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Topic: Silent Running (1 x 400 digest)
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James N. Savage 3
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1375
From: Washington, DC
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted November 01, 2006 08:39 AM
"SILENT RUNNING"
Released by Universal 8
1 x 400 foot digest (around 17 minutes)
Released to theaters in 1972, this was Douglas Trumbull's first directing job. He had done the visual effects for "2001-A Space Odyssey". Ahead of his time, Trumbull's effects are very effective in this movie as well.
The plot is quite simple. In the near future, forests no longer exist on the Earth, so the last remaining forests are placed in large domes (like a greenhouse). Three forests (domes) are attached to each freighter space ship, manned by small crews and robots to maintain them in space.
On one space freighter, the 'Valley Forge', crew member Lowell (played perfectly by Bruce Dern), seems to be the only person who really cares about the job of maintaining the forests.
One day, the crews receive "good news". They are told to jettison the forrests and return back to Earth. The mission is over. This is not good news to Lowell, however, who loves taking care of nature. After the first forest blows up, Lowell becomes enraged and is determined to save the last two. He kills one crew member and jettisons the other two crew in one of the forests as they are preparing to blow it up. The ship then is lost in space with Lowell and the drones (little robots), retaining the last forest dome.
Now alone, Lowell befriends the two remaining droids, Huey and Louie. In spite of the fact that the robots can't speak, they have remarkable character (alot of which is lost, due to editing in this digest).
Lowell continues to maintain the last forest for a while, then things take a turn for the worst. The plants are dying and one of the drones becomes very seriously injured. To make matters worse, Lowell's ship has been tracked by Earth, which means he will have to destroy the last forest dome and return home.
In desperation, Lowell decides he will jettison the last dome, leaving the 'healthy' droid on the dome to maintain the forest. He then blows himself up whith the injured droid. The End.
The movie has a central invironmental theme, which is dated, but is actually becoming an issue again.
About the digest -
The first half of the digest is perfectly edited, retaining atmosphere and explaining the character's personalities. There are lots of effects shots, my favorite being when the domes are jettisoned.
The second half of the digest is rushed. Much of the droid's character are lost. When we get to the final scene with Lowell preparing to blow up himself with the injured droid, he tells the story of how he put a message in a bottle when he was a kid. Then the camera shot backs away from the two and the ship blows up.
This final scene, which was incredibly dramatic in the feature, is lessened in the final editing of this digest. For instance, the final song by 60's artist Joan Baez, is faded into the scene too early, rather then starting after the explosion, as it does in the feature. Also, that little scene of the last droid, watering the forrest all by himself with that little dented up watering can, as Joan's music is played, adds so much to the end, but, it is edited out in this digest.
In closing, I'll just add that this digest would have worked so much better as a 2 x 400 version. In fact, the whole movie is less than 90 minutes, so this would have been fairly easy to edit to 35-40 minuts. Oh well, why cry over spilled milk ![[Wink]](wink.gif) .
It's still a nice souvenier to fans of this cult classic movie, and the quality is absolutely fantastic on my print. A little fading has occurred, but not like most of my U-8 prints.
Recommended to SCI-FI fans, but please, don't show this to people who have not had the chance to view this movie in its entirety first.
James.
[ May 26, 2008, 07:40 AM: Message edited by: James N. Savage 3 ]
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 01, 2006 01:51 PM
This film holds a special place for me. When I was four or five, (and my dad was a projectionist at the airbase movie theater, yeah, it certainly runs in the family), there were two films I saw at about the same time, up in the projectionists booth, Disney's Robin Hood, and SILENT RUNNING, is there any suprise that my two favorite film genres are animation and Sci-fi?
I have this on laserdisc now, and I bet this looks great as a 17 minute digest as, while this is a very good sci-fi film, it is very slow moving and would no doubt work well as a digest, (much the same as the ALIEN 400ft. digest, slow moving film, excellent cutdown).
Question, what film stock is your print on? If it's the earlier Eastman stock, that might be why the color is still good. I have a print of the optical feature, "Romance of a Horsethief" (1971) and the color is almost totally pristine, even after 35 years, and it's Eastman.
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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James N. Savage 3
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1375
From: Washington, DC
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted November 02, 2006 08:40 AM
Hi Guys, thanks for the comments/questions.
Mike-Good luck on your hunting. I think U-8 printed a good number of these, so you should be able to track a good used one down. If all else fails, you can always dish out $99 for a new sealed print from that Austrailian super 8 company ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) .
I think you are right about the little droid looking up at the explosion of the ship. I just remember that last shot of him. After he was watering the plants, he kind of steps back and looks around, then looks up, as the camera pans back, and then out of the dome, and into space (sniff) ![[Frown]](frown.gif) . Again, its a great scene, and wish it was in this cut-down.
Jean- Glad to hear your colors are holding up as well. Mine was an early print, in the clear plastic box, before U-8 changed the box style.
Osi- I'll check that film stock for you and post back on this thread.
Graham- Interesting question. I checked on some trivia for the movie. You are absolutely right. The Valley Forge was a decommissioned aircraft carrier from WW2,Korean, and Vietnam. The interior of the ship was tweeked for the 'space ship' look. Then it was scrapped after filming.
More interesting trivia: The droids were actually played by double amputee actors.
Nick.
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![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
, did he also look up when the ship detached and exploded in space before getting on with caring for his plants, or is that just an invention of my memory? Such a shame that it isn't in the 400ft cut down ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
- must have been sleepy!
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