Robinson Crusoe on Mars - Criterion Collection Laserdisc Preservation

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS BLU-RAY EDITION

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is one of those rare science fiction films that presents the not-too-distant future realistically through an involving adventure story. The technology and special effects never dwarf the human drama, but rather are integral to the story. The plot is an updating of the Defoe classic: a stranded astronaut faces the perils of survival alone until he meets “Friday”, an alien slave. They form a bond allowing each to survive the harsh Martian landscape. The compelling script by Ib Melchior and John Higgins is handled with authority by director Byron Haskin. Paul Mantee and Vic Lundin turn in powerful, evocative performances that make robinson Crusoe on Mars a science fiction classic.

SPECIAL FEATURES l Commentary by screenwriter Ib Melchior, actors Paul Mantee and Vic Lundin,

1964 110 MINUTES COLOR MONO 2.35:1 ASPECT RATIO ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS Is under exclusive license from Paramount Home Entertainment TM ® © 2020 by Paramount Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. © 2020 The Criterion Collection. All Rights Reserved. Cat. no. CC1336L. ISBN 1-5594-0339-X Warning: unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, or copying is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the USA. First printing 2020.

production designer Al Nozaki, plus noted special effects designer Robert Skotak

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, presents

l Excerpts from a rare interview with director Byron Haskin

1964

l Excerpts from Ib Melchior’s original, illustrated screenplay for the film l Production design sketch book

l Robert Skotak’s article on the history and making of the film l Original roadshow trailer

l Publicity artwork and press book

Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono / Audio commentary 1.0 Mono Subtitles: English Main title:

1080p

Supplementary material: 480p Laserdisc source

Saul J. Turell, President of Janus Films, particularly wanted to see three wonderful, underappreciated films in the Criterion Collection: Scaramouche, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. The first two have long been part of the Collection, so it is with great pleasure that we now present Robinson Crusoe on Mars for the first time on laserdisc in an exclusive digital transfer in its original widescreen format with a supplement that explores the making of the movie. This special edition is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Turell.

The Criterion Collection is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality, with supplemental features that enhance the appreciation of the art of film. Visit us at Criterion.com

THIS FILM IS

SCIENTIFICALLY AUTHENTIC

Design and Layout - pineapples101@gmail.com

LD 184

...IT IS ONLY ONE STEP AHEAD OF PRESENT REALITY!

BLU-RAY EDITION

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is one of those rare science fiction films that presents the not-too-distant future realistically through an involving adventure story. The technology and special effects never dwarf the human drama, but rather are integral to the story. The plot is an updating of the Defoe classic: a stranded astronaut faces the perils of survival alone until he meets “Friday”, an alien slave. They form a bond allowing each to survive the harsh Martian landscape. The compelling script by Ib Melchior and John Higgins is handled with authority by director Byron Haskin. Paul Mantee and Vic Lundin turn in powerful, evocative performances that make robinson Crusoe on Mars a science fiction classic.

SPECIAL FEATURES l Commentary by screenwriter Ib Melchior, actors Paul Mantee and Vic Lundin,

1964 110 MINUTES COLOR MONO 2.35:1 ASPECT RATIO ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS Is under exclusive license from Paramount Home Entertainment TM ® © 2020 by Paramount Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. © 2020 The Criterion Collection. All Rights Reserved. Cat. no. CC1336L. ISBN 1-5594-0339-X Warning: unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, or copying is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the USA. First printing 2020.

production designer Al Nozaki, plus noted special effects designer Robert Skotak

l Excerpts from a rare interview with director Byron Haskin

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, presents

1964

l Excerpts from Ib Melchior’s original, illustrated screenplay for the film l Production design sketch book

l Robert Skotak’s article on the history and making of the film l Original roadshow trailer

l Publicity artwork and press book

Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono / Audio commentary 1.0 Mono Subtitles: English Main title:

1080p

Supplementary material: 480p Laserdisc source

Saul J. Turell, President of Janus Films, particularly wanted to see three wonderful, underappreciated films in the Criterion Collection: Scaramouche, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. The first two have long been part of the Collection, so it is with great pleasure that we now present Robinson Crusoe on Mars for the first time on laserdisc in an exclusive digital transfer in its original widescreen format with a supplement that explores the making of the movie. This special edition is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Turell.

The Criterion Collection is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality, with supplemental features that enhance the appreciation of the art of film. Visit us at Criterion.com

THIS FILM IS

SCIENTIFICALLY AUTHENTIC

Design and Layout - pineapples101@gmail.com

LD 184

...IT IS ONLY ONE STEP AHEAD OF PRESENT REALITY!

