlon Brando, Ned Beatty, Glenn Ford, Terence Stamp, and Valerie Perrine, among others, all camping it up wonderfully.

Customer Reviews

Miles better than the 2006 disaster!
I had only ever seen the TV version of the original Superman movie until I bought the HD DVD. So, as you can imagine, on TV it was in hideous pan and scan and with several scenes missing. In reality, I have never seen the 'full' movie until now. And I have to admit, it's far, far superior to Bryan Singer's self-indulgent mess of Superman Returns.

It actually takes quite a while to get going, but there's so much going on that the running time certainly doesn't seem two and a half hours. Richard Donner shot it back to back with Superman II, so there's an extended opening act that establishes the plot of the sequel at the same time.

Anyone who doesn't know the story of Superman must be from another galaxy, but for those people I will give you a quick soundbite. Kal El is the orphan of the planet Krypton, which has recently blown up. He comes to Earth as a baby and lands in Smallville where he is quickly adopted by a farmer and his wife and renamed Clark Kent. His dense molecular structure and his ability to defy Earth's gravity give him advantages over humans and ultimately he becomes...SUPERMAN! But who doesn't already know that?

Clark Kent assumes an exaggerated, clumsy, meek newspaper reporter persona to distance himself from the Superman guise. Somehow everybody, including secret love Lois Lane, falls for it even though the glasses and the hair are all that is different. Hypervillain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) doesn't take well to the man of steel as he might interfere with his plans for Real Estate Domination (the modern term for World Domination). But does he really think he can win? Hypervillains never know when to be humble.

Just about everything that was terrible about Superman Returns is completely right about this one. The cinematography, the music, the editing, the pacing. I won't call the SFX fake, since it doesn't ever take you out of the film, so I'll just call them 'quaint'. For 1978 they're good and even though they are all done optically it's still better than the CGI crapfest of Singer's interpretation.

Christopher Reeve's ultimate fate does kind of upset me, so it's good to see him in his prime and being made immortal in a way. The cast of this film does have a lot of big names. Along with the huge scope and spectacle, such a large cast adds to the epic feel of it. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Margot Kidder, Terence Stamp and Glenn Ford just seem like a far more dynamic bunch of actors than Kate Bosworth and Kal Penn. Don't you think?

It's been 29 years since this film was released and people still make a big fuss over it today. In 29 years, will be still be talking about Superman Returns? Outside of ridicule, I think not.

The HD DVD features a nice 2.4:1 1080p transfer with Dolby Digital Plus sound and loads of extras.

You might believe a man can fly in HD
Superman the Movie has been released in various formats, but most recently it has been available on DVD in standard and extended formats. The HD-DVD follows the recent release of the 'special edition' Superman, giving you the extended cut (all 8 minutes) and a wealth of bonus features.

Unfortunately it doesn't add any more HD special features to the mix, but this can be forgiven once you see the many features already on offer which cover pretty much every aspect of the making of this inspirational film.

The quality of the picture has been greatly improved from the original DVD releases, which were washed out and grainy. It still won't match up to modern HD releases, of course, but it's pretty clear and the colours are perfect. A lot of work has gone into the picture and it shows.

As HDDVDs get cheaper it's worth picking up classic films like this. The Blu-ray release is pretty much a match for this one and if you have an HD-DVD player already it makes sense to pick up what is arguably one of the greatest super-hero movies of all time.

5 stars for the movie
The picture here is VERY grainy - in HD grain is ever more visible. I have seen older material in HD looking MUCH better. Standard DVD from 2001 had many more Special features than this edition. Let's hope that some future release will be made from 70mm source which will justify HD treatment. This is not an ultimate "Superman" viewing. I tried to be moderate in my review, out of the enormous respect for the movie and it's director.