SUPERGIRL [1984 / 2020] [Warner Archive Collection] [Special Edition Director’s Cut] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Is It A Bird, Is It A Plane, No, It’s Helen Slater as Supergirl!
Ilya Salkind and Alexander Salkind continue to bring the lore and legend behind the World’s Greatest Super Hero to the big screen in this rare Director’s Cut follow-up to the beloved Christopher Reeve ‘Superman’ films. Helen Slater (in her screen debut) stars as the sensational Supergirl! Though Superman grew up believing himself to be the Last Son of Krypton, part of his home planet survived: Argo City, home of his uncle, Zor-El [Simon Ward], and his wife Alura In-Ze [Mia Farrow]. Saved by the wizardry of Zaltar [Peter O’Toole] and the Omegahedron, their daughter Kara Zor-El comes of age as a Kryptonian when a disaster whisks the Omegahedron to her cousin’s adoptive planet, Earth. Dispatched to rescue it from the clutches of the evil sorceress Selena [Faye Dunaway], Kara Zor-El must tackle a steep learning curve so that she can pass the test as both mild-mannered school girl Linda Lee as Supergirl!
This special edition of ‘SUPERGIRL’ presents the film’s International Cut, remastered in High Definition for Blu-ray.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1985 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Actress for Helen Slater. 1985 Razzie Awards: Nominated: Worst Actor for Peter O'Toole. Nominated: Worst Actress for Faye Dunaway.
FILM FACT No.2: The film score for ‘SUPERGIRL’ was composed and conducted by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith, who had been the initial interest of director Richard Donner to compose for the first ‘Superman’ film. Jerry Goldsmith used a number of techniques to identify the composed music score to the film, such as synthesizers simulating the sounds of take-off during the main theme. It has also been referred by critics as one of the only redeeming qualities of the film. The American theatrical cut for ‘SUPERGIRL’ ran at 105 minutes. ‘SUPERGIRL’ originally ran to 124 minutes in its European version. When it aired on network television in 1987, ABC added numerous scenes from the International theatrical version as well as sequences not contained in any other edit. Shown in a two-hour slot, this 92-minute version was essentially a cut-down version of the ‘SUPERGIRL’ “Director's Cut,” otherwise resembling the U.S.A edit, with “offensive” dialogue dubbed over for TV. This same 92-minute version was also seen in syndication on most U.S.A stations as well as superstations such as TBS and WGN by Viacom. Christopher Reeve was slated to have a cameo as Superman, but bowed out early on. His non-appearance in the film is explained via a news broadcast (overheard by Selena) stating that Superman has left Earth on a "peace-seeking mission" to a distant galaxy, of which the aftermath is seen in Superman Returns. Director Jeannot Szwarc said in the Superman documentary "You Will Believe..." that Christopher Reeve's involvement in this film would have given the feature higher credibility and he admitted he wished Christopher Reeve had made a contribution to the film's production.
Cast: Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater, Peter O'Toole, Mia Farrow, Brenda Vaccaro, Peter Cook, Simon Ward, Marc McClure, Hart Bochner, Maureen Teefy, David Healy, Sandra Dickinson, Robyn Mandell, Jenifer Landor, Diana Ricardo, Nancy Lippold, Sonya Leite, Lynsey Beauchamp, Michelle Taylor, Nancy Wood, Virginia Greig, Julia Lewis, Matt Frewer, Bill Mitchell, Sally Cranfield, Martha Parsey, Saskia van Basten-Batenburg, Kelly Hunter, Richard Bidwell, Desiree, Mike Pearce, Christian J. Fletcher, Kevin Scott, Karen Hale, James Snell, Beulah Hughes, Jane Sumner, Lia, Baillie Walsh, Elaine Ives-Cameron, Fred Lee Own, Gay Baynes, Edwin Van Wyk, Orla Pederson, Ron Travis, Joe Cremona, Danique, April Olrich, Russell Sommers, Erick Ray Evans, Dulcie Huston, G.B. Zoot Money, David Graham, Martin Serene, Keith Edwards, Bradley Lavelle, Carole Charnow, Shezwae Powell, Glory Annen, Sandra Martin, Jill Goldston (uncredited), Derek Lyons (uncredited), Cathy Munroe (uncredited), Peter Ross-Murray (uncredited) and Tina Simmons (uncredited)
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Producers: Ilya Salkind and Timothy Burrill
Screenplay: David Odell (screenplay), Al Plastino (comic book) (uncredited) and Otto Binder (comic book) (uncredited)
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography: Alan Hume, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Optical Visual Effects: Roy Field, B.S.C.
