| CLOSE WINDOW |
|
FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Superman: The Movie (John Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on both the 1998 Varèse Sarabande re-recording and
the 2019 La-La Land Records set for the highest-quality presentations of
one of John Williams' most memorable and classic scores.
Avoid it... on any of the releases of the original recording prior to 2019 if you are deterred by the archival, analog sound quality that long restricted the dynamic range of Williams' composition and often varies from track to track.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Superman: The Movie: (John Williams) Few fictional characters
have been as prolific in mainstream entertainment as the Man of Steel.
From the original comic stories in the 1930's to the Clayton Collyer
radio show and Paramount's animated shorts in the 40's, the Kirk Alyn
television shows of the 50's, the musical adaptation for theatre and
George Reeves series of the 60's, the feature films of the 70's and
80's, the television spin-offs of the 90's and 00's, and finally, a
resurrection to the big screen in 2000's and beyond, the legend of
Superman has thrived for more than 80 years. Upon the first major
motion picture adaptation in the mid-70's, director Richard Donner and
his producers determined that the character would be treated with
respect while, after all his adventures, providing him with a massive
scale on which to generate his wonder. Their success in that endeavor
yielded four Oscar nominations (with one win) and a permanent "most
favored Superman" status for actor Christopher Reeve. While the sequels
for the 1978 film maintained much of the same cast, the legend was
watered down to campy levels. One member of the crew who refused to
kneel before General Zod was John Williams, whose score for the original
Superman was such a natural fit with both the legend of the
character and audiences' expectations that he had nothing left to prove
by scoring the laughable sequels. In retrospect, Williams' music for
Superman was so perfectly placed in both the film and in the
history of cinema that this score, perhaps more than Star Wars,
confirmed the renaissance of the operatic orchestral fanfare to the big
screen. It proved that his Oscar-nominated work for Close Encounters
of the Third Kind and Star Wars the previous year was no
fluke, leading the composer on the journey of five subsequent years that
would change film music forever. His Wagnerian extravaganza was so
beloved by both fans of the legend and the mainstream that his sound for
the character endured prominently in three immediate sequels and become
the benchmark for future adaptations. Jerry Goldsmith would give the
title theme a cameo in his mid-80's score for Supergirl and John
Ottman eventually utilized all of Williams' major themes for the
successful continuation of Superman Returns nearly 30 years
later.
The key to the longevity of Williams' music for the Superman legend is its timelessness. The instant recognizability of the composer's multitude of shamelessly obvious themes is also a contributing factor. Whether it's the unequivocal heroism, the patriotic feeling of soaring optimism that it instills in listeners, or even the brassy, overwhelming orchestral power that hooked so many people into the genre of film music at the time, Superman is a score of such quality that it cannot be completely eclipsed by the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchise works also by Williams. When remembering the impact of Superman on listeners at the time, most people point to the themes rather than the style. And while the grandeur of the London Symphony Orchestra's performance of Williams' densely orchestrated and intelligently designed ideas are as alluring as ever, the themes do indeed define the score. The opening march provides the title character with a noble persona of galactic proportions, its simplistic octave-loving major key progressions serving the dose of superhero elixir that has, to some degree, worn badly with audiences through the years due to the brightness of its own light. So blatantly heroic is the melody's construct that the title march is more difficult to enjoy decades years later than the other themes from the film. The underlying rhythmic introduction, becoming the driving force of the entire affair, has fared better. In many ways superior in its agelessness is the love theme, highlighting the magnificent "Flying Sequence" in the film. Its lyrical sense of movement coincides with the fact that theme was originally designed with lyrics in mind ("Can You Read My Mind") and several pop variants were recorded for the scene before the now-famous instrumental performance and associated concert arrangement was used instead. Given the beauty of the theme and the remarkable personal tragedies that tormented lead actors Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder in the following decades, the Superman love theme's only detraction is its bittersweet legacy. Still, in both its interlude position in the primary march for the film, as well as its own generous song variants and concert arrangements, it is the best that Superman offers. Keeping its numerous original recordings by Williams straight is another matter, left for discussion about the albums below. While the march and love theme are the best remembered themes from Superman, there are several notable subthemes that each receive considerable development. The most intriguing of these is one that knocks the viewer over the head immediately after the opening fanfare is finished. The remarkable crescendo that builds from a solo trumpet into a monumentally tonal performance of the "Planet Krypton" theme is the single favorite minute of music for some listeners of the score. After the planet is introduced in its glory, the film never allows such a restatement. Unsatisfying incorporation of the theme into the scene of the planet's destruction and subsequent references in "The Fortress of Solitude" cause the theme to be underutilized. To his credit, John Ottman relied upon clever references to the theme more