new Man Who Fell to Earth release (1 Viewer)

[Arnie G]

Man Who Fell to Earth. I was just at BB & saw this new 2 disc out early. I was wondering if anyone has it yet or if you know of any reviews.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Someone made a mistake. It's not scheduled to street until Feb. 11. If you decide to get it, please post your impressions!

M.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Yes, please do post your impressions, as I am also looking forward to this. It is too bad they couldn't get the commentary from the Criterion laserdisc, but the other features sound quite good, and it will be nice to upgrade from the inferior prior DVD release.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

It is too bad they couldn't get the commentary from the Criterion laserdisc

Definitely! As a Bowie fanatic, I got the LD JUST because of that track - I wanted to hear Bowie yak about the flick (which I'd never seen prior to that time). I wasn't disappointed - he was terrific. Too bad the whole commentary wasn't just Bowie alone - not that the others weren't good, but Bowie offered some great stories...

 

[Bill McA]

I picked this up last week from a large Canadian retailer.

The transfer is a huge improvement over the old Fox Lorber DVD. Picture is much brighter and sharper and the colour levels are quite different in some scenes.
For example, the early scene of Bowie sliding down the hill appears very dark and brownish on the FL disc, the same scene is much brighter and sharper with a bluish/gray colour level.

The framing of Anchor Bay's transfer is also greatly improved, revealing more image on the sides. FL's disc appears to be slightly zoomed in.

The 24-minute documentary is interesting, but not very in-depth. It features on-screen interviews with Roeg, Candy Clark, producer Si Litinoff, editor Graeme Clifford and cinematographer Anthony Richmond.

Discs come in a white plastic digipack which slips into an outer sleeve. Digipack and booklet contain the original British poster art, but without the original title and text.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

I just got mine in the mail today. As soon as I can get home and take a look at it I'll post my impressions.

Link Removed

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Saw this at the store today, talk about cheap POS packaging. Why couldn't they have just put this in a nice double Alpha? The copy I ordered hasn't arrived yet.

 

[Douglas Bailey]

(reposted in slightly-modified form from an article I wrote in rec.video.dvd.titles)

I've now taken the time to A/B the new DVD (transferred directly from the negative, apparently) against the Criterion laserdisc release from 1992 (which sports a Nic Roeg-approved transfer from a CRI print master).

With 16:9 enhancement, the DVD definitely has the advantage in terms of image sharpness and colour resolution, but it also has a fairly strong yellowish/greenish tinge to the colour. The LD's image is softer -- though this has the effect of hiding most of the video noise which is very noticeable in the DVD transfer -- and has much cooler colours, leaning towards the blue part of the spectrum but with more naturalistic flesh-tones than those found on the DVD. There are differences in contrast, but no consistent patterns: the LD has darker shadows in some shots but is more washed-out in others.

Personally, I find the LD transfer more aesthetically appealing despite its lower resolution: the cooler colours seem to suit the story better. (In particular, the early shot of Newton/Bowie sitting by the river, drinking and marvelling at all the water,
looks significantly more "right" to me in the bluer LD tones.)

This is not to suggest that fans shouldn't buy the DVD: if you don't have access to the (long out-of-print) laserdisc, the new DVD is the best way to see the film at home. It's an improvement over the older DVD and a great step up from VHS.

But if you have the LD, hold on to it for the transfer as much as for the Roeg/Bowie/Henry commentary track.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I believe that the region 2 edition from Warner/Canal+ has the same transfer. It looks great. The 5.1 remix is excellent. But how's the DTS 6.1 ES track on the Anchor Bay edition? It's a real shame that Anchor couldn't acquire Criterion's commentary. :frowning: I know that the film is 140 minutes long and with DD, DTS that takes up a lot of space, but for disc two to only contain a 24-minute documentary, stills, ROM screenplay etc is a bit disappointing. I don't mean to sound like a greedy sh*t, but I would have thought that there would have been more. A Bowie interview in addition to the docu.

I have never seen or even heard of a documentary on the career of Roeg and one is well overdue. Great filmmaker - very interesting career.

I look forward to seeing more of Roeg on DVD. Eureka in particular.


Gordy

 

[Eric F]

I posted a review on DVDTalk yesterday.

I actually think this is superior to the LD (with the exception of no commentary, which is a bummer) for a few reasons- The dark, muted look of the film definately fits in well with the subject material. The transfer is a bit grainy, but I also think it's appropriate here. I'm watching it on a Panasonic DT-M3050W 16:9 HD production monitor- so it's quite possible that the LD could look better on a RPJ set. This is as good as I've ever seen it.

The DTS mix is good. I suppose you can only expect so much from a mono source- actually I'm a bit annoyed they didn't include it. We get 3 audio tracks- DD-EX, DTS-ES and DD 2.0. DTS is preferable here, surround effects aren't overdone.

The extras disk little worthwhile content. It would have been nice if they had a director's cut or something more on there, but I only paid $12 for it, so it's hard to complain.

If you can find it for under $15 I'd say it's worth purchase, especially if you're into contemplative SF or art films.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Personally, I find the LD transfer more aesthetically appealing despite its lower resolution: the cooler colours seem to suit the story better.

The Fox Lorber DVD was made from Criterion's transfer, so if you prefer that transfer you can pick them up factory-sealed for about $7 on Half.com.

Jeff