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 DTS-HD Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 124 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Warner Archive Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: At the start of the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ [1984] we find Zor-El [Simon Ward] lives in an isolated Kryptonian community named Argo City, in a pocket of trans-dimensional space. A man named Zaltar [Peter O'Toole] allows Kara Zor-El [Helen Slater] to see a unique and immensely powerful item known as the Omegahedron, which Zaltar has borrowed without the knowledge of the city government, and which powers the city. However, after a mishap, the Omegahedron is blown out into space. Much to the distress of her parents, so their daughter Kara Zor-El follows it to Earth and undergoes a transformation into "Supergirl" in the process and in an effort to recover it and save the city.
On Earth, the Omegahedron is recovered by Selena [Faye Dunaway], a power-hungry would-be witch assisted by the feckless Bianca [Brenda Vaccaro], seeking to free herself from her relationship with warlock Nigel [Peter Cook]. Whilst not knowing exactly what it is, Selena quickly realizes that the Omegahedron is powerful and can enable her to perform real magical spells. Supergirl arrives on Earth and discovers her powers. Following the path of the Omegahedron, Supergirl takes on the name Linda Lee, identifies herself as the cousin of Clark Kent, and enrols at an all-girls school where she befriends Lucy Lane [Maureen Teefy], the younger sister of Lois Lane who happens to be studying there. Supergirl also meets and becomes enamoured with Ethan [Hart Bochner], who works as a groundskeeper at the school.
Ethan also catches the eye of Selena, who drugs him with a love potion, which will make him fall in love with the first person he sees for a day; however, Ethan regains consciousness in Selena's absence and wanders out into the streets. An angry Selena uses her new-found powers to animate a construction vehicle which she sends to bring Ethan back, causing chaos in the streets as it does so. Supergirl rescues Ethan and he falls in love with her instead while in the guise of Linda Lee.
Supergirl and Selena repeatedly battle in various ways, until Selena uses her powers to put Supergirl in an "eternal void" known as the “Phantom Zone.” Here, Supergirl is stripped of her powers, so Supergirl wanders endlessly in the bleak landscape of “Phantom Zone” and nearly drowns in an oily bog. Yet Supergirl finds help in Zaltar, who has exiled himself to the “Phantom Zone” as a punishment for losing the Omegahedron. Zaltar sacrifices his life to allow Supergirl to escape. Back on Earth, Selena misuses the Omegahedron to make herself a "Princess of Earth," with Ethan as her lover and consort.
Emerging from the “Phantom Zone” through a mirror, Supergirl regains her powers and confronts Selena, who uses the Omegahedron's power to summon a gigantic shadow demon. The demon overwhelms Supergirl and is on the verge of defeating her when she hears Zaltar's voice urging her to fight on. Supergirl breaks free and is told by Nigel the only way to defeat Selena is to turn the shadow demon against her. Supergirl quickly complies and begins flying in circles around her, trapping her in a whirlwind. Selena is attacked and incapacitated by the monster as the whirlwind pulls Bianca in as well. The three of them are sucked back into the mirror portal, which promptly reforms, trapping them all within forever. Free from Selena's spell, Ethan admits his love for Linda Lee and that he knows that she and Supergirl are one and the same, but knows it is possible he may never see her again and understands she must save Argo City. The final scene shows Kara returning the Omegahedron to a darkened Argo City, which promptly lights up again and of course Supergirl saves Argo City, the Universe and the evil witch Selena.
‘SUPERGIRL’ was a 1984 British superhero film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by David Odell, based on the DC Comics character of the same name and serves as a spin-off to Ilya Salkind and Alexander Salkind's ‘Superman’ film series. The film stars Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater as Supergirl, and Peter O'Toole, with Marc McClure reprising his role as Jimmy Olsen from the Superman films and he was the only actor to do so.
The film ‘SUPERGIRL’ was released in the United Kingdom on the 19th July, 1984 and failed to impress critics and audiences alike. Faye Dunaway and Peter O'Toole earned Golden Raspberry Award nominations for Worst Actress and Worst Actor, respectively. However, actress Helen Slater was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress. The film's failure ultimately led Ilya Salkind and Alexander Salkind to sell the Superman rights to Cannon Films in 1986.
Finally, I would like to make a dedication to the brilliant film music composer Jerry Goldsmith who of course composed all the film score for ‘SUPERGIRL’ and said he wanted it to be very different from the composed music for the films of ‘Superman,’ but if you close your eyes you will think it was the composed music for the films of ‘Superman’ which is a shame, but despite that, you soon forget about it once you get into the film and all in all it is a very enjoyable music experience and really enhances the ‘SUPERGIRL’ film.
