WHICH SUPERMAN II IS FOR YOU?

To a lot of people Superman II is not just any movie, but for some it was part of their childhood. For me, it was my first introduction into Superman and from that moment on, Superman would and to this day always be my all-time favourite superhero. However, little was I to know that this version of Superman II that I was watching wasn’t the same as everyone else. To me, the version of Superman II I watched over and over again is the best version of the story. But, we all know the story behind the making of Superman II. I hear some of you saying “I don’t”, so in that case I will tell you, I was going to anyway.

Superman II was filmed at the same time as Superman: The Movie. However due to time constraints, budget issues and a massive fallout between the director Richard Donner and the producers, the decision was made to stop filming Superman II and concentrate on the first film. Even though three quarters of the film was shot under the direction of Richard Donner, he was sensationally sacked and Richard Lester was brought on to film the remainder of the film, and in some cases re-shooting some scenes. Many of the actors were angered by this decision and at one point refused to come back and film the the remaining scenes required to complete the film. If you watch the movie closely, you can visually see where the film was more than likely filmed inline with the first movie, pay particular close attention to Christopher Reeve and the Superman costume during the scene near the end of the movie at the Fortress of Solitude. I see subtle differences, can you? Or maybe I am just seeing things.

So from this we would finally get a complete version of Superman II. For me, I would see the international version of the film, for others, it would be the theatrical version and for everyone else later on down the road, the Director’s Cut or the Richard Donner Cut. If you weren’t aware, way back when, most movies when brought to television there was normally extra scenes of the movie shown. So for Superman II, there was 24 minutes of extra footage shown. This is what I saw as part of the International Cut. When I was old enough to buy Superman II on DVD (and since it wasn’t released in Australia at that time, I purchased All 4 Superman movies from Ebay) and found out that not only were there parts of the movie I remember missing, but there were different scenes in the movie I hadn’t seen before and in some parts a different script was used. I could even hear subtle differences on how the actors said their lines compared to the version of the film I had seen.

Jut two of the scenes that for me add to the movie that we don’t get to see in the Theatrical Version or the Richard Donner Cut of the film:

In the lead up to this first deleted scene Clark Kent learns that Perry White has sent Lois to Paris after the Eiffel Tower has been seized by a terrorist group. Clark is learning this for the first time, Perry White asks “Get your head out of the clouds Kent, where have you been for the past twelve hours”, in which Clark replies “Home”. Perry continues, “Don’t you watch television” and Clark replies “I doesn’t really enjoy watching television Mr White, there’s too much violence, I was just reading Dickens”. As Perry White continues to talk to Clark, Clark sneaks away and changes into Superman and flies off to Paris. On the way there, there is a great scene as whilst flying he passes a Concord jet plane. Just as casual as you like, Superman passes the plane and continues off to Paris.

In this next next deleted scene, Superman has just outsmarted the three villains from Krypton, they are being taken away by the Arctic Patrol. Meanwhile as this is occurring, Lex Luthor is trying to sweet talk Superman so he doesn’t go back to prison.

For me it would of been great to see Richard Donner’s vision if he was allowed to stay on as director to see what Superman III and Superman IV would of looked like in his eyes. So which version of the film do you enjoy the most? If there are other scenes that you think add to the movie that I didn’t clue please let me know.