DVD EDITION 1964 110 MINUTES COLOR MONO 2.35:1 ASPECT RATIO

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is one of those rare science fiction films that presents the not-too-distant future realistically through an involving adventure story. The technology and special effects never dwarf the human drama, but rather are integral to the story. The plot is an updating of the Defoe classic: a stranded astronaut faces the perils of survival alone until he meets “Friday”, an alien slave. They form a bond allowing each to survive the harsh Martian landscape. The compelling script by Ib Melchior and John Higgins is handled with authority by director Byron Haskin. Paul Mantee and Vic Lundin turn in powerful, evocative performances that make robinson Crusoe on Mars a science fiction classic.

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS Is under exclusive license from Paramount Home Entertainment TM ® © 2020 by Paramount Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. © 2020 The Criterion Collection. All Rights Reserved. Cat. no. CC1336L. ISBN 1-5594-0339-X Warning: unauthorized public performance, broadcasting, or copying is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the USA. First printing 2020.

SPECIAL FEATURES

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, presents

l Commentary by screenwriter Ib Melchior, actors Paul Mantee and Vic Lundin,

1964

production designer Al Nozaki, plus noted special effects designer Robert Skotak

l Excerpts from a rare interview with director Byron Haskin

l Excerpts from Ib Melchior’s original, illustrated screenplay for the film l Production design sketch book

l Robert Skotak’s article on the history and making of the film l Original roadshow trailer

l Publicity artwork and press book

Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono / Audio commentary 1.0 Mono Subtitles: English Main title:

1080p

Supplementary material: 480p Laserdisc source

Saul J. Turell, President of Janus Films, particularly wanted to see three wonderful, underappreciated films in the Criterion Collection: Scaramouche, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. The first two have long been part of the Collection, so it is with great pleasure that we now present Robinson Crusoe on Mars for the first time on laserdisc in an exclusive digital transfer in its original widescreen format with a supplement that explores the making of the movie. This special edition is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Turell.

The Criterion Collection is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions of the highest technical quality, with supplemental features that enhance the appreciation of the art of film. Visit us at Criterion.com

THIS FILM IS

SCIENTIFICALLY AUTHENTIC

Design and Layout - pineapples101@gmail.com

LD 184

...IT IS ONLY ONE STEP AHEAD OF PRESENT REALITY!

Laserdisc Production Credits Producer Executive Producers Film-to-tape Transfer Supervisor Technical Director Production Manager Audio Production Coordinator Commentary Editing Videographic Design Disc Jacket Design Film-to-tape Operator

Mark Rance Michael Nash, Peter Becker Maria Palazzola Morgan Holly Antonia Smithson Mark C. Brems Sean Wright-Anderson, Ben Shapiro Erik C. Loyer David Hutchins David Bernstein, Pacific Ocean Post

Special Thanks

Tony Amodeo and The Hal Pereira Collection in the Charles Von der Ahe Library at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Selise Eisman and the National Special Projects office of the Directors Guild of America, Terry Haskin, Victor Lundin, Paul Mantee, Ib Melchior, Al Nozaki, Bob Skotak, and Mark Zubatkin.

This exclusive digital transfer was made from a 35mm duplicate negative, struck from the original 35mm Techniscope intermediate positive, and the original 35mm three track mono magnetic track.

This film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

ONE U.S. ASTRONAUT ALONE... AGAINST TERRORS UNKNOWN! R

obinson Crusoe on Mars is exactly what its title implies: a science fiction vision of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel. Only one man liked the title. Ib Melchior ed it for his 1961 screenplay, but it was just a working title. By the time Byron Haskin, the director, came on board three years later, he wanted to change it too. But to producer Aubrey Schenk it was the title that sold the film -- to Paramount and the public.

But the focus has changed between 1951 and 1964, perhaps in response to growing knowledge of outer space. From H.G. Wells’ day to the ‘50s, men from Mars had been the stereotypical villains of science fiction, personifying a fear of the unknown. By the mid-’60s, we knew that there were no such men. In fact, we were pretty sure that as intelligent life forms, we were alone in our solar system. The evolution of the science fiction film parallels this recognition.

Defoe’s novel is, among other things, an adventure in colonialism with Crusoe representing the Protestant capitalist adventurer, the hero who travels to foreign shores and makes them home, the great conqueror who meets the savage tames and converts him. These elements are all very much evident in the film. sci-fi twist forces a few changes, however. Instead of being wrecked on a desert island, our hero, Christopher “Kit” Draper is wrecked on Mars. His animal companion is a monkey instead of a parrot. And the Friday he eventually meets is slave of mysterious beings from some other planet, rather then the near-dinner of his fellow cannibals.