often in his 2006 film score. One curious note is that the 1998 re-recording alters the woodwind solo after the end of Krypton's famous crescendo to match the "Force theme" from Star Wars. Slight synthetic effects during the sentencing of General Zod in this cue make up the bulk of the employment of electronics in the score, and their impact is barely noticeable. For "Destruction of Krypton," Williams foreshadows the danger with a distantly dissonant adult choir, though Star Wars fans will delight in the timpani-pounding, cymbal-crashing full ensemble tonality of the Death Star's glory during the actual scenes of destruction. A theme for the Kent family is introduced and maintained until Clark Kent's departure for Metropolis. Sometimes referred to as the "family theme" or the "Smallville" theme, this identification with the character's childhood features the same heroic stature as the fanfare, but with less obvious statement until the closing of "Leaving Home." The only somewhat weak theme in the score for Superman is the one for Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty's villainous duo. Williams' "March of the Villains" treads dangerously close to the comical territory that the production was trying to avoid, serving as something of a preview of the composer's handling of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, though it's obvious that Williams was merely attempting to play off of Hackman's confidently snickering performance. Much of the concert arrangement of this irritatingly prancing theme was never actually used in the film. The remainder of the score often uses fragments of these themes for its substance. One cue of singular beauty is "Trip to Earth," which offers some of the wondrous atmosphere that Williams later fleshed out to a greater degree in Hook. A minor-key variant of the Krypton theme in "The Fortress of Solitude" is an emotional play aided in the cue by eerie, high female voices. The straight action cues are overshadowed by moments like the latter half of "The Big Rescue" (or "Helicopter Sequence"), which cranks out a reprise of the title fanfare. Some of the better action cues were never available on the original LP or CD albums for Superman, further diminishing their memorability. The album situation for this score was initially frustrating for many Superman fans, though they would be ultimately rewarded for their patience with two stunning releases of the score in 1998 and 2000, as well as even more astronomical treatments of the score in 2008 and 2019. The original 1987 release on CD was far from complete, not even featuring the same quantity of music contained on the LP release. For some mainstream listeners, however, it could be argued that the 73 minutes of music presented on that original CD was all that was really necessary for a cursory appreciation of the composition's highlights. In 1998, Robert Townson commissioned an effort to completely reconstruct the score for a re-recording by John Debney and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The resulting 2-CD set on the Varèse Sarabande label not only maintains the integrity of Williams' original composition, but it added 13 minutes of noteworthy material not available on the 1987 Warner release. Although there were skeptics at the time who did not believe in the concept of the multitude of re-recordings that were undertaken by Varèse and other labels in the late 1990's, this presentation of Superman features a performance among the best of all the efforts of the era, ranking alongside Vertigo on Varèse and Raise the Titanic on Silva Screen Records. Rather than serving as an interpretation of Williams' score, the beauty of the coordination effort for this recording of Superman is its total and complete faithfulness to the original composition. Debney and the ensemble achieve stellar results in their goal of producing a sound that recreates the original feel and power of Williams' work without resorting to any temptation for embellishment. Outside of the crisp digital sound of the 1998 re-recording provided by Varèse, casual listeners won't likely be able to tell a difference between that product and the original. While the additional selections and better arrangement of the music may not be sufficient to alone attract your purchase, the sound quality will. Hearing the majority of the score in outstanding digital quality, especially with such precise attention to the restoration of the music, makes this set a must-have for collectors of Williams' classic Bronze Age scores. The opening few minutes of the "Planet Krypton" cue alone will blow you out of your seat. The packaging, complete with track-by-track analysis, is a fascinating read as well. It could be argued that Varèse and the RSNO never reached these soaring heights again. The 2000 Rhino release really met most demands by Superman score fans, presenting forty additional minutes of previously unreleased music from the original recordings in what was considered at the time to be a definitive release. If you were for some reason deterred from the Varèse album, the early 2000 set of double CDs offered the complete score with such attention to detail that it was originally thought that a significant revisional album release of Superman was never again to be necessary. As comprehensive as it could possibly be, the Rhino set combines the superior arrangement of the Varèse album with a collection of previously unreleased and alternate cues. Along the same lines as similar treatment at the time for Jaws, Close Encounters, and a number of other classic Williams scores, this Rhino set, despite a somewhat cumbersome slip case, competed well while in print. Some of its additional cues were necessary additions to your collection at the time, including the rousing "Star Ship Escapes" and "The Big Rescue." A large portion of missing cues from the second half of the film was also finally made available, leading to a very satisfactory chronological presentation. For good measure, Rhino also included the pop versions of the love theme performed by Margot Kidder, as well as source cues, alternate takes, and