304 The Man Who Fell to Earth

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Cinephrenic · #26 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:14 am

Damn, I should post my copy up.

I got the october list.

daniel p · #27 Post by **daniel p** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:10 am

For some reason I still don't buy all this... the 2 Roeg films don't hold a candle to Harakiri, Boudu and recent releases such as Balthazar, L'Eclisse, Jules & Jim etc.
Campion's seems worthy, but I dunno... maybe I'm being too cynical...

solaris72 · #28 Post by **solaris72** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:01 am

Cineslob wrote:Here's hoping that Criterion will get access to Anchor Bay's Herzog properties some time in the future on a similar basis.

Eh, I'd much rather they released some of the many unreleased Herzog films. The Anchor Bay Herzogs are fine: good transfers, anamorphic when it applies, and most of them have the best extra possible, a Herzog commentary. Let's have some short films, or Bells from the Deep or God's Angry Man, or anything else that isn't available.

Cinephrenic · #29 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:01 am

Lets have 2-disc special editions of Fitzcarraldo and Aquirre: The Wrath of God with his shorts on the discs.

Lino · #30 Post by **Lino** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:24 am

If that Bad Timing title is right, the timing (pardon the pun) couldn't be more right (pardon the redundance) as I was about to order it from the UK.

justeleblanc · #31 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:18 pm

Not that IMDB ratings have meaning, but I think the two Roeg's would now be the lowest rated Criterions according to IMDB ratings.

Gordon · #32 Post by **Gordon** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:03 pm

JusteLeblanc, wrote:

Not that IMDB ratings have meaning, but I think the two Roeg's would now be the lowest rated Criterions according to IMDB ratings.

You are right: they don't. However, they are a good reflection of the Western World's attitude towards Cinema in general, crude terms.

Roeg is a Master of Cinema, in the pure, Hitchcockian, and to a lesser extent, Bressonian, sense, in that he sees that world as a magical, spiritual place, ruled, primarily by Fate, but driven by Will, in the Schopenhaurian sense, philosophically. The Man Who Fell To Earth is a film I feel deeply connected to, as I, like Thomas Jerome Newton, feel like I "fell" to Earth: I cannot remember how I "got" here although I have a general "Mice and Men" plan of what to do, I still do not know what it is I should be progressing towards on this planet.

The Man Who Fell To Earth is an astounding film experience, I feel. Visuallly and editorally, a great 'lesson in Cinema' and a weird, wonderful, yet melancholy story.

The late Walter Tevis was a great novelist and Creative Mind. This is the guy who wrote The Hustler, remember. However, his greatest achievement is probably his extraordinary 1983 novel, The Queen's Gambit, about an abused, orphaned, child prodigy, the tremendously inspiring, Beth Harmon. The alienation of the Genius Mind, was also the main theme in The Man Who Fell to Earth, and like Newton, Beth is 'brought down' to our level by alcohol. Tevis, himself was an alcholic intellectual who struggled for many years, existentially with the World. He was a great storyteller, who never achieved Grand Status as an American writer. But, then, few modern American writers have, but there are many amazing Minds out there.

I really hope that Criterion's second disc contains at least some material on Tevis' take on the World.

DDillaman · #33 Post by **DDillaman** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:26 pm

JusteLeblanc wrote:Not that IMDB ratings have meaning, but I think the two Roeg's would now be the lowest rated Criterions according to IMDB ratings.

Apart from it not mattering, you're wrong: a quick inspection yields ARMAGEDDON, SALO, FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN, FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, and BLOOD FOR DRACULA. There's probably others, as I only checked about ten titles that popped into my head.

Narshty · #34 Post by **Narshty** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:55 pm

The prospect of these two Roegs is the best unexpected Criterion news I've had since Videodrome. In terms of sheer physical filmmaking they make me go all wibbly inside and, although deliberately more distanced than Walkabout and Don't Look Now, are still genuinely resonant works.

godardslave · #35 Post by **godardslave** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:26 pm

JusteLeblanc wrote:Not that IMDB ratings have meaning, but I think the two Roeg's would now be the lowest rated Criterions according to IMDB ratings.

why post a statement if you start with the disclaimer "it has no meaning".

a point of logic.

I wonder if criterion attempted to get the rights to dont look now as well, but were rebuffed.

that would have made a nice Roeg box set [digipack of course!].

