Review: Man Who Fell To Earth
02-14-03, 11:59 PM
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Review: Man Who Fell To Earth
Anchor Bay seems to be on a run these days. They take great films which are neglected by the big studios and do them justice. Last week it was The Complete Musketeers. Surprisingly they topped it with Man Who Fell. You can safely throw away your Fox Lorber garbage.
I won't speak to content too much, just to say if you like SF and/or art films you'll probably like this. I'm a big fan of this film, and I've caught it a number of times on PBS, but I never realized how heavily cut the film was. There's no violence, but lots of full nudity, which obviously disturbs PBS more than swearing. I could never bring myself to sit through the whole Fox Lorber DVD because it looked so awful.
The whole presentation is top notch, from the box, the booklet, menu, extras, etc. The box is a standard DVD sized slipcase, with a plsatic fold-out type holder. The graphics on the slipcase, DVD case and booklet are excellent. The small 8 page booklet is free floating between the two DVDs, but it stays in place nicely when placed in the case.
The DVD's PQ is excellent. It's THX certified (for whatever that's worth), and it's much better than I thought it would be. A nice 2.35 anamorphic transfer, with a little dirt from time to time, but this is by far the best I've ever seen this film look. Colors are dark and muted, film grain is a little bit high - this "otherworldly" look fits in perfectly with the film.
Sound is excellent as well. I listened mainly to the half-bitrate DTS-ES track (on 5 speakers), which usually has a more spacious soundstage on my Onkyo receiver. I don't generally like mono-surround remixes, but they did a good job here- not overusing the surround effects. Both the DD-EX and DTS-EX tracks were crisp and clear.
I'll check out the extras disc tommorow.
I won't speak to content too much, just to say if you like SF and/or art films you'll probably like this. I'm a big fan of this film, and I've caught it a number of times on PBS, but I never realized how heavily cut the film was. There's no violence, but lots of full nudity, which obviously disturbs PBS more than swearing. I could never bring myself to sit through the whole Fox Lorber DVD because it looked so awful.
The whole presentation is top notch, from the box, the booklet, menu, extras, etc. The box is a standard DVD sized slipcase, with a plsatic fold-out type holder. The graphics on the slipcase, DVD case and booklet are excellent. The small 8 page booklet is free floating between the two DVDs, but it stays in place nicely when placed in the case.
The DVD's PQ is excellent. It's THX certified (for whatever that's worth), and it's much better than I thought it would be. A nice 2.35 anamorphic transfer, with a little dirt from time to time, but this is by far the best I've ever seen this film look. Colors are dark and muted, film grain is a little bit high - this "otherworldly" look fits in perfectly with the film.
Sound is excellent as well. I listened mainly to the half-bitrate DTS-ES track (on 5 speakers), which usually has a more spacious soundstage on my Onkyo receiver. I don't generally like mono-surround remixes, but they did a good job here- not overusing the surround effects. Both the DD-EX and DTS-EX tracks were crisp and clear.
I'll check out the extras disc tommorow.
02-17-03, 10:46 PM
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Re: Review: Man Who Fell To Earth
Originally posted by Eric F
I'll check out the extras disc tommorow.
I'll check out the extras disc tommorow.
No participation in the documentary or any of the DVD extras from Bowie, Rip Torn or Buck Henry, so the Criterion commentary track on their original laser disc or a new track with Roeg, Clark and the film's technicians would have been nice.
cheers, Tony Block
