“YOU’LL BELIEVE A MAN CAN FLY!”
proclaimed the advertising slogan for Alexander and Ilya Salkind’s lavish 1978
production of Superman. Directed by
Richard Donner, the film did indeed leave audiences at the time (of which I was
one) gawping in amazement. And I seriously doubt that anyone, after seeing the
film, could get that rousing John Williams theme tune out of their heads. Marjorie
Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle
wrote that Superman “boasts a smart
screenplay by Robert Benton and David and Leslie Newman, striking
cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth . . . bright comic turns by Margot Kidder (as
Lois Lane) and Gene Hackman (as Lex Luthor), and, of course, that winning
performance by Christopher Reeve. Believe a man can fly? You bet!”
Superman flying to the rescue is so
ingrained in our collective conscience that it may come as a surprise to some
when they discover that he didn’t always possess that remarkable gravity-defying
ability. Granted, he could leap tall buildings in a single bound, but that’s
not exactly flying, is it. In fact, from his first appearance in Action Comics No. 1 in June 1938 through
to the first of the Fleischer Brothers’ cartoons released in September 1941, he
couldn’t fly at all.
Max and Dave Fleischer became
famous through their highly popular Betty
Boop and Popeye cartoons in the
1930s but when Paramount studios offered them the chance to produce Superman they were reluctant to take on
something of that scale. The story goes that in order to back out of the
project Dave Fleischer told Paramount executives that he would need a budget of
$90,000 dollars per ten minute episode (almost ten times more than the average
cartoon short at the time). To his utter amazement Paramount agreed and the
brothers, together with their expert animation team, set to work in producing
what is now generally regarded as some of the finest hand-drawn animation ever
to hit the big screen. Between 1941 and 1943 the Fleischer’s produced seventeen
Technicolor cartoons that still constitutes today, in relative terms, the most
expensive animated film series ever made. To begin with they stuck closely to
the character in the comics, but upon viewing the first rushes decided that a
leaping Superman looked ridiculous and so they approached DC Comics to ask if
they could make him fly. DC agreed, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Campaign book for Superman (1941) |
I’ve been an unwavering fan of DC
comic books since I was six years old and for as long as I can remember Superman
has always been one of my favourites. The character was created by two young
men in their early twenties, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Schuster, whose
life-long friendship had been forged at an early age through their combined enthusiasm
for newspaper comic strips like Buck
Rogers and Tarzan, the
swashbuckling films of Douglas Fairbanks and Hugo Gernsback’s monthly magazines,
Amazing Stories and Weird Tales. They read pulp magazines
that featured The Shadow and Doc Savage and even produced their own
magazine, Science Fiction (rather
loftily subtitled The Advance Guard of
Future Civilization) which featured an earlier incarnation of Superman as
far back as 1933, when they were both teenagers.
Superman’s origin story didn’t
appear until it was serialized as a syndicated newspaper strip in 1939 revealing
that he was from the dying planet Krypton and his real name was Kal-El, and the
explanation of his strength has changed over time as the stories evolved and
were retold to new generations. The Kents, his adoptive parents were not added
until much later (originally he was raised in an orphanage with no explanation
given as to why he chose the name Clark Kent for his secret identity) and
Kryptonite, the radioactive substance that can kill the Man of Steel was a
product of the radio series The
Adventures of Superman, reputedly used when Bud Collyer (who provided the
voice for Superman in the radio series and the Fleischer cartoons) went on
holiday.
Kirk Alyn played the first
live-action Superman to good effect in 1948 in the fifteen part eponymously
titled Columbia film serial that was marred only by the inadequacy of its
flying sequences. After conducting unsuccessful tests of Kirk Alyn suspended on
wires in front of a rear projection of clouds, producer Sam Katzman opted
instead to use a mix of live action and animated footage. However, it turned
out to be easier to mix Kirk Alyn taking off with the animated footage than it
was to mix the animated footage with him landing and as a result he always
landed behind stationary objects, usually at a distance away from where he
needed to be, thus causing him to run to where the crisis was taking place.
