Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Supergirl Blu-ray Movie Review

Not the One on TV

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 25, 2018

Supergirl isn't a particularly good movie, but that hardly matters. The 1984 comic-book adaptation was the first major motion picture to feature a female superhero, paving the way for later female-centered projects on both the large and small screens. The script is problematic, the characters are often ridiculous and the effects and production design are frequently laughable, but Supergirl retains an undeniable charm, much of which is attributable to star Helen Slater, making her film debut at age 19. Supergirl inaugurated a career for Slater that would include memorable roles in Ruthless People, The Legend of Billie Jean and The Secret of My Success. She would eventually pull back from the film industry to devote time to her family, but she keeps popping up, most recently in the fitting role of Eliza Danvers, foster mother to the current incarnation of her former character on The CW's hit series.

The Warner Archive Collection is adding Supergirl to its Blu-ray library, and even before its official release, the disc was controversial. The film exists in multiple versions, including the drastically shortened U.S. theatrical cut that bombed at the box office, a longer international cut that is considered by most to be the best version of the film (and had the director's approval), various video and TV incarnations, and a 138-minute so-called "director's cut" that was first made available by the now-defunct Anchor Bay in 2000. Scenes appear in one version that are absent from all others. Music cues and dialogue differ. A full excavation of Supergirl's alternate presentations would rival the density of Blade Runner's history.

But despite the intensity of their devotion, Supergirl's fans aren't sufficiently numerous to support a multi-version presentation like the historic Blade Runner "Final Cut" set, especially within WAC's tight budget constraints. And even if WAC's corporate parent were inclined to make the investment, Warner doesn't have all of the essential source materials. Like the Superman films, Supergirl was the subject of intense and protracted legal disputes between the studio and the films' producers (which explains why the first DVD presentations were released by Anchor Bay).

When the dust finally settled, Warner received unfettered rights to the film, but many of the original visual and audio elements were nowhere to be found, even after the studio obtained access to a trove of materials held by Studio Canal. Accordingly, WAC has opted to release on Blu-ray the 125-minute international version, newly scanned and remastered from an interpositive, accompanied by the 138-minute "director's cut" (139 minutes, if you round upward) taken from Anchor Bay's standard-definition DigiBeta tape, which is the only source in Warner's possession. The "director's cut" appears on a separate DVD.

Supergirl's script, credited to David Odell (The Dark Crystal and Masters of the Universe), is vague on key points of the character's origin and powers, but let's give it a try. After the destruction of Krypton, a small group of escapees have created a refuge dubbed Argo City, which is said to exist in "inner space", though whether that's an alternate dimension or the depths of Earth's ocean remains unclear. (If it's the latter, they're apparently too far from our yellow sun to acquire superpowers—except at the film's end, when Supergirl somehow retains them as she returns.) In the peaceful paradise of Argo City, young Kara Zor-El (Slater) lives with her parents (Simon Ward and Mia Farrow) and adores her mentor, Zaltar, an artist with a reckless streak who is played by Peter O'Toole, fulfilling the serious-actor/superstar quotient that Marlon Brando supplied for Superman: The Movie.

But one day, the combined carelessness of Zaltar and Kara causes Argo City to lose its principal power source, a sphere called the Omegahedron that seems to have a mind of its own. It guides itself to Earth's surface, and Kara impulsively launches herself to retrieve it in a vehicle of Zaltar's construction. Once she arrives, she not only acquires the same powers as her famous cousin, Kal-El, a/k/a "Superman", but also becomes a chameleon who can alter her clothing and appearance at will. This talent becomes particularly useful when the blonde Kara adopts the secret identity of auburn Linda Lee, the supposed cousin of Clark Kent, and infiltrates the girls boarding school that just happens to be the current location of Lois Lane's younger sister, Lucy (Maureen Teefy). Lucy's boyfriend is Daily Planet staple Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure, Supergirl's only crossover from the Superman films).

