As we pick up on page 37 of the second draft script, Mario Puzo revisits Clark Kent’s journey north. At this point Puzo still refers to him as Superman. This owes to the then-current assumption in the comic books that Superman was the real person and Clark was the secret identity.

The second draft follows almost exactly as what Puzo had written in the first draft a few months earlier, except for one point. On page 39 he added the following note: “We see Superman still as a young man (still not the star at this point) standing alone on the snowy iced over tundra.”

From there the script continues as is from the first draft, with Clark Kent arriving in Metropolis, getting an apartment, getting his job as an on-air reporter with Galaxy Communications, and meeting Perry White, Lois Lane, and Morgan Edge.

Here we have two significant revisions, as there is no physical description for Morgan Edge. Puzo has removed the reference to Broderick Crawford from the first draft and left the playing field wide open for any actor to be cast in the part. Perhaps the editors at DC Comics, or the Salkinds, may have noted the dissimilarity between Puzo’s initial notes about Edge and the comic book character. Furthermore, there is no shuffling back and forth between the names Morgan Edge and Martin Edge. This is another correction that Puzo wisely made in the second draft.

So now the question is, if the role had been open for casting, who would have been suggested for the part? I’ve made some suggestions based on the age of Morgan Edge, around mid 30s to mid 40s, and the physical appearance of the character, and here are some suggestions.

Of course, these are just suggestions and open to interpretation, so anything is valid at this point. After the second draft it wouldn’t matter anymore, as the character of Morgan Edge would be completely removed from the later scripts. So who would have cast in the role? I’d love to hear your suggestions!

Another change that occurs in the script is that Edge’s lines to Lois about reading the wrong weather report are now given over to Perry White in this draft. Furthermore, we are now treated to a warmer, more casual side of Morgan Edge, as he regards Perry White with respect as a senior executive of the Galaxy Communications team, even through his gruffness.

Another subtle change occurs in the next scene when Edge discusses with his staff his plans for covering the crime in Metropolis. Whereas in the first draft he is present with them, here he is not, preferring to discuss his plans via a closed circuit monitor. This is where we get our first view of Morgan Edge in this revised script.

The script then repeats the scenes from the first draft, with Clark, Lois, Jimmy Olsen, and Steve Lombard preparing to go out at night and cover the crime rate in Metropolis. No changes have been made to the scene, and we are again given needless exposition to Lombard’s character as he attempts to trick Clark. These snarky moments only slow down the action and contribute nothing to the overall plot.

From there we are introduced to Lex Luthor, his henchmen, and Eve, as they prepare to pull off a late night bank heist. The main takeaway from this scene is that Luthor’s name has been corrected from Luthor Lux in the first draft to Lex Luthor in the second draft. Otherwise, the exposition is exactly the same, even down to Puzo’s casting suggestions of Dustin Hoffman or Paul Newman in the role.

From there the script continues as before, with Luthor pulling off the bank heist and abducting Lois, Jimmy and Steve recording the entire event, Superman arriving and preventing the bank heist from occurring, and pursuing Luthor to his underground lair. In the first draft of the script, the scene of Superman’s pursuit of Luthor into the lair was written as a two-page insert, labeled 57A and 57B, occurring in the middle of the next sequence of the reporters conferring at Galaxy Communications. The insertion of the scene, along with Puzo’s note “Insert here”, was meant to be an afterthought to the action of the script, something he thought about while writing the next scene. Here, he corrects the order of the scenes and places Superman’s pursuit of Luthor in its proper place in the script without any disruption of action or dialogue. Otherwise, there are no other changes to the scene.

Overall, the revisions to the script over the next thirty pages are slight yet substantial revisions to some of the characters, with a couple of scene revisions and corrections as well. Otherwise, the second Puzo draft is for the most part the same as the first draft. It hasn’t expanded by that much.

Next time: the super feats continue!

(Some of the screenshots in this blog are courtesy of CapedWonder.com.)