Budgetary restraints also created the need to re-use the flying scenes several
times throughout the serial. Despite this the serial was a huge financial
success and a sequel serial, Atom Man vs
Superman, was released in 1950.
Poster for Superman (1948) |
As the 1950s progressed cinema
audiences had begun to dwindle as a new form of visual entertainment moved
insidiously and relentlessly into our homes – television. Sponsored by
Kelloggs, The Adventures of Superman
starring George Reeves ran for 104 episodes over six seasons from 1952 to 1957.
Reeves had appeared in Gone With The Wind
(1939) Blood and Sand (1941) and So Proudly We Hail (1943) before the
Second World War interrupted his career. After the war he appeared in a number
of small roles until he landed the part of Superman. The series director,
Thomas Carr said of Reeves, “George had a classic profile and a strong jaw –
and he was a good actor. Some of the potential stars we tested had one or the
other, but George had both.” In anticipation of the start of the series the two-part episode The Unknown People was released in cinemas as the feature length Superman and the Mole Men in 1951. It was an unexpected hit and with the series hot on its heels, it made George Reeves a star.
Poster for Superman and the Mole Men (1951) |
According to Hollywood insiders,
after the series ended Reeves became disillusioned that Superman had turned him
into a children’s entertainer. He was found dead of a gunshot wound on June 16,
1959. The official verdict was suicide, but many of his friends believed it was
homicide and speculations surrounding his death still continue to this day.
Allen Coulter’s film Hollywoodland (2006) with Ben Affleck as
Reeves examines his mysterious death. In his review of the film in Rolling Stone magazine Pete Travers
wrote, “The irony is that Affleck’s battering at the hands of fame has prepped
him beautifully to play Reeves.” Even more ironically, Ben Affleck is now playing
that other bastion of DC Comics – Batman – in the upcoming Batman vs Superman.
It would be another twenty-one
years before Superman hit our screens again and if Bud Collyer was right for the
30s, Kirk Alyn for the 40s and George Reeves for the 50s, then Christopher
Reeve was pitch perfect for the 70s and 80s and indeed for many people he will
always be remembered as the quintessential Man of Steel. Not only that, he was
a skilled actor, able to make playing the dual role of the affable, accident
prone Clark Kent and the confident, powerful Superman seem easy. In his autobiography Roger Moore said that he
saw Christopher Reeve “walking through the canteen at Pinewood Studios in full
Superman costume, oblivious to the swooning female admirers he left in his
wake. When he did the same thing dressed as Clark Kent no one paid any
attention.”
Poster for Superman (1978) |
Despite playing the eponymous lead the
then unknown Reeve received third billing after established stars Gene Hackman
and Marlon Brando (who was paid a record $3.7 million plus a percentage of the
profits for what was essentially a ten minute cameo).
Superman was an enormous success, both critically and commercially.
Christopher Reeve was undoubtedly one of the reasons for this but I suspect
another reason was the respect it showed to the material that it drew from.
Such was the confidence in its success that production for Superman II started before the original was even finished. Director
Richard Donner had 75 percent of the film in the can when he was fired and
replaced by Richard Lester after publicly criticising the Salkinds. Lester’s
film, released in 1980, was an altogether jokier affair, with pantomime villains
led by Terence Stamp as General Zod and a ridiculous opening scene in Paris
with non-descript terrorists and a hydrogen bomb, but in 2006 Donner’s unique vision
(with a more threatening Terence Stamp as Zod) was restored and I would recommend
watching this version instead of the one originally released.
