Superman II the Donner cut

Sad Professor

Does anyone have any thoughts on this now that the new dvd is out?

I haven't had a chance to watch it properly yet myself, but I found it a very rough look at what might have been. They clearly didn't have enough money to do it properly and the lack of involvement from an experienced film editor really hurt it IMO. It was still great to see all that missing Donner footage finally but somehow it doesn't really work.

I'm sure Michael Thau (the editor) did his best but he could never live up to the work done by Stuart Baird in the original. Baird, who recently edited Casino Royale, is one of the best editors (especially of action scenes) in the business. Also the way they re-edited and cobbled together John Williams' music from the first film made me realize what a huge role he played in making that first Superman movie work.

Still, I'm glad we finally got to see this.

lodgepole

I haven't watched it yet either, but it is a shame that they used such an inexperienced editor. Baird is a great editor alright, and a pretty good film maker in his own right. He's credited on the Superman II Director's Cut, is that for the sequences that Donner shot alongside Superman I? Did he do editing on it before it got moved to Lester? Because he isn't credited on the original Superman II.

kinaldo

I've been dying to see this, I still think Superman 2 is one of the best movies ever! Is there anyway of getting a hold of it without having to buy all the Superman dvds again? I'd rather not have to download...

Sad Professor

Lodgepole wrote:

Baird is a great editor alright, and a pretty good film maker in his own right. He's credited on the Superman II Director's Cut, is that for the sequences that Donner shot alongside Superman I? Did he do editing on it before it got moved to Lester? Because he isn't credited on the original Superman II.

I'm pretty sure it's just an honorary credit. Baird, like Donner, was supposed to work on both films and perhaps he did some very early work on the second but not much. There were delays during shooting, so they ended up focusing all their energy on completing the first one. After Donner was dismissed they brought in a new editor who had what must have been an impossible job of seamlessly combining footage shot by Donner and Lester.

AFAIK none of the original Donner crew came back for the Superman II/Lester reshoots. Hell, they even had to get a stand-in and voice impersonator for Gene Hackman who refused to return.

J.R.HARTLEY

whatever about the editing i loved the new superman, it would have been brilliant to watch it like that in the cinema, especially the big mid air right hook to nog, donners version was far superior to Lesters, Superman had to pay for sacrificing his power their was true dramatic purpose rather than the cartoon that lester made

kinaldo i bought it on its own but play have the two superman twos for 17.99

mike65

I wonder will it get shown on TV or would just confuse matters in the public mind. Must say S2 was my favourite of the Reeve trio
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wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_II:_The_Richard_Donner_Cut

Mike.