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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Before David Lynch there was
Nicholas Roeg. Roeg's gift as a film director,
like Lynch's, is to create other worlds that
provide pithy comments on our own. Roeg's film of
"The Man Who Fell to Earth" seemed incoherent,
wonderful, brilliant and mystifying all in one two
hour package. Obviously I saw the US theatrical
release, which was gutted. The European cut
although still far from a straightforward story
tells a much more lucid layered story than the
previous US release of the film.
David Bowie stars as an alien who calls himself
Thomas Jerome Newton. He's comes to Earth with
oodles of technological secrets in his head. He
uses them to become a multi-millionaire with a
sole purpose; he wants to build a rocket to send
water back to his arid, dying planet. The longer
he stays on Earth the less alien he becomes but
the more alienated as well. Seduced the vices of
our world, Newton moves further and further away
from his goal of saving his people and his family
as he accumulates the wealth to achieve his goal.
Ultimately, Roeg's movie (based on the novel by
writer Walter Tevis who also wrote "The Hustler")
turns the cliché of the noble savage inside out;
we're the savages and the noble advanced alien
succumbs to our savage impulses becoming more like
us and losing himself in the process.
If you're reading this you've probably heard or
read about the film so I'll get to the point about
the difference between the excellent Anchor Bay
release and the Criterion release. Both studios
had released this film for the first time (there
was a previous Fox-Lorber bare bones edition). The
Criterion edition looks sharper with better
clarity and richer color than the Anchor Bay
edition. Detail is better on the Criterion edition
and there appears that the Anchor Bay release
wasn't digitally restored as the colors are a bit
muted and faded in some sequences. Both feature
the full length European cut that Roeg intended
for the US market as well. The 5.1 Dolby Digital
Surround Sound mix for the Anchor Bay is superior
to the 2.0 original soundtrack on the Criterion.
The entire sound system is used nicely but keep in
mind this was never meant to sound as aggressive
as the 5.1 ES (or 6.1) releases of more recent
movies.
As to the extras, both have excellent extras. The
Anchor Bay features a short documentary "Watching
the Alien" (a great play on words related to one
of Bowie's songs), the original theatrical
trailer, TV spots, talent bios, a good poster and
still gallery as well as Paul Mayersberg's
original screenplay in DVD-ROM format. All of
these are great extras to be sure and are included
on the second disc which allows for a higher bit
rate for the movie and, hence, very good video as
well.
Criterion's transfer is a new, restored high
definition digital transfer supervised by Roeg
(which explains the color corrections compared to
the Anchor Bay edition which was pulled from
restored negatives but done three years before).
The audio commentary isn't new but is from 1992 (I
believe it may be the same one on the original
Criterion laserdisc release) and features Roeg and
star David Bowie recorded together and Buck Henry
recorded on his own. The commentary track is
exceptional but that will only matter if
commentary tracks are important to you. Some folks
never listen to them and never take more than a
cursory look at the extras. The second disc
includes excellent audio interviews with May Routh
who designed the costumes and production designer
Brian Eatwell. There's another audio interview
with author Walter Tevis recorded in 1984 in which
Tevis discusses his novel and the film. There's
some great stills, behind-the-scenes photos
dominate these and were taken by David James. This
section features an introduction by James. The
trailers are included as is Tevis' original novel.
Finally there's a 28 page critical essay by Graham
Fuller about the film and an appreciation of
novelist Tevis by another novelist Jack Matthews.
Both versions have their strong points. If you
purchased the Anchor Bay edition and are satisfied
with the exceptional transfer, then you may not
want to purchase this new set. The crisper,
sharper images and richer colors for the Criterion
are the strong selling points while the audio 5.1
on the Anchor Bay has the edge for audio. The
extras for both are quite good although the
commentary track gives the Criterion edition the
edge in my mind. The image quality and color are
better on the Criterion Edition of "Man" but the
Anchor Bay remixed sound has the edge for audio.
If you don't have the Anchor Bay or are looking to
upgrade to a better looking picture, the Criterion
is the stronger of the two. Criterion wins by a
nose due to the extra featurettes and audio
commentary as well as the Roeg supervised
transfer. |
