Supergirl (film)
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Supergirl is a 1984 feature film. It stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role in the title role of the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl. It was a spin-off from the popular 1978 movie Superman, with Marc McClure reprising his role as Jimmy Olsen.
The movie performed poorly at the box office and failed to impress critics or audiences. Helen Slater, however, was nominated for a Saturn Award for her strong performance by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Even more so, the film contains some very fascinating expansions on the Superman movie mythology, such as taking us into the Phantom Zone itself (in the first two films, it was merely represented by the famous spinning black pane of glass). The story uses sorcery (a noted Superman weakness, but less favored over kryptonite) as a counter attack on Supergirl to great effect. Released on video over the years by different companies, the film's first DVD release was on independent home video company Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2000 under license from StudioCanal. Warner Bros. recently acquired the rights to the film and will reissue it on DVD later in 2006 to coincide with the reissues on video of the other Superman films.
Taglines:
- Her first great adventure.
- Adventure Runs In The Family!
Plot
Supergirl (Helen Slater) lives in an isolated community (confirmed to be Argo City) in a pocket of trans-dimensional space. Zaltar (Peter O?Toole) allows Supergirl to see a unique item known as the Omegahedron which can infuse an artificial structure with life. Supergirl uses it under the tutelage of Zaltar to make a butterfly-like creature; this creature breaches a window of the community and in the decompression that follows, the Omegahedron (which also powers the city) is sucked out into space. Supergirl follows it to earth in an effort to recover it and save the city (which will die without it).
On Earth, the Omegahedron is recovered by Selena, a fake psychic, who at first does not know of its power but later discovers it can be used to allow her to perform real magical spells. On the radio, Selena hears that Superman has just left on a peacekeeping mission to a galaxy several light years away. Supergirl arrives on earth and tests her powers, following the path of the Omegahedron she takes the name Linda Lee (the cousin of Clark Kent) and enrolls at an all girls school.
Supergirl and Selena repeatedly battle in various ways until Selena uses her powers to put Supergirl in an inescapable prison known as the Phantom Zone. Here she has no powers but finds help in Zaltar, who had been imprisoned for losing the Omegahedron. Zaltar sacrifices his life to allow Supergirl to escape. Back on earth she regains her powers and defeats Selena.
Trivia
Christopher Reeve was slated to have a cameo as Superman but bowed out early on.Marc McClure makes his fourth, of five appearances in the entire Superman movie franchise.
Demi Moore auditioned for, and was cast as character Lucy Lane, but soon bowed out to make the film Blame It On Rio.
The actual "Vortex" effect featured when Kara and Zaltar are escaping the Phantom Zone, was filmed under water.
Brief History
Upon gaining the rights for the film Superman, Alexander Salkind, and his son Ilya also purchased the rights to the character of Supergirl, should any sequel or spin off occur. Sure enough, it was proven so. Although the Salkind duo financed the film completely on their own budget, Warner Bros still lent a big hand in the process, as they originally owned the ditribution rights to the film. The entire film was shot, edited, and overlooked by the WB company, however, two weeks or so before the film's original Summer 1984 premiere date, WB dropped the film due to the third installment of the Superman films, and the damning reviews it gained. Supergirl was then shelved for a few months, without distribution, until fledging company Tri-Star pictures picked it up for holiday release in November. The fledging company made an egregious decision when they over-edited the picture, cutting it from 124 minutes to 105 minutes. The drastic changes were not only damaging the film's original intention, but also extremely unfair to stars Faye Dunaway and Helen Slater, as their performances were hampered severely. Upon it's release, the film disapointed it's anticipation. Contrary to popular belief, the film was not a major flop, but a mere disappointment. It was the #1 movie of the box office during its first weekend, and many people found it to be a great fantasy adventure, as it was. What contributed to the film's uprising was imported LaserDisc releases of the 124-minute version in the U.S.By the middle of the 1990s, the rights to the film were acquired by Pueblo Film Licensing (successor-in-interest to the Salkind production company) and French production company StudioCanal, and Anchor Bay Entertainment had assumed the video rights. For their DVD release, two versions were issued, the 124-minute "International Version" (never seen in the U.S.), and a "director's cut" of 140 minutes, which had been discovered in StudioCanal's archives, and the last print of the latter version known to exist--apparently this "director's cut", which itself had been edited from a 150-minute rough cut, was prepared for release before the film was edited into its various versions.
Deleted Material
Aside from the stiff editing in the films original U.S version, important scenes that were left unseen for many year involved moments of importance. First off, the Argo City opening was much longer, and contained certain lines of dialog that supported elements that would soon be seen later in the story. Also in the dialog, were lines that developed the characters, and their backround. The pacing was also slower, digesting the actions enough before introducing the next chapter of the film. The next moment, and one of the most important of all scenes, was the "Flying Ballet". As Supergirl lands on Earth, she is suprised to find herself capable of almost anything, especially flying. She can smash rocks, and use heat vision to help flowers grow. This scene establishes that she is very much like her cousin, and that she has the same powers as he. The absence of this scene in the US theatrical version created confusion in later scenes. We simply saw her shoot out of the lake, and fly all around the world. No questions asked, no answers gained. The moments concerning Selena, Bianca, and Nigel were also trimmed. Selena's introduction was merely a few lines long, when the omegahedron suddenly lands on earth, and Selena takes it for use of magic. The full introduction establishes Selena as an impatient witch, who is sick of being under her mentor and lover, Nigel, who is himself, a warlock. Later scenes not seen before the 2000 DVD release, included Selena using the omegadedron for the first time, and realizing that she has no control when under it's influence. She later throws a party for all her followers. Deleted material for this scene involved Nigel insulting Selena after she dismisses him. He then get's cozy on another party member, whom Selena pulls a vicious magical prank upon. These scenes and moments listed show the characters state of mind, and their determinations, not to mention dialog that later brought the film to making much more sense. Other scenes/moments, involve Linda Lee making a temporary home in the city of Midvale, Illinois, an extended version of the tractor sequence, in which the possessed machine runs amok on the Midvale streets, even killing a civilian. Another moment to be seen, but was cut, was a clarification that proved as much that Supergirl was like her cousin. She can't see where the Omegahedron is, because Selena keeps it in a container made out of lead. The Phantom Zone scenes are also longer, showing dramatic strength in Kara as she is willing to fight to the death in order to stop the evil witch Selena. Eventually, these scenes were restored to American audiences in 2000 when Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film under their label.Fans
Although the film was not the big motion picture event that everyone had hoped, it still secured a fanbase upon its release. In more recent days, fans have become more and more facinated with the film. This is probably due to its rareness, and the situation involving the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. Call it bad or good, it has loyal fans everywhere it is seen.External links
- [Supergirlthemovie.com]
- [Superman Homepage: Supergirl - Movie Synopsis/Review/Critique]
- [Superman Cinema about Supergirl: The movie]
- [The Cape Is Family] Link to Yahoo Group
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