Advertising for the DVD release of the Richard Donner Cut (2006) |
The jokiness of Richard Lester’s Superman II continued in his 1983 Superman III with Richard Pryor, Annie
Ross and the always excellent Robert Vaughn as the principal villains. The film
critic from the Miami Herald wrote:
“Credit goes to Richard Lester, who is much more than an action director and
whose erratic brilliance occasionally transcends this material, and to Reeve,
who has manfully refused not to let on that he is tired of the part.” Other
reviewers were not so forgiving. The Washington
Post wrote that “every composite shot in Superman III appears to be a careless affront to the willing
suspension of disbelief. The flying sequences are a let-down, the cataclysms
are a cheat, and even the settings are often exposed as a chintzy hoot.” Whilst
I didn’t think it was a great film, I didn’t think it was a bad film either.
The best part was when Superman turned bad after being exposed to synthetic
kryptonite laced with tobacco tar, which gave Reeve another chance to showcase
his versatility as an actor.
And then in 1987 came Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
Universally panned by the critics, I went to see it anyway because I was a
Superman fan and it was directed by Sidney J. Furie, the man responsible for
(in my opinion) the best spy film ever made, The Ipcress File (1965). But unfortunately this time the critics
were absolutely correct. Right from the opening few seconds I knew it was going
to be awful. When the words A Golan/Globus Production appeared on the screen my
heart sank. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, those tireless purveyors of cheap
shallow films had acquired the rights for Superman and proceeded to make a
cheap, shallow film that bore little resemblance to the previous film and
effectively ruined the credibility of the first two. Even the opening credit
titles were rubbish. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it had “The overall effect of a story
atomized and dying before our eyes, collapsing into smashed pulp, ground down
into big-budget kryptonite ash.” One IMDB reviewer commented that it “makes Superman III look like The Godfather.”
Like Joel Schumacher would do to
the successful Batman franchise with the awful Batman & Robin ten years later, Golan and Globus successfully hammered
the final nail into the Superman franchise.
But superheroes never die and the
Man of Steel was resurrected in 1993 for television with former American
football star Dean Cain taking on the role in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Initially
successful, with Cain and his co-star Teri Hatcher (as Lois Lane) showing real
chemistry on screen, it ultimately derailed itself in the middle of the third
season and never recovered throughout its woefully disappointing final season.
Three years after Lois & Clark
disappeared from our TV screens, Kal-El returned in the highly acclaimed Superman: The Animated Series. Beginning
with the feature-length The Last Son of
Krypton, the series comprised of forty-eight 25 minute-long episodes over
three seasons that reinvented the Man of Steel for a new generation with the
style and feel that harked all the way back to those produced by Max and Dave
Fleischer in the 1940s. Tim Daly provided the voice of Superman, whilst his
nemesis, Lex Luthor, was played by the great Clancy Brown (who, among his many
and varied roles, has achieved virtual immortality by giving his voice to the
irascible Crusty Crab in the uniquely brilliant and marvellously surreal Spongebob Squarepants).
From 2001-2011 Tom Welling played the young Clark Kent as he discovered the extent of his powers in the TV series Smallville. Apart from having a shaky first two seasons, Smallville grew in stature, and finished with a superb final season.
From 2001-2011 Tom Welling played the young Clark Kent as he discovered the extent of his powers in the TV series Smallville. Apart from having a shaky first two seasons, Smallville grew in stature, and finished with a superb final season.
Superman was not on our cinema screens for nineteen years and then, on the 28th June 2006, came these words:
On the doomed planet Krypton, a wise
scientist placed his infant son into a spacecraft and launched him to Earth.
Raised by a kind farmer and his wife, the boy grew up to become our greatest
protector . . . Superman. But when astronomers discovered the distant remains
of his homeworld, Superman disappeared.
These were the first words to
appear in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns,
set five years after Superman II, and mercifully totally ignoring the events in
Superman III and IV. After five years of searching for Krypton, Superman
returns to Earth only to find that things have moved on without him. Lois Lane,
who became disenchanted with Superman after he left, has a five year old son
and is living with Perry White’s nephew, Richard. His arch-enemy, the obsessive
and unhinged Lex Luthor (played with relish by Kevin Spacey) has been released
from prison because Superman was unavailable to attend his court hearing, and
intent on taking over the world with crystals stolen from The Man of Steel’s
Fortress of Solitude.
