UHD Review Superman: The Movie UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

Glad you are enjoying the album. Mike Matessino deserves most of the credit, but I was happy to be a part of this, my favorite film score. Have you seen the video I shot when we got to examine the tapes?



The 41st anniversary of the start of the scoring sessions is tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/nsbulk/status/1015264109363789824

Neil

I hadn’t seen that video - thank you for sharing, awesome stuff!

It may very well be my favorite film score as well. Certainly these last few listens have made a great case for it.

When I made The Adventures of Terrific Man back during my high school years, I cheated and grabbed tracks off this album to score the film (it was supposed to be a superhero spoof in the vein of Airplane), using Lex and Otis' theme mostly.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Superman has never been my favorite superhero and I haven’t seen this movie since the dvd was released 20 years ago so I picked up the 4K during an Amazon sale. I’m still lukewarm on the movie itself, but the Atmos track is very well done. Even though my setup is only 5.1, the Atmos track sounded more immersive than the standard 5.1 DD mix.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I’m going to have to pick this up- I only have the first 2 films on DVD, not BluRay.

 

[John Dirk]

Superman has never been my favorite superhero

Sacrilege!

 

[TonyD]

I have the digital copy and sampled it on iTunes.

The beginning on Kryton looks pretty rough especially the whiteish silvery outfits on the Kryptonians.
lots of electronic looking mosquito noise or something
Very distracting.

After that I thought it started to look gorgeous.

The shots In Kansas of the field as the camera rises and gives us that over head full shot of the sky and the field brought a tear to my eyes.

Hopefully I’ll get to watch the rest of it soon.

Also waiting for a decent price drop on the disc so I can listen to that original audio effects track.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Also waiting for a decent price drop on the disc so I can listen to that original audio effects track.

That track is the only way I can enjoy the movie. I hope you can get it soon.

 

[TonyD]

I think this was discussed in another topic.
I’m pretty sure the Spanish language track on the digital has it but there’s a voice over saying all the names during the opening credits.

 

[moviebuff75]

Did they fix the error from the theatrical version blu ray.....
When Luthor is luring Superman to his lair, Superman flies down to the street. As he is flying down, on the old blu-ray, he disappears a few frames before the shot cuts to the scene of him landing on the street. All other versions have the matte in place until the cut.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Did they fix the error from the theatrical version blu ray.....
When Luthor is luring Superman to his lair, Superman flies down to the street. As he is flying down, on the old blu-ray, he disappears a few frames before the shot cuts to the scene of him landing on the street. All other versions have the matte in place until the cut.

There's a black spot where he's supposed to be before he lands in the UHD.

 

[Johnny Angell]

@Todd Erwin Is the Donner/Mankiwitcz only on the extended edition? Acccording to My Movies (my cataloging app) my blu has that commentary.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

@Todd Erwin Is the Donner/Mankiwitcz only on the extended edition? Acccording to My Movies (my cataloging app) my blu has that commentary.

It’s on the 150ish minute cut of the film that was initially released on DVD in 2000, and then on Blu. The theatrical cut has a Salkind commentary. The 180ish minute TV cut has no commentary. The tricky thing is that at various points, Warner has called the version with the Donner commentary both the “extended edition” and the “special edition” and has also called the long TV cut the “extended edition”.

 

[moviebuff75]

Are we supposed to see the black spot (matte) that represents him, or is it supposed to blend in with the street? On the theatrical version, they erased the last few frames and it looks like he disappears. But if we aren't supposed to see that matte anyway, it won't matter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It’s on the 150ish minute cut of the film that was initially released on DVD in 2000, and then on Blu. The theatrical cut has a Salkind commentary. The 180ish minute TV cut has no commentary. The tricky thing is that at various points, Warner has called the version with the Donner commentary both the “extended edition” and the “special edition” and has also called the long TV cut the “extended edition”.

