Director: Douglas Trumbull
Screenplay: Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Steven Bochco
Starring: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint
Country: United States
Running Time: 90 minutes
Year: 1972
BBFC Certificate: U
Time has not been kind to Silent Running. Which is a shame, because it’s a cracking story that incorporates massive spaceships, cute robots and murder, but has a serious point to make, one we should be listening to still. Bruce Dern shoulders much of the film alone and is brilliant in a challenging role, often working with the previously mentioned robots (more logically developed as sentient machines rather than androids). The practical effects are fantastic, as you’d expect from director Douglas Trumbull, better known for his visual effects on 2001 or Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The problem, to some extent, is that those sci-fi films were made in spite of the time they were released and so endure. Silent Running has a rather naive and all too honest sentimentality, as well as nodding along with conventions of b-movies of the time. The soft focus (more on that later), cute rabbits and folk pop music traps the film in a fishbowl, not unlike the trees the spaceships are carrying. And yet, there are moments, all too brief, that capture everything we dream about space travel; the contemplative moments for which even 2001 didn’t have room. Silent Running at its best tries to live up to its title, take a step back and think. A good chunk of the story lacks a direct antagonist, if you discount well-meaning but slightly unhinged Dern, which is perfectly fine and we need more of that approach.
It’s not by any means a bad film, hence Arrow finding room for another release and a spruced up 4K one at that. It’s a true cult classic, it’s just frustrating that the list of great and timeless science fiction films is a short one. New contemporary audiences might struggle to engage with Trumbull’s film, despite on paper it being the adult, deliciously twisted pulp sci-fi we are sorely missing. No, the overrated Event Horizon does not count.
VIDEO
Possibly because the film needs the leg-up it deserves to remain relevant despite its shortcomings, this is a fabulous set from Arrow, starting with a new transfer from the camera negative. The film has never looked as good and in many respects Silent Running responds beautifully to UHD. The practical effects not only withstand scrutiny, they demand it. The detail and colours pop. The photography in general though has a muddy focus and the limitations of the sets can be all too clear. Ironically, it becomes an interesting curiosity from a film history perspective because UHD allows us to see the joins, literally so in blobs of paint in the matte backgrounds. Perhaps not what we really want, but an effective bonus nonetheless.
EXTRA FEATURES
Douglas Trumbull passed away earlier this year and this presentation from Arrow is a fine tribute. It’s stuffed with extras including a typically eccentric and entertaining commentary featuring Kim Newman.
- Brand new 4K restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original lossless mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by critics Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw
- Original audio commentary by Douglas Trumbull and actor Bruce Dern
- Isolated music and effects track
- No Turning Back – an interview with film music historian Jeff Bond on the film’s score
- First Run – a visual essay by writer and filmmaker Jon Spira exploring the evolution of Silent Running’s screenplay
- The Making of Silent Running – an archival 1972 on-set documentary
- Silent Running by Douglas Trumbull and Douglas Trumbull: Then and Now – two archival interviews with the film’s director
- A Conversation with Bruce Dern – an archival interview with the film’s lead actor
- Theatrical trailer
- Extensive behind-the-scenes gallery
