We've been discussing
Superman's appearances
outside the pages of the
Superman comic book titles
and the men who brought
Superman to life. In that
previous article, the Man of
Steel's appearances in
newspapers, radio, and on
live-action television were
covered. After that, we
covered Superman's
adventures in animation.
This time around, I'm going
to explore his appearances
in motion pictures.
Probably in no medium other
than comic books has
Superman had a bigger impact
than in motion pictures.
Which is surprising since
those appearances have been
so limited. Perhaps it is
our society's preoccupation
with the motion picture
industry as a whole.
Depicting a story on the
movie screen, no matter how
intimate the story was, has
always had a
bigger-than-life aspect.
For most people, Superman
was limited to a printed
page of only a few inches
tall. Appearing in the
movies, Superman was
suddenly several feet tall.
And when combined with a
bigger-than-life character
like Superman, the effect
was spectacular. Of course,
by today's standards, some
of those early outings may
seem crude, but that didn't
stop people from marveling
at this character and his
amazing abilities as they
were portrayed on the twenty
foot tall silver screen.
With each outing, he became
more amazing and that
cemented Superman's legacy
as one of the greatest
fictional characters of all
time.
"Superman!" (Animated
Film Shorts)
Technically, the first time
Superman appeared in motion
pictures was in the
previously mentioned
animated film shorts from
the Fleischer Studios which
began in 1941. At that
time, going to the movies
differed from the way it is
today. Back then, a night
at the movies would include
three to four short animated
films (cartoons), a
sing-a-long Merry Melody
(where the audience was
expected to sing along with
the bouncing ball), a news
reel with the international
news of the day, then the
main film would show and
then, after the film, the
previews for upcoming films
would show (which is the
reason they are called
"trailers" today). In
total, an evening at the
movies would last up to
three hours. The Fleischer
Studios film shorts were
included in these. Since
I've already covered those
shorts, I won't say anything
more about those.
"Superman Movie Serials"
"Serials" were short,
live-action films which were
produced in successive
chapters. Each chapter
would end with the main
character in some dire
situation, or
"cliff-hanger", to be
concluded the following
week. Normally, characters
from radio, comic books, and
pulp magazines were the
heroes. Everyone from
cowboys like Roy Rogers to
the Green Hornet appeared in
these. And since they dealt
with such characters, the
appeal was primarily to
children. As a precursor to
television, serials were
shown on Saturdays.
Superman
appeared in the serials in
the 1948 Columbia Pictures
series "Superman", starring
Broadway actor Kirk Alyn.
In keeping with the
tradition started on radio,
Alyn was only credited as
Clark Kent, Superman was not
credited. In the first
adventure, "Superman" told
the origin of Superman in
fifteen twenty minute
chapters. Superman's powers
were mainly limited to feats
of strength and flight
(shown in animation similar
to the Fleischer cartoons).
Stage actress Noel Neill
played Lois Lane. It became
one of the most successful
serials of all time. The
next serial adventure,
"Atom-Man vs. Superman" came
out in 1950. With a bigger
budget and better special
effects, the serial proved
to be better than it's
predecessor. This time out,
Lex Luthor appeared as the
main antagonist. Played by
veteran actor Lyle Talbot,
Luthor was a mad scientific
genius bent on world
domination. Talbot recalled
their direction was to
"never kid it...play it for
real". The second serial
was an even greater success.
During
the end of production of the
second serial, Alyn was
approached to portray
Superman in a television
series they were planning.
Alyn recalled, though, that
the way it was packaged, the
offer didn't seem to be that
great. With television in
it's infancy, the producers
weren't certain whether
Superman on television would
catch on and, as a result,
how much they could pay
him. Alyn passed on the
deal and went back to New
York where he enjoyed
moderate success in
commercials and on Broadway.
Superman came back into
Alyn's life years later in
the form of the 1978
Superman motion picture (see
below). Alyn was offered
the role of Lois Lane's
father and appeared in the
scene where a teen-aged
Clark races a train back to
his family farm. Extended
versions of the film have
this memorable scene.
"Superman and the Mole
Men"
With
the uncertainty of a
television series about
Superman and lead actor Kirk
Alyn leaving the role,
producers sought a way to
introduce Superman in the
new media of television (as
well as a new actor). They
finally came up with a way.
Casting George Reeves as
Superman, "Superman and the
Mole Men" was shot on the
back-lots of Culver City, CA
in 1951 in twelve days. The
film was released
theatrically and was an
immediate success. Reeves'
Superman was a hailed as a
new Superman for a new era.
The film was then split in
to three successive parts
and made into the pilot
episodes for the new
television series.
