• Mars in Techniscope

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      With the safe landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars today, our thoughts have rocketed back to 1964’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars. One year before the NASA probe Mariner 4 treated humans to their first close-up views of the Red Planet’s surface, filmmaker Byron Haskin and his crew sought to depict the terra incognita of Mars in a way that would make it feel unprecedentedly real to viewers. Using a mix of optically composited special effects and shots taken in California’s Death Valley, they imagined into existence a landscape in beautifully stark images, filmed in the widescreen Techniscope format, that lend a visceral immediacy to this tale of survival’s sense of melancholy and isolation.

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    With the safe landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars today, our thoughts have rocketed back to 1964’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars. One year before the NASA probe Mariner 4 treated humans to their first close-up views of the Red Planet’s surface, filmmaker Byron Haskin and his crew sought to depict the terra incognita of Mars in a way that would make it feel unprecedentedly real to viewers. Using a mix of optically composited special effects and shots taken in California’s Death Valley, they imagined into existence a landscape in beautifully stark images, filmed in the widescreen Techniscope format, that lend a visceral immediacy to this tale of survival’s sense of melancholy and isolation.

     
     
     

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6 comments

  • By Gary Aldrich
    August 08, 2012
    09:07 PM

    True enough.... BUT....ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS is STILL (to this day) a very boring and pedantic filmic presentation of an isolation of an American astronaut on mars.....despite the current fascination with the CURIOSITY rover that has been landed. Many films in the CRITERION genre are way above average in their choice and presentiaon.... but this film, unfortunately.....is NOT. A BETTER choice would be to re-issue THE 27TH DAY..... a FAR BETTER represention of what (actual) issues were plaguing our planet at the time.....AND with far MORE emotional connections.
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  • By Shaun
    August 09, 2012
    12:06 AM

    Worst. Use. Of All-caps. Ever.
    Reply

  • By NAME
    August 10, 2012
    06:52 PM

    LOL (lol)
    Reply

  • By Ictus75
    August 10, 2012
    11:09 PM

    LOL indeed. Believe it or not, some of us actually like this film! It's not 'Solaris,' but considering it came out in 1964, it's an interesting film for its time. I saw it in the theater as a kid, so I have a lot of "emotional connections." BTW, the BluRay version looks fantastic.
    Reply

  • By Peter H Skazin
    August 11, 2012
    12:13 PM

    I saw this film when I was a young child, as a 16mm print show free in a shopping mall as a place to hold your kids for an hour or two. I remember that motion picture to this day (and the one sheet poster that went with it). I was only too glad to make a purchase of the Criterion release in Blu-ray! What a pleasure it was to see it again, far sharper and clearer than that 16mm print! My thanks to Criterion for making available so many many truely interesting films, some unsung and rarely seen elsewhere.
    Reply

  • By Adam Makarenko
    February 28, 2013
    12:25 PM

    I am re-making this film in my kitchen. Albiet, with modifications so I do not get sued. Here is a link to the kind of work I do -- all in miniature http://the-behind-the-scenes.posterous.com/
    Reply

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