The Tiger Who Came To Tea: Superman the Movie

I just love this June 1938/Action Comics opening.

And (Controversial Opinion Alert!) I'm going to go as far as saying that this is my favourite John Williams score. Yes, even over *that* one.

Jason McLaughlin @jangomac72 I honestly couldn't pick a favourite between his score for this and the Star Wars & Indiana Jones movies

All unbelievably excellent of course, all equally etched into your mind & heart!

I'm a big fan of HD & BluRay, but not just because of the picture. LISTEN. TO. THAT. Goosebumps, seriously.

This whole sequence of music from the comic book opening through the theme & our first look of Krypton is gorgeous.

On Krypton, the Godfather speaks for the prosecution at the trial of 3 black-suited villains.

Love the way Brando's white hair has the familiar signature kiss curl of Supes himself.

Zod has one last crack at recruiting Jor-El before swearing vengeance on him and his heirs...

The whole giant dome opens & the 3 are swept up by a gigantic, slowly spinning, glass like pane: the Phantom Zone.

Jor-El is having a hard time convincing the Kryptonian council about climate change.

The bright white glow on the Kryptonians is such a fantastic effect.

The council dictate silence to prevent panic. Brando gives it the Hartnell lapel-clutch.

"Neither I, nor my wife, will leave Krypton," he promises. I see what you did there!

Jor-El has sought out an adoptive home for his infant child.

Lara worries that the abilities the Earth's atmosphere will grant him will make him an outsider.

But Jor-El promises that he will never be alone.

"You will carry me inside you," Jor-El tells his baby son.

It does strike me how closely Man of Steel mirrors everything to this point.

I mean, yeah, we see Zod's insurrection, Jor-El has a flying Avatar beast & there's the Codex blah but it's pretty note for note overall.

Great practical effects and model work as Krypton's city is destroyed.

Love how we get that green glow in the destruction of Krypton, hinting at what's to come.

As his spiky escape ship speeds towards Earth, baby Supes grows up with the Godfather teaching him what he needs to know.

His ship crash lands like a meteor, right in front of Jonathan & Martha Kent.

The Super toddler takes to them straight away & pitches in with changing a tyre, like all good toddlers should.

Martha warns Jonathan to take care with his heart. He's not so sure about her adoption plans but he's clearly not local.

15 years later, young Clark is the team kit man at Smallville High.

Lana Lang invites him to a party, but the school bully's knocked over all the kit, leaving him with a lot of work to do...

Narky Clarky boots a "football" (it really isn't) into the atmosphere then runs faster than a speeding locomotive.

"How did you get here so fast?" "I ran." He's not lying.

How amazing is Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent. A touching, affecting, memorable performance. He's in just TWO scenes.

His "oh no," as he suffers his heart attack just brings tears to your eyes.

It is, of course, a massively underrated and criminally overlooked turn from Phyllis Thaxter as Martha.

As Clark loses one father, he discovers another. The night of Jonathan's funeral a green glow calls him to the barn where the ship he arrived in is hidden, and a Kryptonian crystal that will reveal his past also gives him his future.

Dubbing Chris Reeve's voice over Jeff East works surprisingly well, I feel.

Clark goes north. All the way north!

Great polar set. I don't think I've ever noticed that swimming polar bear before!

Clark flings the green crystal into the ice, and it grows him a new home. Pretty handy.

Love the Fortress of Solitude and the crystal technology of Krypton.

The Godfather's left a message on the Fortress's answer machine.

He learns his real name: Kal-El, and Jor-El picks up his education where he left off.

12 years pass, so Clark returns to society aged 30, ready to do his father's work. So having been born Moses, he's now Jesus. Knock yourselves out with that one.

And now your first glimpse. You better believe a man can fly...

He arrives in Metropolis, at the offices of the Daily Planet, to start a new career.

Straight away we make instant connections with Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen & Perry White. One little scene, all done.

It makes sense for Clark to seem so old fashioned; he's been in the arctic for 12 years.

Or has he? Where's this great journalistic CV come from?

Clark saves Lois from a mugging, literally palming the bullet that could have killed her.

He then cocks up by describing the exact contents of her handbag. That's not creepy.

A couple of detectives follow bumbling sidekick Otis in the hope he leads them to wanted criminal mastermind Lex Luthor.

Otis goes off the beaten track, Luthor sees to it that the detective pursuing Otis gets the train.

Luthor has an underground lair like a proper supervillain & a gangster's moll type who's none too impressed.

As much as Eisenberg's Luther sounds like it'll be a total reinvention, Hackman's is not faithful to the source either.

