The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 18, 2017

One of the more bittersweet memes I saw as 2016 came to a close was one suggesting the David Bowie hadn’t died, he had obviously transported to some alternate universe where he was hand picking the people he wanted to be with. Bowie’s death seemed to be one of those cultural zeitgeist moments that unites people otherwise fairly disparately removed, but the good news is both his music and his film appearances live on. The Man Who Fell to Earth provided Bowie not just with his first starring part, but a signature role that he seemed to inhabit—an alien from another realm transported down to commune with us mere mortals here on terra firma. Rather incredibly, it’s been nine years since Criterion released their well regarded version, but now Lionsgate in conjunction with Studio Canal have brought the film out again in a supposedly deluxe Limited Collector’s Edition which requires a bit of “fine print” reading to determine just how deluxe it actually is (as discussed below in the supplements section).

As with all the other re-releases that have been in my review queue lately, I'm going to assume most coming to this review are going to be more interested in a compare and contrast with the Criterion version with regard to audio and video quality, as well as what supplements are on tap, rather than another plot rehash. For those not up to speed on the plot dynamics of this often surreal and even hallucinogenic feeling film, Svet Atanasov's The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray review of the Criterion version is a good place to start. The same plot information is also included in Svet's review of the more recent British Blu-ray release from Studio Canal.

The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Man Who Fell to Earth is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Lionsgate's press materials are maddeningly silent on what they advertise as a "stunningly restored" version, but David Bowie's own site had this information about Studio Canal's restoration, which I am assuming was the source used for this transfer:

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Nicolas Roeg's iconic movie, The Man Who Fell To Earth, we're delighted to announce that the film will return to UK cinemas in 4K this September.

STUDIOCANAL has announced that they are near to completing a new 4k restoration of the cult classic. The restoration has been in the works since late 2015 and it will be released in cinemas nationwide in the UK on 9th September by Park Circus, opening at BFI Southbank and cinemas nationwide.

The Man Who Fell To Earth will also be released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 10th October by STUDIOCANAL and is part of the 'Vintage Classics collection' – showcasing iconic British films, all fully restored and featuring brand new extra content.

Restored by Deluxe London, the restoration of The Man Who Fell To Earth is based on a 4K scan of the original camera negative, followed by a full 4K workflow, with the approval of cinematographer Anthony Richmond and with the blessing of Nic Roeg.

Bowie's site has further information about this U.S. Lionsgate release which at least suggests it's sourced from the same 4K Studio Canal restoration:

In celebration of The Man Who Fell To Earth's 40th anniversary, Lionsgate will bring Nicolas Roeg's 1976 science fiction classic, to remastered 4K Blu-ray limited edition, 3 disc collectors box set, including 72 page booklet, poster and more on January 24th in North America.

As with many of my other reviews of re-releases, I've tried to recreate some of the screenshots from the review of the Criterion version, as well as the British release (which is also sourced from the 4K scan) so that fans can do their own side by side (by side) comparison instead of totally relying on my descriptive powers. The first thing that struck me as a little odd about this version is that it reportedly has "the blessing of Nic Roeg," which the old Criterion version of course also did (it was one of the Criterion releases branded as "Director Approved"), and yet these two versions are at least marginally different in brightness and color timing. Now of course scanning technology and digital color grading have grown by leaps and bounds in the years between the Criterion release and this one, which may account for at least some of the discrepancies on tap, but to my eyes the Criterion version is the more pleasing of the two (it would be a mistake to call anything in The Man Who Fell to Earth "natural" looking). While Svet mentioned how the Criterion release had a somewhat red appearance (at least compared to DVD versions), this Lionsgate release tips things more toward yellow. Compare, for example, the color of the window trim in screenshot 1 between the Criterion and Lionsgate versions to see what I'm talking about. I'm not the type to insist one or the other is "correct", but the differences are noticeable, and I personally prefer the palette on the Criterion version.