DEDICATIONS: At the end of the ‘SUPERGIRL’ film's end credits, dedications were made in memory of Marguerite Green, Gary Evans, and Andrew Warne. Marguerite Green was the film's production coordinator, Gary Evans was a member of the junior special effects technicians, and Andrew Warne was an uncredited production assistant. Sadly, all three died during the film's production.
SUPERGIRL MUSIC TRACK LIST
NEW SONG (Written by Howard Jones and Bill Bryant) [Performed by Howard Jones]
WHAT IS LOVE? (Written by Howard Jones) [Performed by Howard Jones]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Bros. presents us the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ with a brand new 1080p remastered vivid image and enhanced with an awesome 2.40:1 aspect ratio. As a result of the new Blu-ray transfer, we can see more of Supergirl in flight without the noticeable congestion and the visual composition is less distracting. The brighter and more vibrant colours especially during the special effects scenes, gives us a much more deservedly brilliant detailed image. The Director's Cut looks brighter, but the International Version looks more natural. Even more interesting is the fact that some scenes look like they sourced from an alternate take, or else altered in the Director's Cut. This is obvious wen in the shot where Zaltar repairs Argo City's breach: the colour timing and framing looks completely different, not to mention the absence of certain special effects such as the outside lighting in the background. When it comes to this Blu-ray disc, the overall picture quality often varies from scene to scene. The visuals suffer most during flying scenes where Chroma keyed background footage is used. Once in a while, grain suddenly appears like a sandstorm, and the colours shift sometimes randomly. On the other hand, literal down-to-earth moments appear solid, well-detailed and display any overt faults. The high definition remaster is a true improvement over what has been previously released to home video. This isn't reference-quality material, but despite some of the flaws it is definitely the best ‘SUPERGIRL’ has ever looked, so well done Warner Archive Collection.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Bros. brings us the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ in a newly remastered 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience, and is helped with the brilliant music score by the legendary Jerry Goldsmith. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track may be a sonic improvement over any previous home video version, but it also shows the age and limitations of the original recording source. While channel separation is well defined, the composed music score is more compressed than I had originally noticed, and low bass is heard infrequently. Rear channel activity is often present, but likewise reserved and often limited to a monophonic signal, even during busier scenes with crowds and ongoing commotion during the action scenes. However, I appreciate what has been done to this dated soundtrack, and can confirm that I've haven't heard ‘SUPERGIRL’ sound this dynamic and detailed in years. So again well done Warner Archive Collection for your sterling work on audio for this Blu-ray release.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Director Jeannot Swzarc and Special Project Consultant Scott Michael Bosco: This audio commentary was recorded in 2020 for the release of this rare Director’s Cut release and this special release of ‘SUPERGIRL’ Blu-ray release has had scenes put back that were missing from the DVD release of ‘SUPERGIRL.’ Here Jeannot Swzarc introduces himself and informs us that he was the director of ‘SUPERGIRL’ and next to introduce himself is Scott Michael Bosco, who welcomes us to this special audio commentary. By the way, Scott Michael Bosco had the title of "Special Projects Coordinator" when he worked for Anchor Bay and here he serves as the interviewer, using his extensive knowledge acquired during the making of Anchor Bay's inferior DVD to question the director Jeannot Swzarc and prompt his memories of making the film ‘SUPERGIRL.’ Both of them talk about the start of the film and the title sequence and points out that it is very different from the standard ‘Superman’ film title sequence and Jeannot Swzarc wanted different way to approach the title sequence for ‘SUPERGIRL,’ and Jeannot Swzarc wanted it to be totally different to stand out on its own, and tried to create a type of mythology and to emphasise a much more gracefulness than on intelligence and he points out that although it is very similar to the first ‘Superman’ film’s title sequence, here it is done against a sky background with wind and trying to make it look magical. Director Jeannot Swzarc says he did not have to think about who to compose the film score for ‘SUPERGIRL’ and wanted Jerry Goldsmith, who was his number one choice, because he has always admired Jerry Goldsmith, especially with hearing his first composed film score for the film ‘Sebastian’ and is a 1968 British spy film directed by David Greene, produced by Michael Powell, Herbert Brodkin and Gerry Fisher, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. So when Jeannot Swzarc approached Jerry Goldsmith and was instantly keen to come on board with the project, and they both got on like a house on fire, and they both had a good rapport with each other. Director Jeannot Swzarc was asked by Scott Michael Bosco whether there was any specific film music he had in mind for ‘SUPERGIRL,’ but only asked Jerry Goldsmith to compose the film score once the film was finished, and that is when Jeannot Swzarc and Jerry Goldsmith decide on the concept of the composed film score music, but Jeannot Swzarc wanted the music to be lyrical, it had to be strong, it