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Bowie and Burn in this short film about Brian Cox

The Cut series of short films looks at the films that have influenced iconic creatives with the latest edition featuring Professor Brian Cox. In addition to Local Hero, Cox has chosen two seminal British SF films: The Day The Earth Caught Fire, and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Cox doesn’t profess to be a major film critic, or to give incisive insight into either movie, but the clips from both illustrate the points that he makes regarding their presentation of different ideas. Daily Express editor Arthur Christiansen doesn’t come out too well of the clip from the former – he played himself in the movie. In this scene, he’s delivering the worst possible news… without the gravitas that Leo McKern might have used. The clip from The Man Who Fell to Earth is an interesting choice – it’s certainly not the one I’d have used to make the same point, but works well.

The Cut is an intriguing series although its habit of switching screen format continually and then

PUTTING SOME WORDS UP

on screen in huge letters

CAN BE A BIT OFFPUTTING.

Verdict: A fascinating, if brief, insight into Cox’s influences. 7/10

Paul Simpson