SUPERGIRL (1984) and METEOR (1979) - Improved German Blu-Rays

[AndyDursin]

Plaion (Koch) seems to have a new licensing agreement for Germany as they've announced a slew of Warner titles over there.

What is interesting is a few of their upcoming/new releases including SUPERGIRL.

This two-disc Blu-Ray set includes the long TV cut (or Director's Cut) in HD (at least upscaled, I'll check for sure) whereas the Warner disc offers it on a terrible DVD only. Also the transfer of the "official international" 125 min version seems to be better than the Warner Blu-Ray too.

Cheaper at JPC than Amazon.de...will report back as soon as I have it in a couple of weeks.

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/movie/detail/- ... m/11631267

[Eric Paddon]

I'll be interested in your take. I have always been fascinated by this film's production history and how it ultimately came off as a near-miss done in chiefly by Reeve's falling out with the Salkinds which made him back out of a planned cameo that IMO was absolutely needed to get this film linked to the franchise and would have boosted its overall box office. I think a lot of people just stayed away simply because they knew he wasn't in it, but if he was there for the critical scene they had in mind of Kal-El welcoming his cousin to Earth and teaching her to fly and use her powers that would have been a great scene. Not to mention the fact that the script called for Superman to become Selena's prisoner which necessitated Supergirl saving the day. When they then went with the "Superman is away in another galaxy" thing to explain his absence, that also forced the Selena threat to become local rather than global, because if the threat were global, then Superman should have then come running back from wherever he was!

The one change from the original script that was a distinct improvement was making Selena pure evil and the kind of character you want to see Supergirl vanquish. The original script was being written for Dolly Parton and had her as a good girl made bad and the end sees her return to her "good girl" state but since she's now an outcast on Earth Supergirl takes her back to Argo City with her! It shows how the problem of script development and having to scramble after Reeve bailed out really resulted in subsequent drafts that would have one step forward, one step backward from the previous one and never find the truly right combination.

It's the fact that Slater IMO is absolutely perfect in the role and fascinating to watch that elevates the film above its script trouble. She's a perfect example of someone rising above the material who deserved a better script and if she'd gotten to do a scene with Reeve it would have been the best post-Superman II film in the series bar none (as it is I still like it better than III or IV but I know that's not a widespread opinion).

[Chris Shaneyfelt]

Thank you for letting us know about the upcoming Supergirl release, Andy. I'm also looking forward to your thoughts when you get the blu-ray.

Eric, thank you for sharing some of the production history. I didn't know what an important part Superman was originally supposed to play. I also had no idea they had Dolly Parton in mind for Selena!

It's such a frustrating film. I really like aspects of it, like the the "Phantom Zone" sequence, Supergirl's final battle with the monster (that terrific shot of the shards of glass re-forming to reveal Supergirl's image in the mirror after the monster, Selena, and Bianca have been banished to the Phantom Zone), etc. I love the Jerry Goldsmith score. But am perplexed by the outright foolish scenes (the "monster tractor" sequence, the bumper cars, nearly every scene with Bianca).

I completely agree with you, Eric, that Helen Slater is very good as Supergirl, and deserved a better script like you said. There is a sweet innocence to her character, but also an unwavering, heroic goodness and courage when she battles evil.

[Eric Paddon]

Glad you found it interesting, Chris!

Part of the problem with the Bianca character is that in the earlier drafts when they were writing Selena with Parton in mind as the good girl made bad, Bianca was a major domo figure type from the coven helping her get comfortable in her powers etc. and not a comedy relief sidekick, but then as Selena/Parton becomes more powerful she ends up being disposed of. Similarly, Cook's character was just another member of the coven. They decided to make him a teacher at "Linda's" school when they eliminated the importance of Principal Danvers (In the original comic book, the Danvers family adopts Linda Lee and this element was being retained at first with the Danvers taking Linda in, learning her secret and becoming prisoners of Selena). So in the end, the reason why the Bianca character seems so all over the map it's because there were still too many elements of the original version left over that stayed in the script along with the newer comedy sidekick version.

Another better element in the earlier drafts was that Hart Bochner falls in love with Supergirl, not the Linda alter ego which IMO would have been a lot better. Argo City was a little longer and established the premise that Kara took ten years to prepare herself for her journey to Earth and then went (meaning there wasn't a "race against the clock" element when she departed). But there were other flaws too which again highlights that the best version would have required taking different parts from the different drafts with Reeve's cameo a necessary anchor to the story.

[AndyDursin]

I wonder if Swarzc got hired in some capacity because he had directed Reeve in Somewhere in Time, in which case it still didn't help coax him onto the movie which is a shame. Obviously Reeve was not the easiest guy to work with it appears but I agree Eric the movie was hamstrung without his involvement. Marc McClure just wasn't the same!

[andy b]

Andy

Swarzc was on this as EMI was pushing for a very fast & cheaper film & they paid for this film, he proved to be exceptionally efficient on Jaws 2 & was able to meet the requirements. Guess that he may have been asked to try to get Christopher Reeves, but I do not know for certain, it was his speed & ability that was wanted.

I know because I was on this for international sales (not my normal by the way) that this film was literally pushed through as fast as possible, I only ever saw 1 cut of the film which I think is considered as the "international" cut & to the best of my knowledge that was shown throughout Europe, no idea what what the USA had, but I do know the 125 minute version went to Australia & New Zealand. IMDB writes of an EMI "short" version, but I never saw that, I am aware of trying to push for more shows, so that may of been the case? 2 hours means a definite 3 shows a day & 4 for a late night showing, but I never saw a shorter cut.

