We fade in on a pair of curtains. They part, revealing a blank motion picture screen. In the background, the faint sound of a film projector is heard whirring. A subtitle appears:
.....and disappears anew. Next, we see the image fading in of the very first issue of Action Comics, and then the hand of a young boy begins to turn the book's first few pages, while his voice narrates the Prologue to all that is to follow:
"In the decade of the 1930's, even the great city of Metropolis was not spared the ravages of the worldwide depression. In the times of fear and confusion, the job of informing the public was the responsibility of the Daily Planet, a great metropolitan newspaper whose reputation for clarity and truth had become a symbol of hope for the city of Metropolis......."
As the boy reads, the image comes to rest upon the drawing of the Daily Planet Building, only to lap-dissolve into a live-action image of the same tower, the newspaper's neon logo flashing like a jewel in the night sky.
Suddenly, without warning, we tilt up, past the moon --- and then...... a crystal blue image materializes toward us, ultimately focusing to clarity, thus revealing the words.......
ALEXANDER SALKIND PRESENTS
Then, unexpectedly, and again without warning, those same three words blast off the screen, literally zooming right at us! Three more times is this powerful process repeated:
MARLON BRANDO
GENE HACKMAN
IN A RICHARD DONNER FILM
And then, the mighty "S" shield blasts onto the screen.....
..... reassuring us once and for all of the epic saga for which we are in store...... the adventure and the spectacle of ----
SUPERMAN
Now, the remaining Super-credits zoom forward, reversing the process:
CHRISTOPHER REEVE NED BEATTY
JACKIE COOPER
GLENN FORD
TREVOR HOWARD
MARGOT KIDDER
JACK O'HALLORAN
VALERIE PERRINE
MARIA SCHELL
TERENCE STAMP
PHYLLIS THAXTER
SUSANNAH YORK
JEFF EAST MARC McCLURE
SARAH DOUGLAS HARRY ANDREWS
PRODUCTION DESIGNER JOHN BARRY PHOTOGRAPHED BY GEOFFREY UNSWORTH, B.S.C.
EDITOR STUART BAIRD
MUSIC BY JOHN WILLIAMS SUPERMAN CREATED BY JERRY SIEGEL & JOE SHUSTER
STORY BY MARIO PUZO SCREENPLAY BY MARIO PUZO DAVID NEWMAN LESLIE NEWMAN & ROBERT BENTON
CREATIVE CONSULTANT TOM MANKIEWICZ ASSOCIATE PRODUCER CHARLES F. GREENLAW EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ILYA SALKIND PRODUCED BY PIERRE SPENGLER DIRECTED BY RICHARD DONNER