The other kind of odd thing about this release, especially if one assumes that this was in fact sourced from a 4K scan, is that detail levels are fairly anemic at times. Quite a bit of the transfer is on the soft side, and at least occasional lack of fine detail argues for some filtering, though to be fair, there is substantial grain in attendance, especially during the many opticals (the film has a rather large number of dissolves, among other things), and at other times fine detail is at least relatively good (see the fingerprint clearly visible in screenshot 6, which I don't think would be quite as precise looking if really aggressive DNR had been applied). That said, there are certainly moments where the grainfield on the Lionsgate version is substantially finer (to the point of being minimal at times) in certain moments (contrast screenshot 2 on this review with the Criterion review for just one example), though the fact the Criterion release was supposedly sourced from an IP would also account for its coarser looking grain. With all of these elements in play, as well as increased brightness and contrast, some scenes at least can look blown out, with near blooming whites and at least occasional lack of fine detail. Bitrates are inarguably more anemic than the Criterion version, often hovering at around 20 Mbps and at times dropping as low as the single digits and engendering some compression anomalies, where the Criterion featured healthier rates often above 30 Mbps. Just to add fuel to the international release fire, though, the British release also evidently has low bitrates according to the data on our listing for that release.

This is all to say I'm a little conflicted about this release from a video presentation standpoint. I don't understand how a 4K scan of the negative fails to reveal consistent fine detail levels unless some sort of intermediary tweaking happened, and I'm also a little confused as to why the color timing on this release, along with brightness and contrast levels, are so different from the Criterion, though this concern may in fact be based on my aforementioned comment that I personally find the Criterion release the more appealing of the two. Your mileage may of course vary, and it's worth noting Svet gave the British release a 5.0 video score while he only gave the Criterion 4.5.

The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This version of The Man Who Fell to Earth sports a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which to my ears is substantially similar if not absolutely identical with the LPCM 2.0 track included on the Criterion release. The film's sound design, including its interesting score, is one of its most distinctive features, and it's presented here with clarity and a fair amount of "oomph" in the lower registers. Dialogue and the relatively sparse "science fiction"-y sound effects are rendered cleanly and clearly, and there are no signs of age related damage like hiss, dropouts or crackling.

The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The cover of this release advertises a "3 Disc Set" which includes special features, but you have to read the fine print to find out that only one of the discs is a Blu-ray, and that one of the DVDs is simply a standard definition version of the film, with the second DVD offering the same supplementary material as is found on the Blu-ray. Furthermore, even the supplements on the Blu-ray disc are in standard definition, for those who care about such things. With all of this in mind, here's what each disc provides:

Disc One - Blu-ray

• Feature Film in High Definition


• Interviews (480i; 2:46:01) features: Candy Clark, Paul Mayersberg, Tony Richmond, Nic Roeg, May Routh, David James, Sam Taylor- Johnson and Michael Deeley.


• The Lost Soundtracks of The Man Who Fell to Earth Featurette (480i; 16:44) is a quite interesting piece documenting both the music that made it into the film and a lot that didn't, and includes interviews with one of my favorite arrangers, Paul Buckmaster (he did the amazing orchestration on "Space Oddity", which began his collaboration with Bowie).


• David Bowie Interview - French TV 1977 (480i; 8:20) features some anamorphically squeezed snippets from the film (apparently done to match the old school 1.33:1 framing) along with a happy go lucky seeming Bowie (who is chomping pretty vigorously on some gum) talking about becoming a movie star. In French and English with subtitles for the French bits.


• Trailer (480i; 2:21)

Disc Two - DVD

• Feature Film in Standard Definition with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound

Disc Three - DVD

• Supplements included on the Blu-ray disc are repeated here

This release kind of oddly omits the soundtrack CD that was included with the British release, but it carries over the other non-disc swag, which includes an illustrated booklet, a reproduction of the press book, art cards and a mini-poster.

The Man Who Fell to Earth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As conflicted as I am about the video quality of this release, I'm probably even more conflicted about this release as a whole. The film is one of those sui generis outings that is completely unique and therefore "must see" material. There are some excellent supplements on this release, albeit in standard definition. The package is very handsomely produced, with some non disc swag that may appeal to certain collectors, and the audio element sounds just fine. The fact that the out of print Criterion version is going for absurd amounts of money also throws a wrinkle into the proceedings, but there are other options for those with region free players. My advice is to carefully look at screenshots and decide for yourself which version meets your expectations the best. The film itself is unforgettable and is certainly a fitting testament to Bowie's star power. With caveats duly noted, Recommended.