With their collective eye set firmly on the upcoming (and potentially very lucrative) 50th anniversary celebrations of The Man of Steel in 1988, Warner Home Video went the extra mile with promotional material including the fold out brochure shown above.
This Super-rare glossy pamphlet was presumably an industry handout for the rental boom of the mid to late 80’s and may well have doubled up as advertising in-store. Although mostly devoted to the latest cinematic instalment Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, this would also mark the first appearance on tape of the 1950’s TV series ‘The Adventures of Superman’ with the first two volumes containing ‘Best of’ episodes alongside new transfers of the beloved Max Fliescher Superman cartoons…
SUPERMANIA extends many happy returns to director Sidney J. Furie on this, his 82nd birthday and marks the occasion with this super-rare vintage proof sheet for his movie Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.
A beautiful oversize colour lithograph intended for print in Daily Variety in 1987 (second pic), this double-page ad puts Daniel Goozee’s striking poster art to great use (third pic) while delivering the great news that the movie had grossed a very respectable $5,683,122 domestically in its first three days (bottom pic).
While this great opening (across 1511 theatres) would ultimately falter in the proceeding weeks, this unique treasure is a fitting tribute to what many consider to be the most well intended of the Superman series, even if it wasn’t the best executed.
Many happy returns Sidney J!
Enjoy this vintage German promotional material for the international release of Superman IV: Die Welt Am Abgrund’, (Interestingly translated as ‘The World At The Abyss’) where the copy goes to considerable effort to make the movie sound like the greatest thing to ever grace the silver screen.
Featuring the ‘unique’ German cut & paste poster art, the tiny Cinenews Program from March 1988 (top pic) proudly declares this is ‘Superman’s last chance’ in ‘The huge battle with over 300 optical effects’ before opening up to a nicely composed spread of publicity photos (second pic) where the accompanying review labels it ‘As strong as Kryptonite’.
Exhibiting far more restraint is the large pull-out poster (third pic) from an unknown magazine produced in association with the movie’s broadcast on German TV channel Sat 1, where it was presented as the cult movie of the week…
“I look at Superman IV as the unmasking of Superman, with much more emphasis on the Kal-El, the being from Krypton. It becomes clear in the film that both of his identities are a job – both Superman and Clark Kent are personae that he has to become for other people…”
To aid Christopher Reeve on his ambition to give Kal-El his own identity, costume designer John Bloomfield would select an understated casual wardrobe befitting a contemporary farmer for his Smallville homecoming in the opening scenes of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.
Always trying to add new dimensions to the character, Reeve would pepper his story (to be adapted by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal) with subtle vignette’s expanding on the quote above by showing Kal-El just as ‘himself’ rather than his other assumed identities. Whereas the comics would typically portray Clark Kent as permanently bespectacled whether ‘on duty’ or no, it was refreshing for audiences to see Superman’s transformation to ‘Everyman’ in very human (but ultimately deleted) scenes as visiting his adoptive parents graves (Top pic).
Today, that costume resides in the halls of The Super Museum in Metropolis, Il, where, it stands (seemingly unprotected) among hordes of other artefacts from the classic movies and beyond. While it may not be the most memorable costume from the franchise, it does symbolise an advancement in the character that would be adapted in some form for every incarnation of the character going forward, most prevalently in Superman Returns years later…
Thanks to Jim Bowers of Capedwonder.com for the one-of-a-kind continuity Polaroid of Reeve in costume (Third pic – note his stand-in wearing an identical gilet). To see more behind the scenes stills of this costume in action go here…
Courtesy of Superman In Advertising And Media come these exclusive vintage photographs of the artefacts featured in The Smithsonian Institution’s ‘Superman, Many Lives, Many Worlds’ exhibition circa 1988.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of a true American icon, SUPERMANIA continues its retrospective from the star-attended opening (click here) to the significant collection on display and even some memorabilia from the event itself.
While the George Reeves TV show The Adventures Of Superman features prominently behind the Plexiglas, the recent release of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace had clearly yielded some treasures under the banner of ‘A New Superman In Hollywood’ where both Christopher Reeve’s Superman Costume featured at one end (top pic) and Mark Pillow’s Nuclearman costume at the other. Quite why the expensive outfits were mounted on such cheap wooden cutouts is a mystery but faring better is Margot Kidder’s silk dress (second pic) accompanied by no less than Reeve’s Clark Kent glasses and Marc McClure’s bow-tie worn as Jimmy Olsen.
Other great items from the movies on show are an original Daily Planet newspaper cover and below it, one of the script drafts for Superman IV by Konner and Rosenthal. As if the opportunity of seeing these relics first-hand was not enough, there was also an opportunity to purchase exclusive collectibles on the day, such as the advertising postcard (third pic) with superb art from Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and two buttons below from the SUPERMANIA collection pictured with a promotional ad…
