Thoughts on Indy, more with Mike, and the last word on Superman IV...

Well, it's been a while for me, and things have begun to move in the right direction in my life. I signed with the Clinton Public School District and completed the majority of my paperwork, and as of this writing all that awaits me is signing my final contract papers. I'm really excited to be making great money doing what I trained to do, and only five minues from my house! All that remains now at this point is beginning the process to get my daughter moved to Mississippi.

This past weekend I finally had the chance to go see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". It's not the most high-brow epic film entertainment in the universe, but it's a good solid two hours of leave your brain at the door, get a Coke and a bag of popcorn, and enjoy Harrison Ford once again returning to one of his most famous roles. There's nice little nods to his past film adventures (including an eyebrow-raising nod to the Ark of the Covenant, and even a tip of the brown felt fedora to "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", to boot!), while further setting up possible sequels to come in the future (you know this is going to be inevitable). And anytime Spielberg and Lucas manage to work in music from Elvis and the Everly Brothers into the film's ambience, amid another exciting John Williams musical score, you know you're in for a treat.

What I loved about the new "Indiana Jones" movie is that it did something for the first time since my broken return to Mississippi: it gave me a period of escape for two hours where I felt nothing but joy and happiness for a little while. That's a good sign indeed.

I've been talking more and more lately with Mike Matessino, the film and score restoration producer extraordinare who gave us his magnum opus soundtrack box set earlier this year with the "Superman" eight-disc CD set. If you rub him the wrong way, you better brace yourself for a cold, shivery feeling. However, go with the straightforward and friendly approach, and you've got a very trusted and reliable source who will accord you with the same respect and friendliness in turn. Anyway, Mike informed me that Film Score Monthly has reissued the "Superman" CD box set in a second edition of 3,000, so I wouldn't be surprised if that edition sells out quickly. Any plans for a third edition, perhaps?

Recently Mike told me of the passing of film and TV composer Alexander Courage, the man best known for giving the world the familiar "Star Trek" theme and some of the original series' most memorable cues. If for nothing else, he'll be remembered for that singular contribution. But Courage's work was not just limited to "Star Trek". Among his most magnificent scores was the complete score to "Superman IV", which made its world premiere release on the "Superman" box set. For years Courage maintained that he didn't feel the need to see the score released, since he had adapted the original John Williams themes for the new film - I know that for a fact because in 2000 I was part of an online chat including Courage, "Star Trek: TNG" composer Dennis McCarthy, and "Matrix" composer Don Davis - and yet the Courage score (which adapted Williams' original "Superman" themes along with three new themes composed by Williams for IV) was one of the most enjoyable and pleasurable aspects of the film.

Sadly, Courage passed away only a couple of months after the "Superman" box set was initially released. But it pleased not only Mike but also Courage himself to know that his score to "Superman IV" would now be enjoyed by legions of fans for years to come. So it makes not only the initial pressing but also the second edition of the box set a bittersweet release, with Courage's passing.

Speaking of "Superman IV", Mike has prepared a thorough article and interview which covers not only the troubled production but also the complexities of assembling the score from the German and British recording sessions. In addition, for the past 21 years, reports and comments of a 134-minute version of the film have continually surfaced, among them from screenwriter Mark Rosenthal and visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw. The first time I had heard of a 134-minute cut of "Superman IV", it was on Gregory Oshel's now-defunct "Superman" films website, the precursor to Superman Cinema, initially developed by GandalfDC of Great Britain, and Hiphats' Superman Web Central, which is also defunct at this time as well. Over the years reports surfaced of somebody obtaining a video of the 134-minute cut of the film from the SFM Holiday Network, but the variations to the story were always the same: "My uncle/aunt/brother/parents taped the film but lost the tape/recorded over it/can't find it anywhere." I tracked down one rumor that had it in Washington state, and the fellow's name and address were given. Another rumor I tracked all the way to the Netherlands, where it was reported that a 120-minute cut of the film was for sale at a Dutch video store, but the store owners confirmed that it only ran 88 minutes long (comparable to the 89- or 90-minute U.S. release). In 2004 someone from the U.K. tried to auction a bootleg workprint of the 134-minute cut on eBay, with very few details given. That turned out to be another red herring, too, and I'm thankful that I didn't lose any money from that phoney auction. And most recently on the Superman Cinema message board, it was reported that someone had gotten a VCD of the 134-minute cut. That turned out to be a joke went awry, another false sighting/red herring.

Let's look at the facts:

- Given the reports from Mike Matessino, Mark Rosenthal, and Harrison Ellenshaw, there was indeed a 134-minute cut of "Superman IV" that was initially screened. Based on the status of that print of the film, it was closer to completion than a lot of people assume, given the nearly completed quality of all visual effects and some of the lost music appearing in one of the cut scenes (the "Red Alert" sequence).
- The film was cut to 93 minutes for its international release from Cannon Films, with the tornado and Russian missile sequences intact (though the workprint versions of those scenes appeared on the 2006 DVD release), while those two scenes were cut from the film for its 89-minute U.S. release.
- Over the years dozens of film stills and production photos from the lost sequences continually surfaced on websites around the world, including Superman Cinema and CapedWonder.com, as well as on the initial 2001 DVD release.
- In 2005 confirmed reports placed the master negatives of the film in storage at Deluxe Film Labs in Denham, Middlesex, England.
- When the film was reissued on DVD in 2006, some 25-30 minutes of deleted scenes were issued for the first time.
- I constructed a series of three test reels that reassembled the film's components together into a more cohesive whole (with only two scenes unknowingly misplaced at the time). Based on that assembly, I came up with a running time of just under 116 minutes.
- A few further additional bits and pieces of unreleased footage surfaced on a couple of foreign theatrical trailers and one U.S. TV spot (most importantly a piece of footage of Lex Luthor asking Superman, "Isn't that adorable?", which Mike Matessino correctly identified in the CD box set as deleted from the final film).
- Based on these and other assessments from the DVD and the CD soundtrack release, some 18-19 minutes of footage remain unreleased to the public (if we go with the 134-minute figure).

So now the question is, where is that remaining footage, and does it still exist? For that matter, why does someone always surface on the Internet and claim to have a copy of that now-fabled 134-minute cut of "Superman IV" and yet never offer the proof itself? Not only is Mike Matessino a devoted Superman fan, he is quite possibly the most knowledgeable expert when it comes to the "Superman" films itself. Mike himself believes that the footage is possibly lost forever, and that a complete restoration of the film is impossible (given a chunk of footage from the opening of the Metro Club scene remains unreleased).

So here's my point: There needs to be a formal statement made that states once and for all whether or not the 134-minute cut of "Superman IV" exists (in my view, it more than likely doesn't), and that if it does exist, someone should step forward and offer the rock-solid proof for experts like Mike and independent analysts like me to once and for all confirm. If that person cannot produce the evidence, then he (or she) needs to keep quiet.

That's all I really have to say about it.