Poster for Superman Returns (2006) |
Superman was played by newcomer
Brandon Routh, who bore a striking and uncanny resemblance to the late, great
Christopher Reeve, right down to his voice, which was also spookily similar. He
didn’t quite pull off the bumbling naivety of Clark Kent as well as Reeves did,
but as his alter-ego, stricken by unrequited love and self-doubt, he was
perfect. Rene Rodriguez of the Miami
Herald summed it up well when she wrote, “By giving the hero’s inner plight
so many dimensions, Superman Returns
brings a richer, grander perspective to a seminal character without changing
his essence. It’s a profoundly personal take on a universal icon.”
Disappointingly, Routh never
reprised the role and the words at the beginning of the film were sadly
prophetic – Superman disappeared. Again.
And then, on 12th June 2013, the 75th
anniversary of when he was created, Superman exploded back onto our screens in
Zack Snyder’s 2013 epic reboot, Man of
Steel. Taking its title from John Byrne’s landmark comic book series from
1986 and based in part on Mark Waid’s 2003 Superman:
Birthright, which placed more emphasis on Superman’s origins, Man of Steel soared above all
expectations, with a stellar cast – that included Russell Crowe as Jor-El,
Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Michael Shannon
as General Zod, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and British actor Henry Cavill (with an
impeccable American accent) as Superman. Director Zack Snyder was no stranger to
reboots and comic book adaptations – he had also directed the reboot of George
Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in 2004, and
the comic book adaptations of Frank Miller’s 300 in 2006 and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen in 2009). For Man of
Steel he made the unprecedented decision to take the whole thing as
seriously as possible and for the most part, it worked. From its spectacular
opening on Krypton to Superman’s final showdown with Zod, the film rarely loses
its way or releases its grip.
US Poster for Man of Steel (2013) |
Many critics complained about the
grimness of the character in this latest incarnation compared to his earlier
outings and the fact that he did something he had never done in any of the previous
movie or television adaptations – he killed someone. But the critics, I
suspect, had never been exposed to the Action
Comics of the late 1930s and early 40s. If they had they would have found
that Superman was a very different character back then and his particular brand
of justice involved killing those who would kill others. Snyder’s film therefore
doesn’t betray the origins of the Man of Steel but rather goes full circle and
returns to the morally ambiguous superhero that was created by those two young
men, Siegel and Shuster, all those years ago.
A few weeks ago I mentioned my love
of comic books to the sister of a friend of mine. She gave me a funny look and
said, “Well, my brother used to read
comics, but he’s grown out of them now.”
I suggested that she read Michael
Chabon’s excellent Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It’s about two
Jewish cousins in New York who, in 1939 embark on an extraordinary friendship
and an even more successful business partnership when they create a comic book character
called The Escapist. Obvious
parallels can be drawn between the career paths of the fictional Kavalier &
Clay and the real life Siegel & Schuster. The literary critic of The Independent newspaper wrote of the
novel something that I had never thought of, but which I now truly believe:
“Chabon has not so much attempted the great American novel as brought to life the idea that it had
already been written – week by week, in the humble heroism of the comic book.”
On 12th June 2018, that most humble
king of comic book heroes, Superman, the first true superhero ever to be
created anywhere in the world and the one that kick-started a multi-million
dollar industry, will have reigned over the universe of comics for eighty
years. In the time since his arrival from the doomed planet Krypton he has
brought untold joy and wonder, excitement and sheer unadulterated pleasure to
millions of readers, radio listeners, television watchers and cinema-goers
throughout the world. And on that day, in the editorial office of the Daily Planet in Metropolis,
mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent might well be smiling as he looks at the
front page of the latest edition, upon which the banner headline would loudly proclaim:
SUPERMAN LIVES! FOREVER!
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