The playing fields of the Woughton Campus of The Sir Frank Markham Comprehensive School in Milton Keynes, UK doubled for the ‘Metropolis JFK High School’ In location scenes only recently restored for the Superman IV; The Quest For Peace Deluxe Edition on DVD.
From the Top – Japanese Movie mag article, UK Sky magazine coverage and another unique on-set still taken during filming. Suspended from piano wires at least forty feet in the air is Christopher Reeve himself…
Though the original set from Superman: the Movie was still standing in Ontario, Canada, the Kent Farm was recreated in considerable detail in the village of Baldock, Hertfordshire, England for the opening scenes of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace in 1986.
This set was apparently also left standing until the mid-2000’s before apparently being taken down, though that is not confirmed. Despite the above images appearing on other Super-Websites, these original on-set 5×7 prints are from a collection taken by a crew member and passed on to me – more incredible pictures to follow in future posts!!
Procured at Collectors Fairs and The Propstore of London respectively, these unique production used sweatshirts are usually still in possession of those who wore them, making decades old genuine gear valuable both for sentimental and investment reasons.
Custom crew wear in the Superman movies can be seen as early as 1977 where production footage reveals the tradition of homemade-style printed t-shirts and sweaters gradually becoming more corporate and refined as the series progressed…
Historically, the Superman movie premieres had always been lavish events that had benefited charities such as the Special Olympics.
With the considerable coup of the Royal audience and always the showmen, Cannon Films producers Golan & Globus had planned to have both leading men arrive in costume to the Leicester Square Odeon for the first showing. Despite the attendance of his family, Christopher Reeve is notable by his absence, leaving Nuclearman Mark Pillow to fend for himself alongside co-stars Margot Kidder and Mariel Hemmingway. First, he has fun.
From the top, original programme and scarce images of the reception culled from the Spanish edition of Hello magazine…
Its a little-known fact that the final chapter of the classic Superman Movie series was shot entirely in the UK. A great proportion of exterior scenes were shot in MIlton Keynes as the new town with its modernist architecture was considered to be a reasonable representation of a US city of the era.
Naturally the prospect of Hollywood coming to town was a considerable coup and the world’s press were out in force to cover the filming. From the top, a never-before published shot of Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent outside Milton Keynes train station shot on 17/11/1986 by Ian Blackmore, an article from the Financial Times discussing the location and headline from the MIlton Keynes Citizen declaring Superman was in town. These archive clippings were discovered in the archive on Milton Keynes public library on a trip to visit filming locations years later…
