DVD details for
Superman (1978) More at IMDbPro »

Michel Hafner (13 May 2001):
Long in the works and now available, WB's DVD of Superman (1978). A super DVD?
The film master used has been restored from original elements. Quite some effort has been put into finding the best source material and even redoing some opticals with today's digital methods. As a result the film element is very clean and also steady.
Contrast and color rendition are remarkable.
Image sharpness is uneven. Sometimes images are fuzzy because they have been shot that way (diffusion filters), sometimes optical effects take their toll. Most of the time images are sharp but not quite as sharp as the best transfers out there.
The noise and grain level is on average low. Again optical effects add grain at times.
Video artifacts are present in the form of visible edge enhancement and slight filtering artifacts.
Compression is good.
The soundtrack has been remixed to 5 channels. The result is a state of the art soundfield as in today's new releases.
This DVD offers film-like images suitable for projection and will hardly disappoint on any kind of display. The film looks very good, especially given its age. Recommended.

The entire Superman saga begun with the Christopher Reeve incarnation in Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie - Four Disc Special Edition (1978) and revived by Bryan Singer in Superman Returns is collected in this exhaustive collection. The other chapters in the saga are Superman II - Two Disc Special Edition (1980), Superman III - Deluxe Edition (1983), and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace - Deluxe Edition (1987), as well as the newly prepared Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980/2006), which restores the original vision of the film with previously unseen footage, including the Marlon Brando scenes cut for budgetary reasons. Also includes the documentaries Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman, the new You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman, and Bryan singer's video journals of making Superman Returns. The entire set is collected in a big digi-stack volume in a metal alloy case. See New Releases and Cult and Classic for more details on individual films.

All four Christopher Reeve Superman films in a box set: Superman: The Movie - Four Disc Special Edition (1978), Superman II - Two Disc Special Edition (1980), Superman III - Deluxe Edition (1983), and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace - Deluxe Edition (1987). See Cult and Classic for more details on individual films.

(1978) Richard Donner captures just the right sense of wonder and naiveté in this cynical age to make this a modern superhero fairy tale with Christopher Reeve as the man of steel, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, Gene Hackman as evil genius Lex Luthor, Marlon Brando as Superman's Krypton dad, and Glenn Ford, Ned Beatty, Valerie Perrine, and Jackie Cooper. The set features both the original theatrical version and an expanded version prepared in 2000 with eight added minutes (featuring much of the footage seen in network TV showings). Also features documentaries, Superman and the Mole Men with George Reeves, and nine Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons.