Looks like the Donner cut of Superman II may have jumped through its legal hurdles!!! (1 Viewer)

[Jon Hertzberg]

If true, it is quite sad, considering that this a man behind two of the best films of the sixties in Petulia and A Hard Day's Night. And, amongst his other films, are gems including Robin and Marian, The Knack, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and, yes, the Musketeers films.

 

[Dharmesh C]

In the unofficial Lester bio, the writer cites all the positive reviews for 2 and 3; all the negative ones for 1.

Lester was bricking himself, he had no idea how to tackle Superman 2 when he first viewed what Donner shot.

 

[Sean Richardson]

For whatever it's worth, the IMDb said this in a story today about the new 'Superman':

"Meanwhile, Warner Bros. on Thursday dismissed as simply "a Web-based rumor" reports that director Bryan Singer plans to use footage that the late Marlon Brando shot for Superman II, but which was never included in the film."

Obviously, grain-of-salt the IMDb, but, assuming they actually said that, there are probably other, more detailed stories out there somewhere about it.

Glad this three page thread wasn't started for nothing!

 

[Bill Williams]

While we would all love to see a completely finished all-Donner version of "Superman II" for DVD, again we've got to come back to the unfortunate reality that only about 70-75 percent of the film was finished. To be realistic, unless the only Lester footage that was cribbed was the essential battle footage in the last third of the film, the best we may have to settle for is a version akin to Kino Video's version of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", with all the footage restored as best as possible according to the script, accompanied by text cards, storyboards, and still photographs of those scenes that remain incomplete. The only other alternative would be to issue the Salkind international cut in an official format - and I don't see that happening (and I'm a long-time Superman fan at that).

 

[Nick Graham]

Well, IMDB also posted Chud.com's April Fools Day "news" of Ryan Phillipe playing Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake as legitimate news a week later, so......

With any movie site on the web, you've got to take things with a horseblock of salt, but this story originated from two sites that have a solid track record.

 

[AlexCosmo]

I might be wrong, but last time I watched II, it seemed like the niagra falls exterior is the only complete Lester scene that would need to be used in a full-on "Donner-ish" cut? The Idaho scenes would be mostly replaced by new effects shots of world destruction, as someone mentioned earlier, and the final battle would be re-done with new effects and only certain necessary shots of the four actors cannnibalized and re-edited. It would be expensive obviously, this is just in theory, but this would reduce Lester to one more second-unit director, wouldn't it? Or was there more?

 

[Josh Simpson]

What a mess. This would definitely take very careful editing and a dvd much like Star Trek: The Motion Picture to get it as close to Donner's vision as possible.

 

[Kain_C]

Why don't they just make a movie on this whole fiasco instead?

 

[Doug Graham]

Why are you people all whining about Superman II? Good grief, it's a lost cause. The movie is unsalvageable. Seriously, there are better things to worry about, such as the 45 MINUTES OF UNSEEN FOOTAGE FROM SUPERMAN IV. I've been waiting to see Furie's original cut for YEARS now, and frankly I'm sick of waiting. It's time for Warner to get their act together.

PLEASE sign my petition linked in my signature!

 

[Josh Simpson]

Doug,


What can I say? I'm a Superman junkie. I think with some work, this movie could be brillant. I just signed the petition, and I'd be first in line to buy a director's cut of this movie!

 

[Robert Anthony]

I can't tell if doug is being facetious or not.

 

[TonyD]

doug, what is the difference from what you are want with IV to what others want with II.

i petition is a good thought but will it really do anything?

i have to side with robert.
but it is nearly impossible to convey being sarcastic or facetious without tone of voice.

 

[Doug Graham]

Facetious? Sir, that's insulting. While you guys sit around pontificating about something that will never happen, potential cinematic gold awaits in the vaults of Warners. I'm tired of cutrate releases of Superman IV. I get so tired of defending the movie. I see potential greatness in it. Is that so wrong?

Fine, don't sign my petition if you don't want to, but please don't question my sincerity.

 

[Chip_HT]

I think you're the only one.

Any potential greatness I saw in IV got lost at the script stage.