the score's familiar concert arrangement. Despite the 2000 album's strength, Film Score Monthly and Warner Brothers teamed up in 2007 to produce an even more comprehensive Superman set for release in February of 2008. The resulting 8-CD product was devoted to all four of the original feature film scores and Ron Jones' 1988 animated series music. Its selling point was the extensive, newly available material from the Ken Thorne and Alexander Courage sequel scores arranged from Williams' original themes. While the music from Superman isn't significantly different on the 2008 set when compared to the out-of-print Rhino one (there is a handful of additional alternate material that was discovered but it only amounts to a couple of minutes in length), the improvement in sound quality was an attraction for those already settled on the 2000 set. Only after Rhino had produced that set were original, first generation masters of Superman discovered, and it from this source that FSM's presentation is made. Even so, for 99% of casual listeners, the awesome FSM product is redundant when considering only Superman. The related material from the subsequent scores, however, is in many places similar enough to the original work by Williams to serve as alternate music of the first composition. The only problem with the FSM set is that it is clearly targeted at the most devoted of concept and film music collectors. At a hefty price of $120, it was one a few sets available from the label that topped the hundred-dollar mark. Somewhat surprisingly, the first edition of this set, limited to 3,000 copies, sold out relatively quickly, and FSM pressed a second edition of another 3,000 copies that remained available at the same price. The production quality of the FSM product is truly stunning, easily the most attractive and fascinating item ever to come from Lukas Kendall's company. The extensive information in the hardcover book included with the eight discs will keep you occupied for hours. But that wasn't the end of the Superman saga on album. In 2019, La-La Land Records took advantage of the discovery of even better sources, namely the actual tapes used to record the orchestra in the studio, to press roughly the same contents but with a few notable additions. The 2019 "40th anniversary" product is highlighted by its incredible sound quality, the kind of rousingly crisp clarity that really shames even the prior remastering work. Several fascinating alternate cues are also a major attraction, including a notable early rendition of "The Fortress of Solitude." The original LP presentation is supplied in magnificent sound, too. Missing from this set, however, is the bevy of supplement source materials; the label had included these 20 minutes, oddly enough, as part of its 2018 Superman II/Superman III set instead. If you're only interested in the best-sounding performances of music for the first Superman film, however, the Varèse and La-La Land presentations are nothing less than 5-star products that will serve most needs. Any of these albums will continue to make you wonder how this score could have lost the Academy Award to Giorgio Moroder's Midnight Express. Fickle, those voters are.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1987 Warner Brothers Album:
Total Time: 72:49
* Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse 1998 Varèse Sarabande Re-Recording: Total Time: 82:10
2000 Rhino Complete Album: Total Time: 148:56
* contains previously unreleased material ** contains vocals performed by Margot Kidder † previously unreleased music 2008 Film Score Monthly Set: Total Time: 174:16
(Music from this score exists on CDs 1, 2, and 8 on the set.) 2018 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 19:43
(All other music on this album is from Superman II and Superman III.) 2019 La-La Land Set: Total Time: 229:55
NOTES & QUOTES:
The 2008 Film Score Monthly album contains arguably the most extensive information
about the scores of a movie franchise ever to exist in an album, with a 160-page hardcover
booklet that covers an extraordinary range of detail about the film, scores, and album
presentation. The 1998, 2000, 2018 and 2019 albums also contain extensive information
about the score.
Notes about the original performance on the Rhino Complete Set:
Music Mixed and Recorded by Eric Tomlinson, Anvil Studios, Denham, England, July 1978
Music Editor: Bob Hathaway Music Editor Assistant: Ken Ross "By the middle of 1978 I had been filming Superman for nearly a year-and-a-half and had lost my objectivity about it. But when I went to John Williams' first recording session with the London Symphony Orchestra and heard his score for the opening titles, my spirits soared. His soundtrack for the film is perfect and will always remain a classic." -- Christopher Reeve, 1999/2000 Notes about the Varèse Sarabande Re-recording:
"This new recording does not replace the original recording, which is
conducted by John Williams himself. It certainly does not take the place
of any potential special edition of Williams' recording. The best way I
can describe this CD is as a "stand alone companion piece" to the
soundtrack. I realize that these are conflicting terms. It was imperative
to me that my recording must be able to stand on its own. Therefore the
concept of recording only music that did not appear on the WB disc didn't
work. I needed the main set pieces of the score. You know what they are.
How could we have a Superman disc without Leaving Home or The Fortress of
Solitude? This was the balance I had to maintain. How much could I add
and how much could I afford to lose and have the disc still play as a
well-rounded listening experience and a solid representation of the
score? I have done the best job of this that I can." -- Robert Townson,
Vice President, Varèse Sarabande Records
Copyright ©
1998-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Superman: The Movie are Copyright © 1987, 1998, 2000, 2008, 2018, 2019, Warner Brothers, Varèse Sarabande, Rhino/Warner, Film Score Monthly, La-La Land Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/5/98 and last updated 11/13/22. |
