Superman: The Movie (HD DVD)

The Man of Steel comes to HD DVD and this new high-definition experience is here to remind us that we never needed Bryan Singer's film after all. Christopher Reeve is and always will be Superman, and while I thought Brandon Routh was one of the better parts of Superman Returns he doesn't give Superman anything that Reeve didn't give him already. I had not seen this film for ages, but I welcomed the chance to relive the magic, and while the effects are certainly dated the story is not. I enjoyed every minute.

You will want to recognize that the features on this HD DVD do not match those on the new four-disc collector's edition DVD, these in fact are far fewer than that set so if you want information on that you will have to stay tuned. Feature wise for this HD DVD, aside from the new and fantastic looking high-definition audio and video transfer you get a handful of special features starting with a commentary track by director Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz. This commentary is a bit repetitive when compared to the special features and compared to the commentary on Superman II: The Donner Cut, but you have to give both of them a listen and just act as if you hadn't heard the other stuff before. One thing you will soon learn, if you didn't already know, Donner shot Superman and Superman II simultaneously before abandoning the final scenes of Superman II in an effort to meet the release date for Superman only to be ditched as director on Superman II, hence the before mentioned "Donner Cut."

A lot of the specifics on the shoot you will learn in the two-part making of documentary:

Taking Flight: The Development of Superman (30:12) - The story of how Superman came to be and how the production had spent $6 million before Richard Donner shot a single frame and how Marlon Brando received $3.7 million alone for two weeks of work. Obviously it goes deeper than that, but these are things that jump out of the featurette right away.

Making Superman: Filming the Legend (30:40) - This is the guys of the story as you will learn that the film involved 19 months of shooting as Donner shot scenes from for Superman and Superman II at the same time before being replaced as director by Richard Lester. This is a continuing story that bleeds into "The Donner Cut" DVD, but it is a great place to get the early details on the situation with Donner and film producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind. This is stuff for books and there may even be one out there.

Superman Screen Test (9:21) - Not more to be said after the title of this feature. Screen tests are what you get and you get a little bit of it in the making of featurettes. If you need more watch these, if not check out something else.

Music-Only Track - I thought this was cool for the opening titles only, but even then the whoosh of the credits adds so much when watching. Nevertheless, this is one of John Williams' greatest scores and considering the films he has done that is saying a lot.

Trailers - TV Spot, Teaser Trailer and Theatrical Trailer

Overall, this is a great HD DVD and a must own for early adopters of the format. However, I think Superman enthusiasts will be upset that all the features of the new four-disc DVD are not included and you may be forced to double-dip or settle on standard definition in this case. I am confused why Warner didn't add an extra disc or two to this HD DVD release, but since I don't work there I don't have the answers. Sorry.