Category: Super-Props

More rescued treasures from Richard Lester’s Superman II –

covered extensively in the vintage Making of Superman II special (available on DVD and Blu-Ray), the Metropolis Street set and corresponding miniature were a necessary (and expensive!) evil built at Pinewood Studios to accommodate the colossal battle between the Man Of Steel and his adversaries. Though somewhat of a dying art in special effects today, no amount of CGI could replicate the stunning detail on show in the images above nor the craftsmanship that executed it.

My sincere thanks to Steve Cambden for providing these photographs from his archive. If you want to read more about Steve’s time at Pinewood during the making of Superman II plus his adventures in Doctor Who I recommend his amazing memoir ‘The Doctor’s Affect’

Another SUPERMANIA exclusive – This gargantuan rendering of Honest Abe is a piece of the long-thought lost or destroyed prop of Mount Rushmore from Richard Lester’s Superman II.

Miraculously salvaged from Pinewood Studios upon completion of filming, the face still exhibits the pre-cut chunks for the shattering to occur when The Phantom Zone Villains give it the heat-vision treatment for replacement with their own portraits.

Now preserved in a private collection, these rare photographs are proof the miniature survived not only its onscreen demise but the wrath of the studio skip and maintain its rightful place in film history.  My sincere thanks to Author and SuperFan Steve Cambden for granting permission to scan these pics from his archive…