GIANTS OF THESSALY (THE ARGONAUTS) (1960)
Written by Enno di Concini, Giuseppe Masini,
Mario Rossetti and Riccardo Freda
Directed by Ricardo Freda

A decent re-telling of the Jason and the Argonauts story, with Roland Carey as an athletic, nimble, resourceful Jason, Ziva Rodann as his wife Creusa, Massimo Girotti as his sidekick Orpheus, a race of Amazons, a Carlo Rambaldi-created giant Gorilla/Cyclops who slobbers and suffers from a runny nose, and a pretty spectacular climax in which Jason must climb a gigantic statue to retrieve the Golden Fleece, then returns to his country to battle Adrastus (Alberto Farnese), pretender to his throne. Its certainly no competition for Harryhausen’s great JASON & THE ARGONAUTS, but, despite its low budget and occasional lapses in continuity (which may be the result of re-cutting for the U.S. market), this version is quite good. Visually, however, its difficult to judge, as VCI’s DVD, although slightly letter-boxed, is the same old faded color, pan/scan TV print format most of Italy’s sword and sandal films are available in today. We need more restorations of these neglected 1960’s sword and sandal films!

SUPERMAN II (THE RICHARD DONNER CUT) (1978/2006)
Written by Mario Puzo, David and Leslie Newman
Directed by Richard Donner

Richard Donner was right. Before the producers changed their minds in mid-production, the first two Superman features, shot simultaneously by Donner, were always meant to be two halves of the same movie, much as the Salkinds had done with THE THREE and FOUR MUSKETEERS. But at some point they decided to move the “turn-back-time” climax of Part 2 into Part 1, as well as to eliminate Jor-El (Marlon Brando) from 2 and make numerous other smaller changes. Donner left the project and Richard Lester was brought in to re-shoot sections of 2 and come up with solutions to the gaps left in the script. Thirty years later, Donner has completed his version of Part 2, and it is vastly superior to Lester’s. I’ve always felt that SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE was the better of the first two features; more coherent in narrative and tone. Donner’s SUPERMAN II is even better than his Part 1, tightly focused on the revenge of Luthor (Gene Hackman) and General Zod (Terence Stamp) and on the romance of Lois (Margot Kidder) and Clark (the superb Christopher Reeve). If you, like me, have always liked 2 but have had reservations about it, the Donner Cut will eliminate those reservations. Its only real misstep is in the moment toward the end when Clark, newly rejuvenated with his powers, returns to beat up the Diner Bully who had given him a whippin’ when he was powerless; its a moment that is temporarily satisfying, but unworthy of the Man of Steel. He is now, after all, once again invulnerable. That is, however, a minor quibble about this newly Super Sequel. (Viewed on Warner’s gorgeous DVD, which can now be found for around $10.)

— Robert Deveau, The Doomed Farmer