SusannahThe Day the Earth Stood Still
June 10th 2007 07:33
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Lock Martin.
Directed By: Robert Wise.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is the Great Grand Daddy of science fiction movies, coming before even Forbidden Planet, which was not made until 5 years later in 1956.
As the film opens, we learn that an unidentified flying object has been spotted in the sky over Washington DC. As the flying saucer lands in a field, crowds of people and military gather to watch as the door to it opens, and a shiny suited alien in a helmet emerges from the craft. Before he even manages to state that he comes in peace, the gathered military fires on him, wounding him in the shoulder. Thus setting the tone for the rest of the film as Klaatu (Michael Rennie), as the alien is called, is treated with fear and suspicion by a hostile earth who, as Klaatu points out, is letting fear be substituted for reason.
Klaatu’s mission, it is revealed, is to gather together the world leaders and to warn them of the repercussions if they continue to develop atomic weapons which may be eventually launched into outer space, at other planets, including Klaatu’s own. Obviously, when this film was made it was a warning regarding the possible devastation of atomic weaponry in a post World War Two, Cold War era, hence the President of the U.S.A. and the Russian leader squabbling about where to meet in order to hear Klaatu’s message. Yet the point of the film still resonates today in our modern political climate, despite aspects of the film being dated.
The iconic image from the film, that of the robot Gort (Lock Martin), guardian to Klaatu, and policeman of the universe, is recognised as a classic image from cinema, with his inscrutable smooth metal visor that lowers only in order to incinerate feeble earth weapons. The only words that can stop Gort, once he gets going, are “Klaatu, Baraatu, Nicto.” Some fans of Army of Darkness (Evil Dead Three) may recognise those as being the same words that Ash (Bruce Campbell!) must say to the Book of the Dead, perhaps more recognisable as “Klaatu, Baraatu, Ni – cough, cough.”
Most of the action in the film, however, involves Klaatu befriending Helen (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray), and learning about humanity through them, but also by observing the less sympathetic characters, from whom he learns why human beings are so unreasonable.
For a 1950’s movie, the special effects are also pretty good. Gort is convincing as a large, unstoppable robot. The spaceship set looks cool, the disintegration ray stands up to today’s special effects, as does the melting of the “plastic stronger than steel” – whatever did happen to that, I wonder?
The Day the Earth Stood Still is well worth a look if you are a fan of the sci-fi genre. Another classic that is set to be remade in 2008 under the direction of Scott Derrickson, best known for the Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Lock Martin.
Directed By: Robert Wise.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is the Great Grand Daddy of science fiction movies, coming before even Forbidden Planet, which was not made until 5 years later in 1956.
As the film opens, we learn that an unidentified flying object has been spotted in the sky over Washington DC. As the flying saucer lands in a field, crowds of people and military gather to watch as the door to it opens, and a shiny suited alien in a helmet emerges from the craft. Before he even manages to state that he comes in peace, the gathered military fires on him, wounding him in the shoulder. Thus setting the tone for the rest of the film as Klaatu (Michael Rennie), as the alien is called, is treated with fear and suspicion by a hostile earth who, as Klaatu points out, is letting fear be substituted for reason.
Klaatu’s mission, it is revealed, is to gather together the world leaders and to warn them of the repercussions if they continue to develop atomic weapons which may be eventually launched into outer space, at other planets, including Klaatu’s own. Obviously, when this film was made it was a warning regarding the possible devastation of atomic weaponry in a post World War Two, Cold War era, hence the President of the U.S.A. and the Russian leader squabbling about where to meet in order to hear Klaatu’s message. Yet the point of the film still resonates today in our modern political climate, despite aspects of the film being dated.
The iconic image from the film, that of the robot Gort (Lock Martin), guardian to Klaatu, and policeman of the universe, is recognised as a classic image from cinema, with his inscrutable smooth metal visor that lowers only in order to incinerate feeble earth weapons. The only words that can stop Gort, once he gets going, are “Klaatu, Baraatu, Nicto.” Some fans of Army of Darkness (Evil Dead Three) may recognise those as being the same words that Ash (Bruce Campbell!) must say to the Book of the Dead, perhaps more recognisable as “Klaatu, Baraatu, Ni – cough, cough.”
Most of the action in the film, however, involves Klaatu befriending Helen (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray), and learning about humanity through them, but also by observing the less sympathetic characters, from whom he learns why human beings are so unreasonable.
For a 1950’s movie, the special effects are also pretty good. Gort is convincing as a large, unstoppable robot. The spaceship set looks cool, the disintegration ray stands up to today’s special effects, as does the melting of the “plastic stronger than steel” – whatever did happen to that, I wonder?
The Day the Earth Stood Still is well worth a look if you are a fan of the sci-fi genre. Another classic that is set to be remade in 2008 under the direction of Scott Derrickson, best known for the Exorcism of Emily Rose.
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Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
this is a great old sci-fi movie...I think one of the best...The special effects were pretty good for it's time, and the message the movie got across is really pretty amazing...
Forbidden Planet I think for the time it was done, had one of the best set of special effects that George Pal ever leant his talent to that...
Great review!
Take care,
Nick
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Have serious doubts about a remake, it never relied that heavily on FX to begin with.