369. Superman; movie review

SUPERMAN
Cert PG
141 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild violence, threat, sex references

'This looks a bit daft!", exclaimed Mrs W after bursting in two-thirds of the way through me gorging on the original Superman movie.
I tried to explain to her that the darkness which nowadays envelops DC comics' superheroes was a relatively new phenomenon.
Indeed, Superman didn't raze whole cities to the ground in his battles against evil when he initially became a cinema icon - he actually put them together.
I digress. Superman is being shown this week and that gave me an excuse to catch up with Kal-el (Christopher Reeve), Jor-el (Marlon Brando), Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) and Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman).
If that isn't enough stars for there are also bit parts for the likes of Trevor Howard, Glenn Ford, Harry Andrews and Susannah York during Richard Donner's classic.
"Classic?", I hear some of you query.

Yes, I think so. Superman's special effects may look trashy by comparison to those seen in every movie nowadays but they have to be put into the context of the time.
And this was the film which sparked the avalanche of superhero movies we see at the cinema nowadays.
It's been a while since I watched Superman so I had not remembered just how tongue-in-cheek Christopher Reeve's title character is.
It is interesting to see how much more he has in common with today's Ant-man than the drearey Superman of 2018.
Nowadays, it is impossible to conceive of anyone other than Reeve playing the original Superman but the part was offered to almost every day star of the day and 200 auditions were held before the studio alighted upon him.
Indeed, such was the desperation to find the right fit that the producer's wife's dentist was given a screen test.
Anyway, Reeve was the man and the rest is superhero history.
I shall not go into the plot - you all know it - but what I had forgotten was that the newspaper editor of the Daily Planet was Perry White.
I like to think it had a subliminal effect on my career ambitions!

Reasons to watch: The movie which began the superhero avalanche
Reasons to avoid: Its special effects don't pass the test of time

Laughs: A few chuckles
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Director quote - Richard Donner: "Marlon Brando said: “Why don't I play this like a bagel?” He said, “How do we know what the people on Krypton looked like? Maybe they looked like bagels up there?” I said, “Jeez, Marlon, it's 1939. There isn't a kid in the world that doesn't know what Jor-El looks like, and he looks like Marlon Brando.” And he looked at me and smiled (and said), “I talk too much, don't I?” "

The big question - What state would cinema be in nowadays without superhero movies?

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