The film that possibly caused more kids who watched it to cry than Steven Spielberg's ET did ten years later gets the whistles and bells treatment from Arrow in a new 4K UHD & Blu-ray set.
In the future, the population explosion has meant there's no room left on earth for wildlife, and the remaining flora and fauna have been housed in a great glass domes and transported into space. The domes require minimum maintenance and so only a crew of four is needed at any time. But soon a crew won't be needed at all, because the message comes through from earth that the domes are no longer needed, that they can be destroyed, and that the men can return home. But ecologist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) isn't prepared to let what's left of earth's wildlife be blown up. He manages to save one dome at the expenses of his co-workers' lives, and thus begins his lonely trip into outer space with only three little robots whom he names Huey, Dewey and Louie for company.
Despite some scripting bits that really don't stand up to scrutiny, SILENT RUNNING is rightfully remembered with tremendous affection by those who saw it on its initial release or on TV re-reruns. It was one of only two feature films to be directed by visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull (the other was 1983's BRAINSTORM) and was made during a period when science fiction cinema was exploring ecological issues. The result was movies like Richard Fleischer's SOYLENT GREEN (1973), and Saul Bass' PHASE IV (1974) and Trumbull's picture, all of which remain vital and sadly relevant pieces of cinema today.
Arrow's new release of SILENT RUNNING is a new 4K restoration. Both UHD and Blu-ray discs are included in the set, with the UHD presented in HDR10 compatible DolbyVision. But if you prefer the original lossless mono audio that's included, too, along with an isolated music and effects track.
Extras kick off with a new audio commentary from Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw which is extremely listenable to and pointed out quite a few things I'd never really considered about the film before. For example, I can't say I ever thought of Dern's character as anything other than someone who wants to save the forest, but then that's what these tracks are for. Other new material includes No Turning Back in which film music historian Jeff Bond talks us about the film's score and its composer Peter Schickele aka PDQ Bach (apparently); and First Run, a visual essay about how the original pre-Steve Bochco screenplay complete with script pages.
The archival commentary with Trumbull and Dern, available on the previous Eureka release, has been carried over, as has the 50 minute making of, the two Trumbull archival interviews, and the archival Dern interview. There's also a trailer and a behind the scenes gallery. Finally you get a reversible sleeve and a booklet with writing on the film from Barry Forshaw and Peter Tonguette.
Douglas Trumbull's SILENT RUNNING is out in a double disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray set from Arrow on Monday 12th December 2022. There's also an exclusive limited edition Zavvi Steelbook out the same day with stills and a poster:
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