Met him at two press screenings that we did in London & he was a delightful person & had so much enthusiasm for the film, think it helped a lot to push the film, even if it did not live up to it once it was out.

Took your advice and ordered it from jpc, first time I have used them & added the Dune set as well as you advised in the other posting the "extended cuts" were worth a look. Thanks again for the advice.

regards
Andy b

[AndyDursin]

Andy,
appreciate your insight as always.

Swarzc seemed like an efficient and very amenable person who was highly collaborative and, coming out of TV, was experienced working within a budget and "getting the job done." Doesn't surprise me with the turnaround he performed on JAWS 2 and the Salkinds having the problems with Donner's budget overruns on SUPERMAN they wanted someone like him on SUPERGIRL. Obviously he did a good job because they brought him back for SANTA CLAUS right afterwards (and SUPERGIRL's issues weren't his problem).

I know because I was on this for international sales (not my normal by the way) that this film was literally pushed through as fast as possible, I only ever saw 1 cut of the film which I think is considered as the "international" cut & to the best of my knowledge that was shown throughout Europe, no idea what what the USA had, but I do know the 125 minute version went to Australia & New Zealand. IMDB writes of an EMI "short" version, but I never saw that, I am aware of trying to push for more shows, so that may of been the case? 2 hours means a definite 3 shows a day & 4 for a late night showing, but I never saw a shorter cut.

The US theatrical cut was short -- 105 minutes in fact. I rented the USA Home Video VHS back in the day and it ran that length. I believe Tri-Star cut it down after they picked up the distribution a few months prior -- Warner deciding at the "last minute" they didn't want the movie was always a weird thing, seeing a movie switch studios like that (even though I assume Warner was just a distributor and didn't put much into the budget?) was not a usual occurrence.

There was (and still seems to be) some misinformation on the running time because Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide listed 114 minutes for the US version and, for years, that was always the "Movie Bible" people would cite as a source in the pre-internet days. Even when Silva Screen did their CD, they quoted the wrong running time for the U.S. -- that "Tri-Star US cut" was 20 minutes shorter than the International Version, not 10 (and it would make sense, because Tri-Star had a habit of that kind of thing, similarly trimming LIFEFORCE a few months later).

But you can find the actual US running time in the newspaper reviews of the movie. Here's the NY Times review stating 105 minutes so I know I'm on the right track there

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/22/movi ... rgirl.html

Took your advice and ordered it from jpc, first time I have used them & added the Dune set as well as you advised in the other posting the "extended cuts" were worth a look. Thanks again for the advice.

Great! I hope it goes well but I've had good success with JPC. I've switched to them for German titles (occasionally I use Grooves for some German releases, plus FNAC for French titles) as the European Amazons are too expensive now.

One other Blu-Ray I picked up was the upcoming METEOR, which I am hoping might be the Warner Bros international master with the proper stereo soundtrack of the movie. The Kino Lorber USA release was mono and also derived from the (US) MGM AIP master which has terribly distorted audio in the end credits...that disc was also set at an incorrect gamma level (one of those things KL has been "correcting" lately with these reissues of their earlier titles).

I realize it's ridiculous but I like the score:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/movie/detail/- ... m/11683086

[AndyDursin]

BTW I just got METEOR in and indeed, it's a Warner Bros. master with proper, full stereo sound! A far better transfer than the MGM master Kino Lorber released.

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/movie/detail/- ... m/11683086

[andy b]

Andy

wanted to thank you for the JPC link, used then for the first time with the massive Dune release & this Supergirl release & the shipment was fantastic, so well packed.

Never heard of them or used them before, but will in the future.

Thanks again.

regards
andy b

[AndyDursin]

That's great Andy, so glad it worked out. You're very welcome. JPC does a superb job with packing/shipping, I've never had a problem with them on that end. My only issues have ever been stock-based -- i.e. they canceled my SUPERGIRL even though it showed as in-stock, so I ended up buying it from Grooves instead. (But I'm still waiting on it as they only shipped a week ago).

I ended up having to buy DUNE from Amazon.de, which is in transit now. Plaion apparently sold out completely and Amazon.de is the only one left selling it. Thankfully it was only about $15 more than Grooves, who never even got them in stock even though I ordered from them last summer!

All of these places are pretty good, Grooves is good about giving refunds and responding to issues, but JPC's shipping is the best. It's just their "stock" and methods of canceling items seemingly indiscriminately that can be a bit irritating.

From now on, though, if I see one of these Plaion releases I'll preorder it from JPC. I'll probably buy THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD because it would be a new pressing with AVC encoding as opposed to the terribly ancient VC-1 and low bit-rate audio of the Warner Blu-Ray we have here. Of course it'll get announced for 4K UHD the second I do so!

[AndyDursin]

SUPERGIRL finally flew in. Again, Plaion/Koch has done a solid job. Additional extras like the US Tri-Star trailers are on here too, while the transfer on the 125-min version looks a hair better than the Warner US disc. The Director's Cut has been nicely upgraded, if those shots are upscaled you'd be hard pressed to tell in motion.

I may just order their ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD mediabook, I've got a month to figure it out