Cinephrenic · #36 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:33 pm

Who cares about IMDB ratings. Crazed Fruit didn't really have any ratings until it was announced by Criterion. Most us here, haven't even seen it in the west.

I'm just glad Criterion is putting out more Roeg films. Expecially, his greatly underrated gem Bad Timing. I also glad that their relationship with Anchor Bay hasn't diminished which will hope that Herzog titles be released into the collection.

justeleblanc · #37 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:18 am

Sorry about the IMDB post.

And while we're off subject, were Anchor Bay's Herzog collections really that bad? They may not be filled to the brim with extras but I can't see any of them getting rereleased onto Criterion. What I can see is clips from Herzog's films being used, like the My Best Fiend clips on the Burden of Dreams disc.

Cinephrenic · #38 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:18 am

Your post was fine. I wasn't throwing fire to your post or any one's in that case. Just think that many films don't get the votes they deserve, therefore makes the rating system on IMDB a little uncredible.

Herzog films are fine by Anchor Bay. I guess seeing Burden of Dreams and the extras on their discs warrant a special release. Wishful thinking on my half.

#39 Post by **Jeff** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 7:21 pm

Still no scans or actual proof of these releases? At first I thought plegmaticinstature was being serious, then I though he sort of copped to pulling our legs, but now it seems that everyone is taking these seriously. I'm confused, but hopeful. I'd snap up both Roegs in a heartbeat. At any rate, here was Mulvaney's response to my inquiry about Man and the postponement of Au Revoir les Enfants.

Look for AU REVOIR in late 2005. We hope to release THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH in the future, but nothing is certain at this time.

Best,
JM

TechNoir · #40 Post by **TechNoir** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:11 am

I do not have a scanner sorry. But i assure you that i am telling the truth. I was correct when i said that Wages Of Fear was going to be rereleased. Everyone knows that Criterion could change things at any time. But the titles and numbers are listed in the new Criterion folders.

godardslave · #41 Post by **godardslave** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:38 am

its ok we believed you the first time.

Gordon · #42 Post by **Gordon** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:23 pm

Judging by JM's statement, it is coming, but it may not be spine 304: it may be a later release.

I reckon it will have a new hi-def transfer, with mono only and the LD commentary. I doubt we'll see the 5.1 and 6.1 DTS remixes, although I hope we do.

Here's a fantastic, recent interview with Roeg

oldsheperd · #43 Post by **oldsheperd** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:07 pm

I'm kind of hoping the cover is of Bowie's profile. You know, the original cover. What's on the cover of the Low album.

What A Disgrace · #44 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:42 pm

Just occured to me to ask.

Has anyone, who has looked at this new catalogue in full, looked towards Playtime and Wages of Fear, to see if they have new prices listed, and/or are no longer listed as OOP?

Lino · #45 Post by **Lino** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:48 pm

Hmm...just had a crazy idea: what if both David Bowie and Nicolas Roeg agreed for an altenate audio track that subsituted the film's original score with the tracks that Bowie originally composed for the film's soundtrack which eventually ended up being the Low album? My mind is reeling right now... =P~

leo goldsmith · #46 Post by **leo goldsmith** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:52 pm

Or what if the cover was a picture of the aliens doin' it? Or Rip Torn's full-frontal scene? Now, my mind is reeling.

oldsheperd · #47 Post by **oldsheperd** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:57 pm

I thought Brian Eno was behind the soundtrack?

Lino · #48 Post by **Lino** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 3:21 pm

Brian Eno colaborated with Bowie on Low so that's maybe where you got that idea from. But the songs are all Bowie's. They went on to work together on two more albums: Heroes and The Lodger.

I've always read that Bowie was deeply frustrated when Roeg decided not to use his music on this film as he felt very close to its themes and the character he played (no wonder, Bowie and alienation seemed to go hand in hand in the 70's).

oldsheperd · #49 Post by **oldsheperd** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 3:30 pm

Bowie and lots of Coke also go hand in hand in the 70s.[/quote]

reaky · #50 Post by **reaky** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 5:25 pm

A perfect extra feature for this release would be The Alan Yentob BBC documentary on Bowie, CRACKED ACTOR, filmed at the time Bowie was making the film. As you watch the trilbied strung-out Bowie being chaffeured around the States, you realise how little difference there seems to have been between the way he was at that point and the character of Thomas Jerome Newton. Other than that one of them came from space and the other from Bromley.

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304 The Man Who Fell to Earth