 

[WillG]

Seriously, I wonder why, at the least they have not made an E! True Hollywood Story about "Superman" It would be way more interesting than most of the THS out there and with the recent deaths of Brando and Reeve and a new Superman film in production, you would think that this would be a perfect time to do it. I would love to see a full blown documentary on the story (as saddening as it would be)

 

[Bill Williams]

Doug, the demand is out there from many Superman fans around the world to see a new SE of "Superman II" with all of the lost Richard Donner footage restored and presented for the first time in an official capacity. The primary indicator of that is the popularity of the Salkind international cut, which remains the one source for much of the Donner footage that was included for television release and is a fan favorite to this day.

Warner Bros. execs have expressed their interest in such a project, and this came from a top-level exec last year. It's now a matter of getting everyone to agree on the project, most importantly Ilya Salkind, Pueblo Film Licensing (who is the current legal receivor of anything Salkind-connected), Mr. Donner, Richard Lester, all of the surviving actors and contributors, the Brando estate, and the Reeve family. Most everyone is willing to participate in the project, and I have it on good word that the Reeve family would most certainly give their blessings to the project. Obviously, it's a race against time before we lose anyone else and before all of the footage is lost forever.

Whether the project results in a new Donner-completed version of II, a cut similar to Kino Video's recent assembled version of "Metropolis" (complete with new music, new intertitle cards and photographs or storyboards replacing scenes that were not filmed or were not located), a cut similar to the Salkind international cut, something similar to the upcoming SE of "Titanic" (with the Donner footage presented in a branching featurette format), or simply a separate section of deleted/alternate scenes, that remains to be decided.

Obviously, the leading decision to have a fully completed all-Donner version of II, much in the aforementioned style of the DVD version of "Star Trek: TMP", is the one most cited by fans. And it could certainly be done, with CGI and new footage completed for the film. This is where brilliant people like Mike Matessino (who oversaw the restoration to the Rhino "Superman" CD release - has it been five years already since it came out?), David C. Fein (who worked with Robert Wise and Mike on the ST:TMP DVD), and Michael Thau and Jonathan Gaines (who led the work on the "Superman" SE DVD project) come in. However, finding a replacement to complete the necessary scenes Christopher Reeve would have been involved in (I'm thinking the main battle sequence is the one key sequence he would have had to complete - hey DC, clarification, good buddy!) would be necessary and a difficult task - perhaps Brandon Routh would be willing to do some work for it, if Bryan Singer allowed him to.

Don't be quick to dismiss the demand for a new version of II just yet. It's not a lost cause, not in the eyes of many who view it as one step closer to reality.

As for a fully completed SE of "Superman IV", I for one would love to see it occur, but at the same time I'm not holding my breath on the project. Again, it would take time, effort, participation from all parties (most importantly Sidney Furie, Golan and Globus, and the WB), and restorationists to complete and/or clean up the visual FX for the film. It would also take the location and restoration of Alexander Courage's full music score - and there's 105 minutes of music that he did. And it would also require the location of the missing footage. Unfortunately, it's been reported that the 42 minutes of film was destroyed just after the sneak preview screening. Whether the footage was cut and then stored in a film vault, that's not been verified. Again, it would take a lot of demand to the WB to get the project off the ground.

Let's take it one project at a time and see what happens. The success of a new SE of "Superman II" could lead to a new SE of "Superman IV", if properly handled right and if sales on the DVD go really well.

 

[Damin J Toell]

A hint as to Doug's intentions, from his petition:

"It's an insult to one of the greatest directors of our time. We're talking about the director of Iron Eagle!"

DJ

 

[TonyD]

 

[Doug Graham]

So I guess the jig is up! I was kinda wondering how long it would take someone to click on the link to my blog. I'm sorry guys, I just couldn't help it. But it's not like I didn't leave any clues. I asked for a Lowry restoration and Mark Pillow commentary for cryin' out loud! Just imagine how insightful a Nuclear Man commentary would be. I wonder if they would have Hackman dub the commentary too?

 

[PhilipG]

Hey, lay off Furie, pal. He's one of my favourite directors (seriously), if only for his work on The Ipcress File.