Blu-ray Movie Reviews

All told, the commentary is an entertaining blend of science and anecdote. And it's best when Mantee is his most candid, lamenting the failed ignition of his post-Mars career and the 1993 fire that destroyed his collection of Mars memorabilia. Speaking of the latter, which happened only a year before he made this 1994 commentary, Mantee nearly chokes up over the still-fresh loss, calling it "a real death in the family, as far as I'm concerned."

The good news is that somebody else kept a collection, too, and it's here in a DVD gallery. This feast of production materials and promotional artwork includes illustrations that accompanied the original screenplay, downloadable annotated excerpts from it, art department sketches, selected storyboards, posters, lobby cards, on-set photos, and preliminary sketches for a sequel that was never made.

The trailer is the usual silly '60s stuff. Even sillier, though, is Criterion's newly made "music video" for "Robinson Crusoe on Mars," a song by Lundin that appeared on his 2000 album, Little Owl. A much more valuable addition is the new 20-minute documentary, Destination: Mars, directed by Lennick and featuring NASA animation and NASA people in its discussion of science fiction and fact.

Oh . . . and then there's the little matter of DVD quality! As it turns out, the sound is the only true disappointment of this set. It's good, to be sure - but alas, it's mono. What a thrill it would've been to hear the Mars Orbital Probe streak across our media room, and how luscious to hear Van Cleave's excellent score in surround sound. That said, the 24-bit-remastered mono soundtrack is bold enough, with decent heft to the rock explosions wrought by the alien mining ships. It's clean, too, with no Rice Krispies clamor. And Criterion reminds us that if we want wider sound in a home theater, the Dolby Digital 1.0 track can be switched via your gear to 2-channel mono.

Ah, and the picture? Criterion has pulled out all the stops: "This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 4K Datacine from the 35mm two-perforation A/B interpositive struck from the original negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System." And to be sure, the image quality is remarkable, with solid resolution (note the yellow circles on the radar screen in the early scenes), sharp detail (marvel at the rocky landscape in the extreme long shot of Mantee running to his downed comrade's capsule), some welcome film grain, and accurate skin tones throughout. Except for the intentionally oversaturated Martian skies at daytime, colors are admirably natural, from vivid orange flames to the genuine red, white, and blue of the American flag outside Mantee's cave. Some of the opening shots of space remain a little rough; later, however, white stars are pinpointedly clear against the black expanse. The picture is so good that, at times, it can't help but reveal the relative artificiality of certain special effects, but this is a minor tradeoff that's acceptable in the spirit of cinematic nostalgia.

Speaking of nostalgia: Another way I remember Robinson Crusoe on Mars is that it gave me my first exposure to letterboxing. Which is to say, after its second life at Saturday matinees, the movie had a third life on TV (for a while, before mysteriously disappearing). And the opening credits, with the probe rocketing across the screen, were shown with black bars above and below. Except, they weren't black; they were gray bars filled with suns and planets, forming two tableaux of the heavens. I always thought, "What the hell?" Of course, the rest of the movie was pan-and-scanned to the max. So what a thrill it is to see it presented here in its original Techniscope aspect ratio of 2.35:1 - I'm talking wide-screen, folks!

And I'm talking a 43-year-old film that, post-Star Wars, still holds up today. After its brief fourth life on laserdisc, Robinson Crusoe on Mars should now enjoy a long fifth life in your DVD collection.

more Entertainment reviews Back to Homepage What's New on S&V