196. Superman; movie review

 

SUPERMAN

Cert PG

143 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild threat, violence, sex references, language

The original Superman was re-released again this year, five years after its last outing.

I haven't changed my view of the grandaddy of superhero movies since then, so here is the reprise of my review.

'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 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 Reeve's title character is. 

It is interesting to see how much more he has in common with today's Ant-man than the dreary 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 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 grandaddy of superhero movies

Reasons to avoid: Looks a little stilted nowadays

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of the character, had an idea for Superman while still attending high school in 1933. This concept involved a bald character who set out to dominate the globe.

The final word. Margot Kidder: "It’s so much simpler than the later films. I think there was a cynical decision on the part of the studios, which are now owned by multi-national conglomerates just like everything else on the planet. So they would make these artistic decisions by non-artists—guys would want to hit the millennial demographic because they literally make up about one-quarter of the population." Vanity Fair

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