Lacking the advantage of her cousin's long education during his space flight to Earth, and his years of upbringing as the adopted son of human foster parents, Kara is often thrilled by the novelty of an alien world. The mere opening of a flower is an unexpected wonder. But her ignorance is selective, coming and going with the needs of the plot. She knows all about her cousin and his activities—Superman is conveniently out of the picture on a diplomatic mission to a distant star system—and she possesses sophisticated skills like typing (at superspeed) and drafting a credible letter of reference to get "Linda Lee" into Lucy's boarding school. But routine human customs like a handshake leave her flummoxed.

Meanwhile, the Omegahedron has fallen into evil hands. It was found by Selena (Faye Dunaway), a former fortune teller and would-be witch, whose lair is an abandoned amusement park she occupies with friend and fellow wiccan Bianca (Brenda Vaccaro). Immediately recognizing the sphere as a source of immense power, Selena declares her intention to achieve world domination, but she never actually does much of consequence beyond taking over the small town of Midvale. Far too many of her machinations are devoted to winning the love of a dimwitted gardener named Ethan, who hardly seems worth the effort. (The gardener is played by Hart Bochner, who four years later would be immortalized as the coked-up corporate weasel in Die Hard.) When Selena's love spell goes awry, and Ethan falls for Kara instead of her, Selena embarks on a jealous rampage. Faye Dunaway's performance has been mocked as over-the-top, but she's doing her best with a role that's been poorly written and a character that makes no sense. A great hero needs a great villain, and Selena's a lousy one. For all of Dunaway's theatrical effort, she's routinely upstaged by Brenda Vaccaro's sidekick—and also by her occasional boyfriend, a warlock portrayed by the great British comedian Peter Cook, who, like Vaccaro, plays his role like he's in on the joke.

Journeyman director Jeannot Szwarc (Jaws 2) does his best to make something exciting out of Selena's underwhelming attacks—a mostly invisible monster? a runaway steam shovel? seriously?—but he's working against the frequently silly script and the limitations of the era's pre-digital effects. The flying sequences are among the best parts of the film, because they take advantage of Slater's graceful movements and her expressions of delight at the joy of flight. But much of Supergirl has aged badly. Argo City looks like it came from a cheesy sci-fi flick from the Sixties, and the whirlpool through which Kara escapes from the Phantom Zone after Selena has sent her there looks like a rejected scene from the 1980 Flash Gordon, which was intentionally campy. (And how is it that earthling Selena knows about the Kryptonian-invented Phantom Zone? Beats me.)

Cult movies are often most beloved for their flaws; so I'm not going to waste more time picking at Supergirl's limitations and inconsistencies. Newcomers should be warned, though, that the film bears little resemblance to the world that Richard Donner created in Superman: The Movie and its equally entertaining sequel (whether in Donner's version or the one that Richard Lester re-shot). Supergirl exists in its own loopy universe, and my feature score represents a compromise between the film's numerous flaws and its continuing cult appeal. Fans will think the score is too low, while others will find it generous. Supergirl is that kind of film.

Supergirl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Supergirl was shot by the distinguished British cinematographer Alan Hume, whose credits include Return of the Jedi and three of Roger Moore's Bond films. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, the Warner Archive Collection has worked from an archival interpositive of the complete 125-minute international version, which had suffered significant wear and damage but was deemed usable. Warner's MPI facility scanned the IP at 2K, followed by color correction using an archival answer print on low-fade stock as a reference. The master required unusually extensive cleaning to remove dirt and repair scratches, tears, streaks and other age-related damage. However, MPI was given express instructions not to remove visible wires or other remnants of dated effects technology that would have been part of the film when it was released in 1984. (Look closely at Supergirl's initial emergence from the water in screenshot 12; the wire pulling her would be digitally erased in a contemporary production, but in the analog era they relied on well-timed edits and a slight loss in resolution as the IP was printed down to release prints.)

The resulting image is beautifully colorful and remarkably detailed, and it showcases, for better and worse, Supergirl's frequently goofy and incongruous costumes and production design. (Faye Dunaway's outfits are a hoot; she looks more like a circus act than a villain.) Primaries are rich, densities and black levels are excellent, and the extensive clean-up of the IP's damage has paid off in improved clarity and stability. It's a grainy film, which is typical of the era—Ghostbusters was released the same year—and many of the effects sequences achieved optically are even grainier, which was an inescapable side effect of that process. MPI has not attempted to apply any grain reduction, and the Blu-ray reproduces the film's original grain pattern naturally and accurately. Supergirl looks like it should and better than I've ever seen it on home video (and, I'll wager, better—and cleaner—than most theatrical prints in 1984).

