Supergirl Blu-ray 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, 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, 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.