Superstars: The Documentary Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Superstars: The Documentary Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 31, 2021

Jesus Christ Superstar has, kind of like its subject character, experienced a resurrection or two in its long history. When the film version was released in 1973, the film musical was already in pretty steep decline, but Jesus Christ Superstar director Norman Jewison had just defied that trend with his immensely successful cinematic adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof in 1971, with that film version scoring well with both critics and audiences, raking in tens of millions of dollars in ticket sales and being feted with several honors, including a Best Picture designation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As I mention in our Fiddler on the Roof Blu-ray review, kind of ironically Jewison may have seemed an unlikely candidate to helm a big budget musical like Fiddler on the Roof, especially since, even circa 1970-71 when the film was being shot and then released, the film musical was already experiencing fairly dire straits, and Jewison's film CV had nothing in it to suggest he was qualified to handle a project of this scale. But the overwhelming reaction to Fiddler on the Roof gave Jewison an undeniable cachet that kind of inherently gave his announced film version of Jesus Christ Superstar instant "street cred". But for a variety of reasons, and again kind of ironically given the vast difference in the number of people who consider themselves Christian versus the number of Jewish believers in a global potential audience, Jesus Christ Superstar didn't connect as viscerally with film audiences (and critics, but let's ignore those curmudgeons). The film did okay, of course, but its box office take of slightly north of twenty million pales in comparison to Fiddler on the Roof's returns, and some of Jewison's staging choices raised hackles at the time of the film's release and perhaps contributed to its perceived reputation as a production squarely of its era, rather than something more timeless like Fiddler on the Roof, something that is yet another irony given Jewison's combo platter of "ancient" and "modern" in Jesus Christ Superstar, as I overtly mention in our Jesus Christ Superstar Blu-ray review.

Superstars seems to be a pet project of Ted Neeley's, and the whole documentary is rather warmly suffused with a feeling of camaraderie and what might be termed fellowship (whether Christian or otherwise), and as several people, including Neeley himself, recount, Norman Jewison cast a group of largely completely inexperienced film actors for Jesus Christ Superstar. That may have in fact only tended to bond the group together all the more strongly, as their longstanding friendships as documented by this very piece would seem to demonstrate. What's kind of interesting historically in terms of the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar is that it sounds like Jewison was considering a film during the Fiddler on the Roof shoot, as alluded to in archival interviews with Jewison and Fiddler on the Roof film ensemble player Barry Dennen, who had memorably created the role of Pontius Pilate on the original Jesus Christ Superstar concept album and who later recreated it for the film version.

Superstars features some touching reunions of the surviving cast members, and there are a veritable glut of interviews offered here with Neeley, Yvonne Elliman, and, among several others, Josh Mostel (did Jewison hire him to make up for not casting Zero Mostel in that "other" musical he had just directed?). Some of the candid backstage footage is admittedly a little goofy and maybe even pointless, but when the performers first see and greet each other, there's a palpable air of emotion, and while arguably a bit inconsistent at times, at least some of the interviews offer great tidbits and just a general feel for what it was like for all these extremely young and rather inexperienced performers to, first, be in Israel shooting a major film musical, and, second, working with someone as legendary as Norman Jewison.

Superstars: The Documentary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Superstars: The Documentary is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer (largely) in 1.78:1. There seem to be at least two different sources here, though why is not exactly clear to me, since the contemporary interview and/or reunion and/or Q & A sessions have two varying looks, each of which has some hurdles to overcome. A scan of the disc reveals that not only are the main feature and several of the supplements interlaced, they're at the rather strange fps of around 29 and change, which I don't think I've encountered before (at least to my recollection). A lot of the material has pretty pronounced interlacing artifacts, and at least some of this has signs of being an upscale (look at screenshot 19 for an example). Other moments, including the Q & A session and even some fly on the wall stuff during the reunion or interview tapings look more like noisy video, though they may not have the same interlacing issues or overt signs of upscaling. Archival video can be a bit pallid and not offer as secure detail levels and the newer material. The new material does feature a rather deeply suffused palette. One way or the other, this is a less than optimal video presentation, though my hunch is that fans of Jesus Christ Superstar aren't going to care very much.

Superstars: The Documentary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Superstars: The Documentary features an LPCM 2.0 track that is fine in terms of offering secure renderings of both spoken material and music, though there's a rather looming sonic elephant in the room: could Neeley and company not afford to license any actual music from the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice masterpiece? The only snippet from Jesus Christ Superstar you're going to hear in this piece is a goofy moment from Josh Mostel recreating "King Herod's Song" that I suspect may have been edited to be brief enough not to get royalty bean counters in an uproar. Aside from that kind of weird trivia sidebar, fidelity here is fine. Optional English, Spanish and Italian subtitles are available.

Superstars: The Documentary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Love is All There Is Music Video (HD*; 4:52)


• O Holy Night Music Video (HD*; 5:14)


• Where You Are Music Video (HD; 2:15)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD*; 1:14)

*Note: While these are ostensibly in HD, they're interlaced and look like upscales, per my comments in the video section.

Superstars: The Documentary Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Superstars: The Documentary is an unexpectedly sweet piece of filmmaking that will certainly be appreciated by fans of the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar. The interview segments could arguably have used a bit more shaping and/or judicious editing, but there are some really fun moments with the cast of the film captured here. Video has some issues, but audio is fine, for those who are considering making a purchase.