Superman In the Movieum of London

Martin-El

Sr Member
Hi all -

So as soon as I heard an honest-to-god authenticated screen-used costume was going to be on display on a custom mannequin of Christopher Reeve with a finished lifecast of his face by Stuart Freeborn for the production, well...
Myself and Super-fan cKing made our way down there last week with the intention of examining every nuance of the costume (having made several attempts at replicating it) and its safe to say we were staggered by just how intracate the real costume is.

The display is located in the "Heroes and villains" hall. It is a huge regal buliding and as its early days only the Super costume and two pieces from the Batman films occupy this hall.

Entrance;

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The full display;

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Close on the lifecast - This was damnright eerie;

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The sign;

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Close on the symbol;

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As a result of a lot of research, Chris was also able to narrow this particular costume down to the scene in which it was used - The alley change from Superman II. Look closely at the symbol (as they all had quirks) and compare for yourself...

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As it was a quiet weekday we had two uninterrupted hours with the display and were encouraged by freindly staff to take as many pictures as we wanted. It was truly a magical experience as the original trailer for STM (plus other movies of the time) were running on a big screen in the room also.

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"Something wrong with the elevator...?"

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There were many other original exhibits in the Movieum (such as the Judge Dredd costume and bike, an Alien, Hellraiser and Star Wars displays) But we kept coming back to the best. After we eventually tore ourselves away from the Movieum to have lunch in Planet Hollywood, another Super-Suprise revealed itself...

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In the shape of an original Derek Meddings flying miniature!!!

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While only about 15cm long, the detail in this model for its time was amazing - from the colour matched paint to the fabric cape and hand-drawn cape symbol, its a beautiful relic of handcrafted effects of old.

While on a roll, after dinner we decided to head to Madame Tussauds - this was the only dissapointing revelation of the trip as the waxwork from years ago was wearing an original costume also. It has been replaced with an inferior one but the display is still there;

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No sign of Routh so a good testimony to Reeve's lasting legacy...

All in all, a Super day and gratifying to see there are nice things to see in the country the movies were made.
 
Awesome display!! The likeness is terrific--obviously, it's a lifemask. Isn't it weird though, how Doody's (Dullam Causey's) version looks even more like Chris Reeve to me-even though it's a sculpted piece?!
 
I've never heard of this place before - at first I thought you'd misspelled 'Museum of London' or something!

Can you remember what other props and/or costumes are there?

Harry
 
GREAT PHOTOS!!!!

Thank you for sharing!

What a time you must have had. I can only imagine!

I'm so happy that it was up to your expectations and the staff was so friendly.

I've of course seen and admired your replica efforts . It's great to hear your pilgrimage went so well!
Thanks again!

All the best,
Chuck...
 
Thanks for sharing the photos. Those are great! I have to agree though, I think the Bob's Reeve sculpt looks better than the Freeborn Lifecast..
 
Awesome pics!!!!!

Man... that is pretty cool. I really like the diamond shaped metal base for him.

I wonder if the mannequin is a custom 1:1 for his size during the movie?
 
Okay, um...wow!

I've seen a pic of Freeborn with a bunch of heads behind him, including Reeve, Zod, Non & Ursa and always wondered where those got off to and why a Reeve lifcast has never surfaced.

I'd LOVE to slap some Alginate on that face.

GREAT pics!!!

Steve
 
Fantastic work fellas. I bet the 'so called experts' at Propstore hadn't scene matched it!:lol

Thanks for sharing.

Joe
 
Bloody hell great pics! that looks like County Hall on the southbank (that right?)

If so I may just go tomorrow as I have the day off! :)


Jeremy
 
Looks great, man!

Can you elaborate on what you found in terms of intricacies of the costume? Was it workmanship, materials, stitching, etc.?
 
Looks great, man!

Can you elaborate on what you found in terms of intricacies of the costume? Was it workmanship, materials, stitching, etc.?

All of the above -
I'm preparing a detailed article for CapedWonder.com detailing all the quirks. Suffice to say there can never be an honest-to-god reproduction so hopefully anybody investing large amounts of money in any supposed 'screen used' costume will know exactly what to look for to authenticate.
 
Thanks for posting the details of our trip Martin!

What a GREAT day we had. Just awesome to see a truly authentic Reeve costume and be able to photograph it from every conceivable angle! I was thrilled to see how close we got with our replicas though!

Yes, the Freeborn lifecast suffers a bit from "sagging skin" due to the weight of the alginate that was used. It's quite a blank looking face because Reeve wasn't pulling any kind of expression during the casting. Still, very nice way to complete the mannequin display.

The mannequin was bulked up to Reeve proportions and looked really impressive - especially the legs which were spectacularly "Reeve-esque".

Interestingly, the cape did not have a cape emblem on it. We studied the back of the cape closely and could see no evidence of a cape emblem ever being sewn onto it. I'd love to hear from propstore about whether they know the reason for the lack of cape emblem.

My thanks to Stephen at Propstore for allowing this amazing display to be shared for the public to see. Not sure if I'd ever have been able to see an authentic Reeve costume if it wasn't for his generosity. In fact, the large majority of costumes and props have been loaned to The Movieum by Propstore. It's humbling to see just how much amazing stuff they've managed to get their hands on!

Cheers,

Chris
 
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