Supergirl (DVD, 2000, 2-Disc Set, Limited Edition)

This review is for the Director's Cut of Supergirl that was part of a limited edition two DVD set released by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2000.

For those who remember its American theatrical release in November 1984, the movie Supergirl represented a lost opportunity. While Helen Slater's portrayal of the Girl of Steel was excellent, the movie overall was handicapped by an editing process that left the plot confusing and the audience unsatisfied. Supergirl performed better financially overseas because foreign audiences did not suffer watching a version that had ten minutes of critical scenes sloppily edited from the film. In August 2000 Anchor Bay Entertainment finally provided fans with the enjoyment long denied them with not just the 124-minute International Version of Supergirl, but with also an unseen 138-minute Director's Cut for the first time on DVD. The plot remains the same, but the additional footage makes the film more comprehensible and allows for better character development. I do agree that unless a movie is specifically a romantic comedy, love triangles make horrible subplots. Supergirl is an enjoyable movie experience for the entire family, but just as long as they watch Anchor Bay's 138-minute Director's Cut, and not the 114-minute hack job that unfortunately was itself released on DVD by Warner's Brothers in 2006. The late Jerry Goldsmith's epic soundtrack is also engaging, and does an excellent job in musically expressing Supergirl's determination to succeed against adversity. Supergirl is an excellent movie for those looking for a positive role model for women of all ages, and for a strong female character that fights and overcomes the evils of witchcraft.

What also makes Anchor Bay's DVD set of Supergirl withstand the test of time is its special features. Not only does it include the 1985 ABC Television special "The Making of Supergirl", storyboards, and director's commentary, it contains every movie trailer that was produced to promote the movie. Want to know what Supergirl means in German? Anchor Bay delivers. Except for the same director's commentary and one American trailer, these special features are absent from Warner Brother's DVD release.

Supergirl is one of the most under appreciated superhero movies in the past 30 years, and the Director's Cut allows you to watch the Girl of Steel in action the way she should be enjoyed. Just remember that this version by Anchor Bay Entertainment was limited to only 50,000 copies worldwide, and is out of print. Anchor Bay did release the Director's Cut as a separate DVD in 2002, and it can be found occasionally on Ebay.

To find out more about the story behind the making of the movie Supergirl, read "Superman vs Hollywood" by Jake Rossen and "Superman on Film, Television, Radio, and Broadway" by Bruce Scivally.

Or visit "Supergirl: Maid of Might" online at http://supergirl.astraldream.n​et
and the "Superman Homepage" at www.supermanhomepage.com/news.​php

the most accurate vision of the girl of steel on this special edition director's cut. jeannot swarc has presented a new focus to the superman legend.every detail of the comic book is shown here.from the probability of possible kryptonite survivors{including possible relatives},to a new way for new enemies to utilize magic against the superhero.the choice for helen slater as supergirl is as good and exact to the character as production's chris for christopher reeve as superman;even the choice for jerry goldsmith to conduct the background music score for this movie was long overdue{since their are rumors that the composer was hired to do the score for the first superman film}.the movie is fantastic,i love it.

Helen Slater, Faye Dunaway and Peter O'Toole star
in this 1984 action fantasy based on the comics.
Superman's cousin tries to stop an evil sorceress
from using a powerful orb. I watched this growing
up and always liked it. This 2-disc set not only
has good picture and sound, but 2 versions of
the film plus some neat extras. I recommend
this underrated film.

In this movie Supergirl, she needs to recover Omegaheadron! Selena has gotten ahold of it! This is a special edition 2 DISC DVD and includes a booklet with some cool pictures. Selena also creates a handsome gardener with her powers but the gardener ends up falling in love with Linda Lee (Supergirl).

Like:
-Decent supergirl adaptation with many references from comics.(Argo City, Lucy Lane, etc)
-Vastly improved flying effects over Superman movies.
-Helen Slater's performance, rivals Chris Reeves

Dislke:
-Script, whatever moron wrote this should be sent to the phantom zone. How can you mess this up with over 30 years of material to draw from.
-Fay Dunaway and Peter Otoole, don't know what they were thinking. Overacted and illogical portrayal. Seasoned actors with very un-Brando like performances.
-Unecessary love story sub-plot and weak villain. Come on it's supergirl, just show her beating the stuff out of a huge powerful villain. How hard is that?