Yes, three cuts of this movie currently circulating:

1. The theatrical cut: Used as the basis for the UHD release, with audio commentary by Pierre Spengler and Ilya Salkind
2. The "Special Edition": Reedited by Richard Donner and Michael Thau in 2000. A new audio mix with completely new sound effects because they couldn't track down the isolated stems for the original sound effects. Some color correction and minor enhancements to some of the more problematic visual effects. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray but not UHD -- presumably because the work wasn't completed at a high enough resolution to hold up in 4K
3. The "Extended Edition": The longest cut of the film, at 188 minutes, created as part of a scheme by the Salkinds to extract as much revenue as possible from the TV rights. An IP master of this cut was discovered in Warner Bros's archives; the Warner Archive release was made from this interpositive. The audio is mostly in mono because television broadcasts at the time it was created (1980-81) were all in mono.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Exactly.

Unfortunately, prior to the Warner Archive release of the TV cut which they released as the “extended edition,” the Donner cut version now called the “special edition” had been released multiple times under the name “extended edition” - so there is some unnecessary confusion about which is which because of that inconsistent branding.

 

[moviebuff75]

I think his matte is supposed to blend in with the street. Perhaps the theatrical and Donner cuts were too light.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Exactly.

Unfortunately, prior to the Warner Archive release of the TV cut which they released as the “extended edition,” the Donner cut version now called the “special edition” had been released multiple times under the name “extended edition” - so there is some unnecessary confusion about which is which because of that inconsistent branding.

On the Blu-ray box the 2001 version is referred to as the "Special Edition Donner Cut"

 

[moviebuff75]

Also, did WB ever fix Chris Reeve's opening credit on the UHD? A few times, it flashes to orange. That should really be corrected.

 

[moviebuff75]

Here is the screenshot of the theatrical cut blu-ray. It looks like DNR (maybe even intentionally) has erased Superman/Matte from the end of the shot. But I am wondering if it could have even been seen theatrically due to the shot being a grainy dupe, or it was intended to blend in to the street and be unseen. Or are we supposed to see it until the end of the shot?

 

[Nick*Z]

I bought the deluxe 'complete film' collection from the UK on Blu-ray several years before the UHD and have to say that I still prefer the master from that offering to the UHD from the USA!

While there was a minor uptick in detail on the UHD, the massive boost in grain that, at times, looked more gritty than indigenous to its source, didn't leave me feeling I had seen a whole lot more, but rather a whole lot more messy and occasionally harsh imagery that did not advance my appreciation for the movie.

Regrettably, missed out on the theatrical experience of seeing Superman in 78, but cannot imagine it appeared quite this grain-heavy back them. Image 'softness' is owed Geoffrey Unsworth's use of diffusion filters and film stocks of the period. If this had been shot in 70mm, likely the results would have yielded a better image. It is what it is. The softness isn't the issue for me. The amplified grain, looking like grit, is. Don't like it. Will stick to my UK set.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I bought the deluxe 'complete film' collection from the UK on Blu-ray several years before the UHD and have to say that I still prefer the master from that offering to the UHD from the USA!

While there was a minor uptick in detail on the UHD, the massive boost in grain that, at times, looked more gritty than indigenous to its source, didn't leave me feeling I had seen a whole lot more, but rather a whole lot more messy and occasionally harsh imagery that did not advance my appreciation for the movie.

Regrettably, missed out on the theatrical experience of seeing Superman in 78, but cannot imagine it appeared quite this grain-heavy back them. Image 'softness' is owed Geoffrey Unsworth's use of diffusion filters and film stocks of the period. If this had been shot in 70mm, likely the results would have yielded a better image. It is what it is. The softness isn't the issue for me. The amplified grain, looking like grit, is. Don't like it. Will stick to my UK set.

ONeg is always going to have more grain than release prints since you lose a shade of detail with each passing generation.

...buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut its not like this film had much detail in the first place though due to Unsworth diffusion filtering it to hell and back.