Criterion Collection (series)

Man Who Fell to Earth

DVD Features:

Audio:

• Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English

Additional Release Material:

• Audio Commentary - Nicolas Roeg - Director, David Bowie - Actor, and Buck Henry - Actor
• Introduction - 1. David James (Stills, Photos, Introduction)
• Audio Interview - 1.May Routh - Costume Designer
                           2. Brian Eatwell - Production Designer
• Production Interview - 1. Paul Mayersbert - Screenwriter (New)
• Trailer
• T.V. Spots

Text/Photo Galleries:

• Costume Sketches
• Stills Gallery
• Behind The Scenes Photos
• Production And Publicity Stills
• Gallery Of Posters

Additional Products:

• Booklet Featuring New Essay By Film Critic Graham Fuller And An Appreciation Of Tevis By Novelist Jack Matthews

Description by OLDIES.com:

The Man Who Fell to Earth is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. The story of an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for Nicolas Roeg's visual tour de force, a formally adventurous examination of alienation in contemporary life. Rock legend David Bowie, in his acting debut, completely embodies the title role, while Candy Clark, Buck Hendry, and Rip Torn turn in pitch-perfect performances. The film's hallucinatory vision was obscured in the American theatrical release, which deleted nearly twenty minutes of crucial scenes and details. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Roeg's full uncut version, in this exclusive new director-approved high-definition widescreen transfer.

Product Description:

In Nicolas Roeg's sci-fi tale based on the novel by Walter Tevis, a humanoid alien from a dried-up husk of a planet falls to Earth in a spaceship--and later falls again metaphorically through alcohol abuse and the manipulations of a hostile culture. Arriving as a secret ambassador from a dying world, the masquerading Mr. Newton (David Bowie) patents several basic devices, including a self-developing color film and music recordings in the shape of small silver balls, in order to amass the tremendous capital necessary to build a spaceship. Along the way he solicits the help of a crack patent lawyer (Buck Henry) and a country-fried small-town girl (Candy Clark) who introduces him to gin, which he soon begins to substitute for his customary glass of water. Newton debates the reality of returning to his dead world only to have the choice made for him when he is swept from the launchpad by government agents. After serving his time with men in black, he is released, blinded by x rays, into the world. As a last drunken hurrah, he records an album under the name the Visitor with the hope that it may someday be broadcast and heard by his family and friends back home.

Connected throughout by intercut clips of television programs, classic movies, and film soundtracks, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is an fine example of the postmodern technique of work referring to its own medium and history. Like much 1970s sci-fi, it is heavily indebted to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; a scene in which an upset tray of cookies is juxtaposed with flying bodies echoes the film's flying bone and spaceship. Juxtaposing the free love enjoyed by Dr. Bryce (Rip Torn) with post-Altamont, pre-Reagan paranoia, Roeg's film manages to be at once artistically groundbreaking and a crystallization of the post-Summer of Love era.

Plot Synopsis:

An alien being travels to Earth in human form with a plan to bring water to his own dying planet. Once on Earth, the superintelligent space traveler begins making the social and financial climbs necessary for his plot to succeed. But he finds earthly pleasures far more enticing than he ever imagined and gradually slides into a life of shallow debauchery.

Plot Keywords:

Adaptation | Aliens | Based On A Novel | Big Business | Friends | Theatrical Release | Thriller

Exerpts:

"The strange thing about television is that it doesn't tell you anything." -- Thomas Newton (David Bowie) to Bryce (Rip Torn)

Production Notes:

• Theatrical release: May 28, 1976.
• Filmed in New Mexico and Shepperton Studios, England.
• David Bowie did not wish to contribute any music to the soundtrack unless it was left entirely up to him. The music that he was working on for the soundtrack ended up revamped on his albums LOW and STATION TO STATION.

Cast and Crew: