The Man Who Fell to Earth
Nicolas Roeg
United States
1976
136 minutes
Color
2.35:1
English
304
Synopsis
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 Henry, and Rip Torn turn in pitch-perfect supporting 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.
Cast
| Thomas Jerome Newton | David Bowie |
| Nathan Bryce | Rip Torn |
| Mary-Lou | Candy Clark |
| Oliver Farnsworth | Buck Henry |
| Peters | Bernie Casey |
| Professor Canutti | Jackson D. Kane |
| Trevor | Rick Riccardo |
| Arthur | Tony Mascia |
Credits
| Director | Nicolas Roeg |
| Producer | Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings |
| Executive producer | Si Litvinoff |
| Screenplay | Paul Mayersberg |
| From the novel by | Walter Tevis |
| Associate producer | John Peverall |
| Editing | Graeme Clifford |
| Cinematography | Anthony Richmond |
| Production Design | Brian Eatwell |
| Musical director | John Phillips |
| Costume designer | May Routh |
Disc Features
AVAILABLE IN BOTH DOUBLE-DVD AND BLU-RAY DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITIONS:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg
- Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry
- New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg
- Performance, new video interview with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn
- Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell
- Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim
- Multiple stills galleries, including Routh’s costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James
- Gallery of posters from Roeg’s films
- Trailers
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Plus: Walter Tevis’s original novel, reprinted specially for this release, and a 28-page booklet featuring a new essay on the film by critic Graham Fuller and an appreciation of Tevis by novelist Jack Matthews (NOTE: the novel is not included in the Blu-ray edition)
From the Current
The Criterion Collection
Goes High Definition!
Dec 15, 2008 Critics have had our debut Blu-ray releases for weeks, and the word is out, coast to coast: http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2008/11/criterions...
PRESS NOTES: SEEING BLU
Dec 11, 2008Criterion Blu-ray editions debut next week—with Chungking Express, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bottle Rocket, and The Third Man—and the reviews are already coming in. “Chungking Express, Criterion’s first Blu-ray release, is nothing short of magnificent,” say the folks at the...
The Man Who Fell to Earth:
Loving the Alien
by Sep 26, 2005 Science-fiction drama, western, love story, metaphysical mystery, satire of modern America—The Man Who Fell to Earth is the most beguiling of the films that, in a dozen years embracing the 1970s, established Nicolas Roeg as a mainstream heir to such 1960s...
The Man Who Fell to Earth
by Mar 11, 1993Released the year before Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth is a science-fiction film without science, a terrestrial space opera minus matte shots, models, or pyrotechnics that leaves us not wondering at the stars but...