The genre also reflects the changing relationship to Russia. The films of the ‘50s emphasized invasions and battles that were thin disguises for the war against communism. Robinson Crusoe on Mars, however, represents a Kennedy-era turning away from that paranoia toward a future based on successful technology. Indeed, the film’s production history charts a hybrid venture based on the specifics of technology. Ib Melchior’s three-hour screenplay features a “technically correct” Martian landscape, except for the fact that it is populated by incredible beasts. Like other Melchior projects, Robinson Crusoe on Mars features a high-tech high concept driven by a classic tale about survival against the odds.

Director Byron Haskin modestly denies any claim to the title “auteur” (though word fits in its literal sense given his hand in rewriting several screenplays and penchant for revising scenes the night before he filmed them). The film was, to a large degree, a group effort. Ib Melchior, who wrote the script, was going to direct the film but ended up directing his script of The Time Travellers.

Following Haskin’s divestiture, perhaps we should consider these films less as the expression of Haskin’s vision than of their historical moment -- the fate ‘50s and early ‘60s, when “our side” was adventurous, individualistic, and benign, while “their side” was a nightmare of totalitorian evil.

It is common to read ‘50s science fiction films as allegories of the Cold War. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), with its Americans being turned one by one into emotionless pod people is only one of many examples. In an interview, Haskin himself connects the Martian invaders in his earlier film, War of the Worlds, with the Russians. At the film”s climax, when God, in answer to the prayers of a churchful of Los Angelenos, kills the invaders with a disease to which they are not imune, we learn that, although bacteria are God’s creatures, Martians are not. In Robinson Crusoe on Mars, the evil spacemen, in ships resembling those in War of Worlds, have enslaved the people of Friday’s planet (who look rather like extras from The Ten Commandments).

Haskin took the screenplay and had it refashioned by screenwriter John Higgins, with the fantastic elements deleted at Haskin’s request. “It must be scientifically accurate,” Haskin would decree. Melchior had been inspired in the first place by Death Valley, and he even submitted photographs of potential locotions with his screenplay. Death Valley is where Haskin and his crew ended up. Haskin’s background as a cinematographer in the ‘20s and head of the Warners Special Effects Department in the ‘30s served him well. The desert setting is a beautiful but forbiddingly vast and empty space. All that sand, especially filmed in the widescreen Techniscope process, dwarfs Kit Draper in a convincingly alien environment. And perhaps as much as anything else, the theme of the film is loneliness. With God’s help and American ingenuity, our hero can find oxygen, food, water, and shelter; his biggest problem, however, is facing life entirely alone.

--John Peavoy

Laserdisc Production Credits Producer Executive Producers Film-to-tape Transfer Supervisor Technical Director Production Manager Audio Production Coordinator Commentary Editing Videographic Design Disc Jacket Design Film-to-tape Operator

Mark Rance Michael Nash, Peter Becker Maria Palazzola Morgan Holly Antonia Smithson Mark C. Brems Sean Wright-Anderson, Ben Shapiro Erik C. Loyer David Hutchins David Bernstein, Pacific Ocean Post

Special Thanks

Tony Amodeo and The Hal Pereira Collection in the Charles Von der Ahe Library at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Selise Eisman and the National Special Projects office of the Directors Guild of America, Terry Haskin, Victor Lundin, Paul Mantee, Ib Melchior, Al Nozaki, Bob Skotak, and Mark Zubatkin.

This exclusive digital transfer was made from a 35mm duplicate negative, struck from the original 35mm Techniscope intermediate positive, and the original 35mm three track mono magnetic track.

This film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

ONE U.S. ASTRONAUT ALONE... AGAINST TERRORS UNKNOWN! R

obinson Crusoe on Mars is exactly what its title implies: a science fiction vision of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel. Only one man liked the title. Ib Melchior ed it for his 1961 screenplay, but it was just a working title. By the time Byron Haskin, the director, came on board three years later, he wanted to change it too. But to producer Aubrey Schenk it was the title that sold the film -- to Paramount and the public.

But the focus has changed between 1951 and 1964, perhaps in response to growing knowledge of outer space. From H.G. Wells’ day to the ‘50s, men from Mars had been the stereotypical villains of science fiction, personifying a fear of the unknown. By the mid-’60s, we knew that there were no such men. In fact, we were pretty sure that as intelligent life forms, we were alone in our solar system. The evolution of the science fiction film parallels this recognition.

Defoe’s novel is, among other things, an adventure in colonialism with Crusoe representing the Protestant capitalist adventurer, the hero who travels to foreign shores and makes them home, the great conqueror who meets the savage tames and converts him. These elements are all very much evident in the film. sci-fi twist forces a few changes, however. Instead of being wrecked on a desert island, our hero, Christopher “Kit” Draper is wrecked on Mars. His animal companion is a monkey instead of a parrot. And the Friday he eventually meets is slave of mysterious beings from some other planet, rather then the near-dinner of his fellow cannibals.

The genre also reflects the changing relationship to Russia. The films of the ‘50s emphasized invasions and battles that were thin disguises for the war against communism. Robinson Crusoe on Mars, however, represents a Kennedy-era turning away from that paranoia toward a future based on successful technology. Indeed, the film’s production history charts a hybrid venture based on the specifics of technology. Ib Melchior’s three-hour screenplay features a “technically correct” Martian landscape, except for the fact that it is populated by incredible beasts. Like other Melchior projects, Robinson Crusoe on Mars features a high-tech high concept driven by a classic tale about survival against the odds.

Director Byron Haskin modestly denies any claim to the title “auteur” (though word fits in its literal sense given his hand in rewriting several screenplays and penchant for revising scenes the night before he filmed them). The film was, to a large degree, a group effort. Ib Melchior, who wrote the script, was going to direct the film but ended up directing his script of The Time Travellers.

Following Haskin’s divestiture, perhaps we should consider these films less as the expression of Haskin’s vision than of their historical moment -- the fate ‘50s and early ‘60s, when “our side” was adventurous, individualistic, and benign, while “their side” was a nightmare of totalitorian evil.

It is common to read ‘50s science fiction films as allegories of the Cold War. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), with its Americans being turned one by one into emotionless pod people is only one of many examples. In an interview, Haskin himself connects the Martian invaders in his earlier film, War of the Worlds, with the Russians. At the film”s climax, when God, in answer to the prayers of a churchful of Los Angelenos, kills the invaders with a disease to which they are not imune, we learn that, although bacteria are God’s creatures, Martians are not. In Robinson Crusoe on Mars, the evil spacemen, in ships resembling those in War of Worlds, have enslaved the people of Friday’s planet (who look rather like extras from The Ten Commandments).

Haskin took the screenplay and had it refashioned by screenwriter John Higgins, with the fantastic elements deleted at Haskin’s request. “It must be scientifically accurate,” Haskin would decree. Melchior had been inspired in the first place by Death Valley, and he even submitted photographs of potential locotions with his screenplay. Death Valley is where Haskin and his crew ended up. Haskin’s background as a cinematographer in the ‘20s and head of the Warners Special Effects Department in the ‘30s served him well. The desert setting is a beautiful but forbiddingly vast and empty space. All that sand, especially filmed in the widescreen Techniscope process, dwarfs Kit Draper in a convincingly alien environment. And perhaps as much as anything else, the theme of the film is loneliness. With God’s help and American ingenuity, our hero can find oxygen, food, water, and shelter; his biggest problem, however, is facing life entirely alone.

--John Peavoy

ent TM ® © 202 ntertainm 0 by me E P t Ho rmance, broadcasting, or co aramo n u o pyin f o u r e m g is nt H ra blic p a a v om P u iol m ed p e o ati En fr riz o n te e o n s u th of rta e ap i lic una p :

20 The Criterion Collection . © 20 . All rinting 2020 ved Rig r A. First p .

S e U s hts Re in the s Re t d se gh inte i rv l R . Pr l ed s A . . w t a l en le m b n ca il

ROBINSON CRUSO E O NM Cat. no. CC1336L. IS A BN 1 RS Is -55 u n 9 4 -03 der 3 9 ex -X cl W usiv ar ni e ng

Criterion Collection - Laserdisc Preservation Robinson Crusoe on Mars #184 (1964) [CC1336L] https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/05349/CC1336L/Robinson-Crusoe-on-Mars Blu Ray - Region A/B/C DVD - Region All Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono / Audio commentary 1.0 Mono Subtitles: English Main title: 1080p Supplementary material: 480p Laserdisc source

Artwork Criterion Blu Ray Case - Inlay 273mm x 160mm Standard Blu Ray Case - Inlay 269mm x 148mm Standard DVD Case - Inlay 272mm x 182mm Criterion 4 Page Booklet - Exterior Fold down middle 240mm x 160mm Criterion 4 Page Booklet - Interior Fold down middle 240mm x 160mm Standard 4 Page Booklet - Exterior Fold down middle 235mm x 145mm Standard 4 Page Booklet - Interior Fold down middle 235mm x 145mm Blu Ray Disc Art 115mm x 115mm