The story first delved into
the origins of Superman
again and then led into a
story of tolerance for a
subterranean society
attempting to live in peace
with those who live
aboveground. With
Superman's intervention, the
Mole Men became accepted by
those who interrupted their
lives. Reeves was lauded
for his stoic version of
Superman and even more so
for his version of Clark
Kent.
"Superman: The Movie"
"You will believe a man can fly."
That was the tagline for the
first of four big-budget,
major motion pictures about
the Man of Steel. The year
was 1978 and the film world
was abuzz about a film
called "Star Wars" which had
come out a year earlier.
The time was right for films
about heroes and villains.
Warner Brothers, DC Comics
parent company, already had
such a film in production.
Alexander and Ilya Salkind
had hired Richard Donner to
direct it and Mario Puzo to
write it. Hollywood legends
Marlon Brando and Gene
Hackman were already
confirmed. All that
remained was finding their
Superman. There were
countless screen tests with
both well-known and unknown
actors yet Superman was no
where to be found. Then,
Christopher Reeve walked
in. Their search was over.
A relative unknown, Reeve's
background on the stage was
extensive, but his only
appearance on screen was a
bit role in the film "Grey
Lady Down". However,
Reeve's ability to bring the
nobility and honor to the
role, as well as his ability
to play Clark and Superman
and
make
it look like two different
people, had convinced them
this was their Superman.
Filming was guided by one
idea: to stay true to the
source material and not
parody it. For "Superman"
to work, it had to be
believable. Beyond the
state-of-the-art special
effects, the audience had to
believe that Superman was
real. And with this, Donner
and his team hit a home
run. With the genius of
composer John Williams'
spectacular score,
"Superman: The Movie" proved
to be the standard by which
all super-hero movies would
be judged. Even today, with
hits like "Batman", "X-Men",
and "Spider-Man" making
millions, Donner's Superman
is still considered by many
the ultimate of comic
book-based cinema.
"Superman II"
Originally,
Richard Donner had planned
to shoot Superman as two
movies. In fact, many
scenes for "Superman II"
were shot during the
shooting of the first
Superman movie. The plan
was for the first movie to
end with Superman pushing
one of the runaway missiles
into space and it would be
that which released the
Kryptonians from the Phantom
Zone instead of the bomb
from the Eiffel Tower. It
is believed that nearly
seventy percent of the
"Superman II" was already
shot before the Salkinds
dismissed Donner, to this
day, inexplicably. Many of
the principle actors had
signed on for two movies
under the impression that
Donner would be directing
and were upset by his
firing. Gene Hackman, who
had already shot all of his
scenes, refused to come back
and re-shoot those scenes.
A look-alike was used
instead. Marlon Brando,
already in litigation with
the Salkinds over the amount
he was paid, refused to
allow any of the scenes he'd
already shot to appear in
the second film. This
explains the holographic
presence of Susannah York in
the Fortress of Solitude
scenes. Even Margot Kidder,
who was featured prominently
in the second film, spoke
out against the Salkinds,
leading to her brief cameo
appearance in "Superman
III". Christopher Reeve was
also upset, but he was
contractually obligated to
appear and had no choice.
Taking over the directorial
duties was Richard Lester.
Lester had the daunting duty
to take the scenes already
shot and try to make
something out of them.
In "Superman II", Superman
faced off with three escaped
Kryptonian criminals from
the Phantom Zone. While
much of the action led to
fan appeal, critics panned
the film. Sadly, we will
never really know how
Donner's vision of Superman
would have played out, but
it's safe to say it probably
would have been far superior
to what we received.
"Superman III & IV"
The
last two films in the series
were, at their best,
comparable to a monthly
story appearing in Superman
comics. At their worst,
they were more comparable to
a parody appearing in Mad
Magazine. However, there
were a few shining points in
the two films which should
not be overlooked. First,
in "Superman III", Clark
Kent became more the main
character than Superman. We
got to explore Clark's years
in Smallville more and got a
glimpse into the
dual-identity crisis that
Clark felt for his
alter-ego, at one point,
Clark even takes on
Superman.
Another
point was Lana Lang. Since
Margot Kidder was out as
Lois, writers David and
Leslie Newman wanted to go
back and explore the Lana
character more. Lana was
played by Annette O'Toole
(who now appears as Martha
Kent in "Smallville").
Finally, we got to see
Christopher Reeve as
Superman. No matter how bad
the films may have been,
Reeve's Superman continued
to show the same integrity
and believability that we
were first introduced to in
the first film. In
"Superman IV", Reeve had
even more creative control,
agreeing to the return to
the role on the condition
that another movie, "Street
Smart" (which won Morgan
Freeman an Academy Award
nomination) be made. This
time out, Superman took on
the nuclear arms race as
well as a solar powered
villain created by Lex
Luthor (Gene Hackman). For
the most part, it was not
nearly as good as it
predecessors, but Reeve's
portrayal as Superman
remained consistent.
