Supergirl (1984 Film): Overlooked and Underappreciated

In the late 70's, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, a father-son film production team from France purchased the film rights to DC Comic's flagship character Superman. The film that resulted was an instant success. Today, Superman is hailed as an American classic. But the story didn't end there.

The Salkinds went on to give us three more installments in the franchise, one good, one not-so-good, and one flat-out awful. When the Salkinds first purchased the rights to the character, they also purchased the rights to his cousing, Supergirl, should any spin-off occur. Film production began sometime during production of the first three Superman films. The Salkinds, as with the other films, funded it with their own budget, but Warner Bros. still played a large hand as far as distribution was concerned. Production wrapped and the film was sent, slated for a summer 1984 release. That never happened.

The disappointment of Superman III weighed heavily on Warner Bros. Supergirl sat on shelves for a few months, then Tri-Star Pictures obtained it and released it in November. Instantly, the film failed to match its anticipation. It was not the success that Superman had been, but it could have. Here was the fledgling film of a spin-off series, introducing new aspects to a familiar story. But it failed. Sorta.

Contrary to what many people say, Supergirl was not a flop, just a disappointment. It did rank number 1 at the box office on opening weekend, and it did garner some praise. In the years following, multiple releases of the film, including deleted material, helped the film gain cult status. So is it really all that bad? I say no.

Certainly, Supergirl is not Superman or Superman II. Is it inferior? Perhaps. But it does establish its own sense of urgency and heroism, while playing to the familiar air of established mythos. The plot sets itself in the Superman universe, beginning at Argo City, a Kryptonian city which survived horrific destruction. Argo City exists in a pocket dimension, called "inner space" in the film, and uses a unique device called the Omegahedron to power the city. The plot does not state authoritatively that the Omegahedron is the ONLY Omegahedron, but we are left to assume so.

Naive, innocent Kara Zor-El, cousin to Kal-El (Superman), indirectly causes the loss of the Omegahedron and sets out in a sort of space capsule to retrieve it, thus beginning "her first great adventure," as the film was billed. Unfortunately, a wannabe witch finds the Omegahedron before Kara does and enhances her power with the device. Kara, upon reaching Earth, becomes Supergirl and fights to retrieve the Omegahedron, finally flying back to Argo City.

One of the major points of contention at release were certain plot holes. When Kara enters the Earth "realm" (seen as coming from a lake in the film), she instantly flies around the world as Supergirl, all her powers gained, no questions asked. It's a very sudden leap, indeed. Restoration of deleted material in subsequent releases reveal an intermediary scene some have dubbed the "flying ballet." Kara reaches Earth, discovers her powers, then takes off searching for the Omegahedron. Almost all copies of the film on the market today include the missing footage. Thus, this criticism only worked for the original release.

The plot also makes heavy use of sorcery (dark magic). It's the primary antagonistic element, not Kryptonite. This was seen as strange, and it's no surprise. Superman and Kryptonite are like horse and carriage. They just fit together so well. But believe it or not, magic IS a known weakness of Superman's (and by extension, his cousin's). Magic appears in the source material as such. Some suggest it's the random and chaotic nature of the supernatural that renders Superman helpless. Perhaps.

If you've my article Rebooting the Superman Film Franchise, you probably already know how I feel about this. Really, I'm glad they chose NOT to use the rocks. I give them high points for ambition. Not only that, the film's villain (Selena) directly uses the magic. She has real power. Lex never did. I know I might be alone here, but I'm praising the production team for this approach. Different, yes. Strange, perhaps. But it was true to the source material, and it made the villain more than just a criminal mastermind. A nice job here.

The actors are classic 80's. Nothing more to be said. In the title role, Helen Slater portrays a naive young girl fairly well. In fact, many have a hard time believing she's not a natural blonde. (I'm a blonde myself. I can joke about them.) I really can't say much about this. The acting isn't great, but it's not bad, either, at least not when it needs to be. There are a few moments of cheesiness, but they're few and far between. Acting isn't the film's flaw.

Originally, Christopher Reeve was slated to make a cameo as Superman in the film. He bowed out early on. After the departure of director Richard Donner during production of Superman II, many of the cast and production staff became disgruntled with the Salkinds. Perhaps this made Reeve decline. Had he appeared, the film would have had higher marquee value, and most likely a better reception. A poster of Superman does appear in the film, but of course, it's not substitute for Christopher Reeve. Only one actor from the parent franchise makes an appearance: Marc McClure as Jimmy Olson. It's nice to see Jimmy again, but I do feel he's just there to be there. It's not terrible, but not great.

As I mentioned before, the film succeeds in making itself unique, yet keeping ties to the parent franchise. In the film, Selena traps Supergirl in her palace and exiles the heroine. Supergirl finds herself placed in a pane of glass. Where have we seen that before? Yep. That's how the criminals were sent to the Phantom Zone in Superman. The film doesn't stop there. We actually SEE the Phantom Zone, from the interior. Here's where the film connects to the parent franchise and adds to it.

An interesting fact, in 2003, Jeannot Szwarc, Supergirl's director, joined the staff of the television series Smallville as a director. Smallville's depiction of the Phantom Zone may take inspiration from the 1984 film, since its director assisted, and the series does hearken to that film franchise quite a bit.

For the most part, the film is decent. I wouldn't say it's a cinematic masterpiece, certainly not like Superman. But it has its own delightful qualities and can provide that enjoyment. On the whole, I'd say it's good. Not great good. But in music, the film performs much better than average. John Williams gave the Salkinds the theme to Superman, music that is still remembered today as a work of superior excellence. Williams did not return to make original music for Supergirl. Instead, the Salkinds secured Jerry Goldsmith, who would later give us opening music to at least two Star Trek's as well as several other movies.

Goldsmith's score is often overlooked, much like this film, but is no less impressive. The title sequence accompanies that accompanies the score is also spectacular. Some critics say the movie's magic ends there. Well, at least they admit the film has magic, and that the title sequence secures it.

Really, it's a great film. Certainly not the masterpiece Superman was, but it doesn't deserve the mistreatment. It's Supergirl, her first great adventure. So far, it's her best. Rumors of a remake have appeared and disappeared throughout the 90's. Directors, producers, and various others have admitted being attached to a project of some sort over the years. But currently, Warner Bros. has no Supergirl movie on its roster. Given the reboot announced for Superman, it is likely the project will be revisited some time in the future. We may even see Kara Zor-El in the reboot. Who knows? I do hope Supergirl's first great adventure was not her last.