Following its usual practice, WAC has authored the disc with a high average bitrate, here 34.99 Mbps.

Supergirl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Supergirl was released to theaters in Dolby Stereo Surround, but the magnetic master of that mix could not be found. When Anchor Bay released the film on Blu-ray, it did a 5.1 remix for the 125-minute international version, of which Warner now has the uncompressed digital audio files. That mix was used for both Anchor Bay's 2000 DVD and Warner's 2006 reissue, and it has also been used for this Blu-ray, but now in lossless DTS-HD MA. If there were mixing notes from Anchor Bay's work, they have not survived, nor was Warner successful in locating original stems or other sources from which Anchor Bay might have worked. Thus, this lossless 5.1 soundtrack represents the best available version.

Anchor Bay did a fair number of 5.1 remixes for DVD, and I have often found them gimmicky, throwing sounds into the rear speakers to show off the multi-channel format rather than serve the story. But Supergirl's mix is one of the former publisher's better efforts, with the dialogue firmly centered in front, a sparing but effective use of the rear channels and a rousingly effective reproduction of Jerry Goldsmith's soaring score. It must have been a daunting prospect to follow in the steps of John Williams' work on Superman: The Movie, but Goldsmith was more than equal to the challenge. If the rest of Supergirl were up to the level of Goldsmith's work (and Slater's performance), it might have been a great movie.

A member of the Blu-ray.com forum who is a dedicated Supergirl fan has advised me that an early portion of the soundtrack on Anchor Bay's and Warner's DVDs contains an alternate Goldsmith cue from that used in the director's cut and (according to this member) several other versions. It is unknown what materials Anchor Bay used for its remix and, if music cues were changed, for what reason. However, given the extensive gaps in the extant materials outlined above, WAC has not attempted to alter Anchor Bay's mix.

Supergirl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras have been ported over from Warner's 2006 DVD of Supergirl, with the addition of the "Making Of" documentary that appeared on Anchor Bay's two-disc "Limited Edition" from 2000 (now out of print). Various additional extras were not carried over from the Anchor Bay set, including foreign trailers, the U.S. TV spots and image galleries with storyboards, posters and production stills.

• Commentary with Director Jeannot Swzarc and Project Director Scott Michael Bosco: Bosco had the title of "Special Projects Coordinator" when he worked for Anchor Bay. Here he serves as interviewer, using his extensive knowledge acquired during the making of Anchor Bay's DVD to question the director and prompt his memory. Swzarc has detailed recall of the movie's production, discussing everything from the lengthy search that led to casting Slater to the engineering of specific shots to the rigors of creating flying illusions in-camera. His affection for the movie and the experience of making it is evident throughout.



• Supergirl—The Making of the Movie (480i; 1.33:1; 49:48): This promotional program dates from the time of the film's release. Introduced by Faye Dunaway, it is narrated by actor by Ted Maynard and contains interviews and on-set footage. It also includes the moment when, after a long audition process, Helen Slater first learned she had the part of Supergirl.



• Trailer (1080p; 1.78:1; 2:35): "Adventure . . . runs in the family!"



• Director's Cut (disc 2; DVD) (480p; 2:35:1; 2:18:44): This version of Supergirl first appeared on Anchor Bay's "Limited Edition" DVD set. Warner has reauthored the DigiBeta source obtained from Anchor Bay, which is in standard definition and is the only version in Warner's possession. Opinions vary on whether or not the additional material improves the film, but I will leave that debate to hardcore fans. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0.

Supergirl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

WAC's Blu-ray will delight some devoted fans of Supergirl, while frustrating others who want every version and who take issue with the Anchor Bay soundtrack utilized by Warner. It will baffle (and hopefully amuse) newcomers, because it's unlike any superhero movie before or since, a dotty concoction that aspires to grandeur and more often achieves the ridiculous—but still manages to retain a distinctive charm. WAC has done a fine job of remastering the film's international cut, which is highly recommended on its technical merits. The film itself is a matter of taste.