THE DIFFERENT VERSIONS

By Hiphats

"Supergirl" originally ran 124 minutes in its original European version. It was slated for release in the U.S. by Warner Bros. in the summer of 1984, but delays and legal complications held the release back for some months. By November of 1984 the film had a new distributor...the fledging Tri-Star Pictures, who proceeded to cut the film by 20 minutes, eliminating key scenes involving the title character. The U.S. version ultimately ran 105 minutes (although some movie listings have it at 114 minutes). What ultimately killed the release of the film in the states is that around the same time as the domestic theatrical release, a Japanese LaserDisc of the full 125-minute version had been released overseas, and would make its way through imported video stores in the states.

When "Supergirl" was first released to video on what was then known as U.S.A. Home Video (not to be confused with today's U.S.A. Home Entertainment owned by USA Networks), the 105-minute domestic print was used. U.S.A. Home Video went through many corporate name and ownership changes over the years (I.V.E. Home Video, Live Entertainment, and Avid Home Video, which was really a low-budget arm of Live Entertainment), and today is known as Artisan Entertainment.

HBO, unhappy with the pan-and-scan transfer U.S.A. Home Video had done, ordered Tri-Star to create a new pan-and-scan print for its cable showings. After it reached network television, ABC further edited the movie to 92 minutes...this would become the version aired in syndication by Viacom (as part of a "Superman" movie package that includes "Superman III" and "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace), and this version is still shown to this day on TBS, WGN, and other stations across the U.S.

Finally, in 1997, the rights to Alexander Salkind's library (those films outside of what Warner Bros. already owned, including "Santa Claus" and the Three Musketeers" movies) were acquired by Canal + Distribution (which has since become Canal + Image International), which by that time had bought the rights to the original "Avengers" television series and the Carolco library (which includes "Terminator 2" and "Chaplin"). The video rights to "Supergirl" were then transferred to Anchor Bay Entertainment (under a new contract with Canal +). Anchor Bay finally released the full 124-minute version on domestic video tape in 1999, even though it was time-compressed and transferred from a British PAL-formatted video print. This marked the first time ever that an expanded version of a "Superman" movie was released on video (even though this was the original European cut). 

For many years, the 124-minute cut was considered the "definitive" version of the movie. But during all this time, there had been rumors spreading of an even longer 138-minute version that had never been seen, and cut down for later releases.

In 1999, the rumors became true. Anchor Bay Entertainment went into the Canal + vaults and found what is believed to be the last surviving print of the original 138-minute director's cut. Although it was in a darker-looking print with mono sound, "Superman" movie fans rejoiced in the fact the world would finally see "Supergirl" the way the filmmakers originally envisioned.

In the summer of 2000, Anchor Bay released a Limited Edition 2-DVD set containing the International Version and the previously-unseen 138-minute director's cut.  

With the new release, "Supergirl" fans can now appreciate a forgotten and overlooked entry in the "Superman" movie series.