Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman was the first major superhero movie of the modern era, and is still the benchmark by which all Superman movies are judged.

I remember going to the movies to see this on the back of the promise of the tag-line: “You’ll believe a man can fly.”  The special effects, whilst cutting edge for the era, are not that special, in all honesty, and especially when viewed through the lense of today’s CGI-enhanced comic book adaptations. 

But what the move does have in spades is charm.  Much of that comes from Christopher Reeve’s effortless performance as Superman/Clark Kent. Subsequent so-so reboots have shown how difficult this is to pull off – making Reeve still the best onscreen Superman.

Donner also keeps the action relatively grounded – there is no 3rd act CGI-battle overload that seems to come with most Marvel and DC movies these days – instead daring to focus on characterisation, particularly the relationship between Clark and Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane.

Featured here are both the Japanese ‘chirashi’ flyer and the French ‘moyenne’ size poster, which is available to buy here.