Lois heads for the roof, expecting the Planet's chopper to take her to her next big story. It certainly will.

A cable breaks free & becomes wrapped around the copter, causing it to spin out of control & injuring the pilot.

The copter crashes on the edge of the roof, and Lois has to try to get out but the copter is lurching over the edge & she's flung out, hanging on only by that stray cable.

This looks like a job for...

Note that even this first time, changing in a phone booth is a cliche, and he goes for the revolving doors instead.

STEREOTYPICAL PIMP: That's a bad out-FIT! Whoa! ... Say, Jim! Whoa!

SUPERMAN: Excuse me.

Supes saves the day with able assistance from John Williams.

"Statistically speaking it's still the safest way to travel."

Having announced himself to Metropolis, Supes goes on a crimefighting spree.

For his next trick he pulls the old Batman TV climbing-up-a-building trick in reverse and surprises a sticky villain.

As a gang of armed robbers make their escape by speedboat (as you do), Superman Strikes Again!

One of the gang tries to hit him with a crowbar that simply bounces off him. Supes dumps the boat the cop shop.

Nice to see he's not above rescuing cats from trees too, though. The human touch.

The little girl tells her parents. "Haven't I told you not to tell lies!" SMACK! oops.

Air Force One loses an engine to a lightning strike en route to Metropolis. They get a snazzy new red and blue one instead.

"Just fly. Don't look. Just fly. We got... something. I ain't saying what it is." Fantastic stuff.

In his underground lair, Luthor deducts that Superman must be alien.

Perry White wants the scoop. Lois is passed a note in class.

Superman might never lie, but he's late for his date with Lois.

"You really shouldn't smoke, Miss Lane."
"Don't tell me, lung cancer?"
"No, you just stink."

Lois asks him (in this order) - his age, "size", height, weight & then if he shits.

She then invites him to check out what colour her underwear is. Really?

"Do you have a 1st name?" "What, like Ralph?" Yeah. Ralph Superman.

I do enjoy the running joke of Lois's crap spelling. She'd have spellcheck now, of course.

"Clark? Who's that, your boyfriend?" he asks, mere seconds after claiming he never lies.

I am no fan of Lois' silly interior monologue where she basically (c)raps all over John Williams' score.

Jason McLaughlin @jangomac72 At least she didn't sing it as originally planned!!

Christ that would have been even worse!

he drops her back home then pretends to be Clark again as she christens him Superman. That's Superman the liar!

Luthor prepares to put his plan into motion, but 1st he has to remove a rather large red and blue obstacle...

Lois' tell-all interview has given Luthor the key. Now he knows he comes from Krypton, he can lay his hands on Kryptonite.

Luthor & co. distract the missile convoy, and JR recommends "vigorous chest massage" for Miss Teschmacher. Deary me.

Luthor tries a completely different Plan B set of disguises like a cross between Wile E. Coyote & a Scooby Doo villain.

Having got what he wanted, Luthor blows a dog whistle to summon Superman.

Superman drills down through the pavement, like he couldn't have just found a manhole.

Luthor reveals his plan, Superman gives a geography and geology lesson.

Luthor plans to remodel the West Coast of America using the sabotaged missiles. Cliff out of Cheers starts to panic.

Luthor tricks Superman by hinting the detonator is in a lead case... which actually contains Kryptonite.

"We all have our little faults; mine's in Southern California."

Lex gives Superman a Kryptonite medallion and chucks him in the swimming pool. Time's running out as the missiles fly.

Supes appeal to Miss Teschmacher, who agrees to help him if he rescues her mother first.

Freed from the Kryptonite, Supes knocks off missile no. 1, but no. 2's detected Lois playing Supertramp & hits the fault.

Supes gets under the Earth's crust to try to shore up the faultline.

In San Fran, Supes saves a school bus teetering on the edge of the Golden Gate bridge...

Then has to act as a one man piece of railway track to prevent a derailment.

Jimmy Olsen is caught atop a bursting dam. Top model work here.

Although he's saved Jimmy, Lois is trapped in her car as it's buried in a sinkhole that drags it down.

Supes gets there just minutes too late. Lois is dead. Her nice white suit's ruined too.

So basically he cheats and by flying round the earth dead fast, he turns back time...

And touches down at the point where Lois' car wouldn't start. But now there are no earthquakes happening. Eh?

Lois starts to wonder why Clark & Superman are never in the same place at the same time.

Anyways, Supes heads back to Metropolis to pick up Lex, and sends him straight to prison without trial. Come again?