8mm Forum: Silent Running (1 x 400 digest)

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Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on 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]

.

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 ]

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on November 01, 2006, 11:53 AM:

Nick

That's a great review, Thanks! Silent running is a film that I only saw once, on its premier tv showing in the UK probably about 1977, but I remember it so well. The scene you describe at the end where the lonesome droid was left tending the forest with his battered watering can was very poignant and really worried me at the time [Roll Eyes]

, 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 [Frown]

.

Speaking of which, coincidently I've been tracking the 400ft cut down on Ebay for the last couple of days, I'll see how bidding goes but having read your review I feel even more inclined to make a bid.

Mike [Cool]

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on November 01, 2006, 12:43 PM:

Nick, great review. Coincidently, I projected this cutdown a few days ago as a test print after changing the belts of a projector. The colours are still holding well.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on 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.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on November 02, 2006, 12:22 AM:

Nick
Excellent review I had this version years ago only my wife and myself seemed to understand it. It was different to the kind of Si-Fi films like Star Wars etc, I do agree that a 2/400ft version would have been better but still a worthy addition to a Super8 collection.

Now here is a question, I have always wondered about this film the name "Valley Forge" was that the name of the mothballed aircraft carrier that much of the interior shots were filmed in?.

Regards Graham.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on 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!]

.

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]

. 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.

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on December 05, 2007, 12:42 PM:

A little over a year later and I have got myself a print of this great little cut down. Nick You're right - it works well but all the better for having seen the full feature, I feel that if you hadn't it would have considerably kess impact.

The colours on mine are holding up great, lots of nice blues and greens still, and the sound is belting!

Having watched it through I really can't understand why that great final shot of the droid tending his plants wasn't included in this digest, it would have made so much difference...

Mike [Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 05, 2007, 01:25 PM:

I have never seen this digest, but this would be a perfect candidate for any kind of digest. I felt that this film could have easily been only 80 minutes or less and felt rather padded at it's original theatrical length.

I always felt that this film summed up environmtalists perfectly, not all that realistic in thier ventures (and willing to do horrible things to thier fellow man, I.E putting spikes in trees and such), but good hearted, at heart.

A good film from the early 70's! (good review too)

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on December 06, 2007, 12:19 AM:

I just happened to look on this thread and I remember this film very well too. And I can't believe this last scene with the lonely droid watering his plants is not included. That scene is so sad. Great little film.

Posted by Wade Epler (Member # 1158) on May 20, 2008, 03:29 AM:

I searched for years to get a print of this and was so let down when I finally saw it! This is a very heavily cut digest which really wouldn't make any sense to anyone who hasn't seen the theatrical version. This movie has a lot of great dialogue, and Bruce Dern's interactions with the robots are fantastic. Too bad none of that shows up in this version. What you get in the digest are the shots of the domes being ditched in space, and plenty of Joan Baez's muzic. As stated above, the ending of the little robot tending to the forest is missing in favor of Bruce Dern immolating himself to the Baez theme. Really not worth paying the high prices that I have seen this print go for.

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 20, 2008, 06:03 PM:

I have a nice long 16mm LPP copy of the long trailer for this and its wonderful, really captures the film in around 3 mins.
Best Mark.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on May 26, 2008, 07:25 AM:

Mark-

That trailer sounds great! I think JEF Films (or was it Canterbury Films) in the U.S. was selling this trailer on super 8 back in the 70's/80's. I wish someone would re-release it on super 8 again.

Its really amazing how some trailers from the 70's really were able to capture the "spirit" of a movie, in just 3 minutes. I have a trailer reel with "Midnight Cowboy" and "The Graduate" from that era. The trailers use music from the films, and basically lay the whole story out, without actually giving too much information. The atmosphere is retained and a story is told, in that short time. These were WAY better than the trailers of movies today.

P.S.-- I've corrected some poor spelling in the original review [Embarrassed]

- must have been sleepy!

James.

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on May 27, 2008, 10:12 AM:

Hi James yes a lovely trailer and to be honest I was going step out of cine entirely earlier in the year but this one came in the post and blew me away, wonderful and like you say a great little round up of the film and many were good like that.
If you can track this trailer down I`d throughly recommend it.
Best wishes Mark.

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