Disc Thirteen: "You Will Believe: The Making of a Saga"
If the coverage of the Reeve-era movies in "Look! Up in the Sky" seemed a bit slight, maybe this is why: the 89-minute documentary "You Will Believe: The Cinematic Sage of Superman" details the history of the Christopher Reeve series in freakish detail, all without blandly rehashing information already presented on previous discs.
The documentary comes in five parts: "Origin," "Vision," "Ascent," "Crisis," and "Redemption" - although, strangely, "Redemption" covers the series' downfall in "Superman III" and "IV."
The filmmakers tend to skew toward Donner's side of the story, painting the Salkinds as meddlers and Lester as an interloper who ruined the series. (Again, the notion of "Superman II" being a great movie is ignored.) Despite the bias (which Ilya Salkind's appearance does nothing to fix, thanks to his enormous ego and hideous toupee), and despite everyone badmouthing "Superman III" (OK, I get it, everyone hates it, but can't I still love it anyway?), it's great to see so much honesty from all involved. With the pressures of the time so far behind them, the cast and crew openly discuss every bit of on-set tension and off-set questioning. (Best apologetic bit: Marc McClure explains that despite a general consensus that things were very wrong with "Superman III," everyone agreed to return for "IV" as a favor of sorts for Christopher Reeve, whom they hoped could salvage things.)
It's not all series-bashing, however. The film is loaded with wonderful anecdotes, most of them coming from Donner, who had some mighty strange experiences working with Brando, and from Terence Stamp, who parlayed his character's authority into on-set power, bossing around (and cussing out) his co-stars. Everyone involved has a nifty story to share, and their overall love for the experience is infectious.
"You Will Believe" is, simply, your first and last stop for info on Reeve-era Superman, vital viewing for anyone interested in the franchise.
Video & Audio
As with the other docs in this set, the video quality here varies based on source material. The new interviews are shot in digital video and look as sharp as the format allows; archival footage, meanwhile, looks from good to questionable to awful, depending. Presented in 1.33:1 full frame, with movie footage letterboxed. The stereo soundtrack does its job well. No subtitles or alternate audio tracks are provided.
Extras
"The Mythology of Superman" (19:32) presents interviews with scholars and comic book experts, all of them discussing how Superman fits within the mold of mythological storytelling. It's a clever "Power of Myth" breakdown of the character that treats the franchise with much respect.
"Heart of a Hero: A Tribute to Christopher Reeve" (17:59) is just what you think it is: a big, mushy, wonderful tip of the hat to Reeve's post-accident activism. Not that anybody needed convincing just how great a guy Reeve was, but it's still a lovely gesture and an informative feature for those unfamiliar with just how much he did despite his limitations.
From great to embarrassing: "The Adventures of Superpup" (21:32) is an unaired pilot for a failed kiddie TV series (in color!) in which little people dressed up in frightening, rubbery dog costumes and parodied the Superman franchise. Our hero's secret identity is Bark Bent. And a talking mouse puppet is his sidekick. Oh, the humanity. (For those daring enough to watch: there are no chapter stops, and the video has been cobbled together from various sources, meaning we go mid-show from washed-out color to ugly, rusty black-and-white.)
Three Warner cartoons give us parody of a much more enjoyable kind. Bugs Bunny is "Super Rabbit," Private Snafu is "Snafuperman," and Daffy Duck is "Stupor Duck." All are wonderful, although as the Snafu short was intended for wartime military use and not public consumption, perhaps an introduction should have been included to explain just why it was made.
Finally, we get a promo spot for "Superman: The Theatrical Serials Collection."
All extras here are presented in 1.33:1 full frame, again with movie clips properly letterboxed.