had to be big in terms of a large orchestra and especially lots of strings, and everything was worked on scene by scene. Jeannot Swzarc informs us that originally at the start of the film they wanted to show Krypton being destroyed, and then see Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl escape to Earth, but that was decided to be dropped because Jeannot Swzarc felt he had a much fresher approach, and wanted to go completely away from the start of the original ‘Superman’ film. Of course the start of the ‘SUPERGIRL’ film and seeing the home of Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl, was in fact a miniature model special effect, but of course it is made to look life size, and Jeannot Swzarc felt it looked breathtakingly beautiful set, and really like the look of the Chrystal structure, and also felt it looked very delicate and very original looking structure. The inside of the Chrystal structure was filmed with both matt and model, and then when we see inside the Chrystal structure and the home of the people, was actually filmed in the studio setting and as you will see had lots of different levels, and Jeannot Swzarc felt it had a lot of depth and wanted to give it the look of something very pure and very serene and especially harmony. Jeannot Swzarc thought Peter O’Toole was really wonderful and the actor was his first choice for the role and Peter O’Toole loved the project. In searching for the actress to play Supergirl was very extensive, especially all over Europe, and they tested an enormous amount of young female hopefuls, and eventually ended up in New York and went to the High School of Performing Arts and asked each female to improvise in what they thought Supergirl would be like, and when they saw Helen Slater do her improvisation, they knew they had found their Supergirl. Scott Michael Bosco asks Jeannot Swzarc how they came up with the design for Argo City and Jeannot Swzarc says that should have only primary colours and be in total harmony and to make it look civilised and especially non-violent. Jeannot Swzarc says about a lot of good things about both Peter Cook and Fay Dunaway and of course he loved it when Peter Cook teamed up with Dudley Moore and thought they were genius with their comedy. But Jeannot Swzarc was keen to bring on-board Peter Cook and Fay Dunaway and when they were sent their scripts were equally keen to do the film ‘SUPERGIRL.’ Scott Michael Bosco asks Jeannot Swzarc how he became involved with the film and informs us that he had just finished the 2001 film ‘ENIGMA’ and when he got back to Los Angeles and was called on the telephone and was asked to go to London to talk about the project for ‘SUPERGIRL’ and had never done any kind of film in that genre before, and felt it was a challenge and was keen to start filming it, and thought it would also be fun to do the film, because it is a sort of fantasy film and hints of Snow White fairy tale,. When you see Supergirl come out of the water, Jeannot Swzarc informs us that was a very serious technical challenge and in the end to solve the problem, they built a life size wooden Supergirl and painted Helen Slater in her costume, and the wooden structure was attached to a wire and pulled out of the water by a crane. Jeannot Swzarc informs us that Helen Slater was very physical and did a massive amount of physical training, even though before that had only done a small amount of theatre work, and Jeannot Swzarc thought Helen Slater was a very talented actress and very professional in her outlook. Before they could start filming, the film went through loads of re-writes and went through several film companies until they were given the go ahead with Warner Bros. At first they were going to have Superman at the start of the film, but eventually they decided it would not work with Superman at the start of the film, and eventually the finished script ended up with what the ‘SUPERGIRL’ film is seen today. When we see Helen Slater as the young school girl Linda Lee in the classroom and is asked to give the answer to the very difficult mathematical equation, and Scott Michael Bosco and Jeannot Swzarc talk about the old fashioned computer compared to what computers are like now, and that part really dates the film, and those computers are like in the film ‘WarGames’ [1963] and of course since the film ‘SUPERGIRL,’ computers have advanced quite dramatically and of course they can now do really complicate scenes in films with CGI special effects. When you see the hunk Ethan [Hart Bochner], who works as a groundskeeper at the school and you see him being chased by the runaway bulldozer that is being controlled by the evil witch Selena, Jeannot Swzarc says that he wanted 22 days of good weather for filming, but his crew scoffed at him because the weather in the UK can be very changeable and unpredictable, and they told him you would be lucky to get even five days of filming, but Jeannot Swzarc says there must have been a guardian angel watching over them, as they actually got 22 days of good filming and on the 23rd day it started to rain. On top of all that they had hundreds of extras and it was a total nightmare trying to get everyone doing what they were supposed to do. Jeannot Swzarc says he did not want the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ to be too serious, instead he wanted the film to have a lot of fun, and to be much more larger than life and also informs us that ‘SUPERGIRL’ was filmed between ‘Superman II’ and Superman III.’ When we get to the street scene and the massive mountain has appeared out of nowhere, this was actual painted on glass by the brilliant and artistic Derek Meddings [British Special Effects Designer] and was initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s and 1980s James Bond and Superman film series and the technique was used a lot with silent films and was done in perspective, and when you see Supergirl fly up the mountain, this was all done with models. But when Supergirl gets trapped, it was acrylic glass, whichof course the nasty evil witch Selena sends Supergirl off the “Phantom Zone, this was originally going to be filmed in black-and-white, but in the end they changes their mind, and the horrible gloop Supergirl falls in, was made up with loads of toothpaste and other horrible unnameable unsavoury substances ro get the right texture and Jeannot Swzarc thought Helen Slater was a real professional trooper for doing it. Jeannot Swzarc also says that it has been the first time in a very long time since he has viewed the film since its original release and says all the scenes have a nice texture, especially with the sets, especially with the “Phantom Zone” and is something you would see with a set with an Opera production as well in a painting, and because it is a fantasy film, it has to look more gothic in style, where it is totally different look with a ‘Superman’ film, as it is much more high tech in style. When Selena conjures up the giant evil demon, this was a model against a blue screen, as is when Selena sends Supergirl up to the demon to be destroyed, and of course Supergirl eventually gets her revenge by making Selena and her feckless assistant Bianca sent up to the evil demon to be destroyed and then eventually all three get sucked into the mirror to save the world from Selena trying to control the world. As we get to the end of the film, both Scott Michael Bosco and Jeannot Swzarc discus the film in general and feels it hold up really well, despite its age, but of course Scott Michael Bosco asks Jeannot Swzarc if he could film it today would he change anything, especially with modern CGI technology, and says to some degree, but he feels the film holds up really well, especially in terms of the style and the texture, and thinks he did a very good job, and it is much more layered than current films today, and also the film is rich and has its roots in classical literature and art, and is also very visual film. So ends this 202 audio commentary by Scott Michael Bosco and Jeannot Swzarc and it was really fascinating hearing their comments, especially the director Jeannot Swzarc and hearing all of his in-depth comments about making the film and all the technical problems involved and again it was totally fascination and is definitely a must audio commentary to listen to and definitely gets a five star rating from me.
Special Feature: ‘SUPERGIRL’ — The Making of the Movie [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [49:48] This special documentary was filmed during production of the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ and this interesting featurette includes interviews with the cast and crew along with footage from the film and excerpts from the musical score and is introduced by the actress Fay Dunaway who played the evil witch Selena. Fortunately this is a little gem of a "vintage documentary" is about how they made such a magical film and has wonderful interviews highlights and the documentary filmed during production of the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ showing the world how and who made it. This interesting featurette includes interviews with the cast and crew along with footage from the film and excerpts from the musical score. This promotional documentary dates from the time of the ‘SUPERGIRL’ 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. This fantastic look at how the idea of the film was conceived, how it was brought to, how the brilliant actress Helen Slater was cast, how they did ALL the special effects, and more so. Besides the fact that this film is just as good as Superman and Superman II, this film has a bit more magic and advance chemistry with camera work because the idea was different as well. They really don't make films like they did back in the day, when films required discipline, time, and a lot of hard work. Now all you do is film a small segment and put it into the computer and boom, you have a film. A piece of crap is what you have! This is an example of true filmmaking and this documentary goes through every corner and leaves no stone unturned about how this glorious film was made. I can only say that I was alive to experience this film and know what it stands for. It is sad how many people will probably never realize what a film this is. Still as long as there is a Supergirl to go with Superman, the world of Superhero’s will never go wrong, and this featurette proves it and definitely gets 10 out of 10 from me. Contributors include: Ted Maynard [Narrator], Faye Dunaway [Selena], Peter O'Toole [Zaltar], Hart Bochner [Ethan] (archive footage), Peter Cook [Nigel], Mia Farrow [Alura], Matt Frewer [Eddie the Truck Driver], Alf Joint [Stunt Coordinator], Ilya Salkind [Producer], Helen Slater [Supergirl], Jeannot Szwarc [Director], Brenda Vaccaro [Bianca] and Simon Ward [Zor-El].
Theatrical Trailer [1984] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:35] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘SUPERGIRL.’
Finally, the film ‘SUPERGIRL’ and the Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray disc will delight the devoted fans of the film ‘SUPERGIRL,’ while frustrating others who wanted every version available and who take issue with the Anchor Bay soundtrack utilized by Warner Bros. It will baffle and hopefully amuse newcomers to this film, 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. Warner Archive Collection 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, but despite this I still love the film, because in my mind it is a true camp classic film. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
