THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

(1951)
With Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Lock Martin
Directed by Robert Wise
Black and White
Reviewed by JL and JB
Bonus Review by SB
 "Someday suits like mine will look great on Scarlett Johansson."

      One of the first science-fiction films to take its subject matter seriously, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL remains solid and thought-provoking entertainment, thanks largely to the performances of its cast and a consistently high level of tension.  Although the entire cast plays things with dead seriousness, Patricia Neal revealed in later years that she had trouble keeping a straight face throughout.  She needed several takes before she could utter the immortal line "Klaatu barada nikto!" without breaking up.  Nevertheless, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL was a catalyst in the burgeoning science-fiction movement, and was one of many works at the time that proved the genre was enormously effective in tales of allegory and metaphor.  Everyone from Ray Bradbury to Rod Serling took note. - JL

     A classic science-fiction film that boils down to this: a guy from outer space comes down to help us, discovers that most of us are violent imbeciles, and leaves. What's not to love? - JB

BONUS REVIEW FROM GUEST REVIEWER STEVE BAILEY

I only have deathray eyes for you    The wonderful thing about the magnificent sci-fi film THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is that it's about so much more than it's about. 

    On the surface, it's about Klaatu (Michael Rennie), a visitor from a planet a few million miles away, who comes to warn of the Earth's potential destruction if its inhabitants do not give up their aggressive ways. 

    It's a simple enough message, but right from the start, poor Klaatu can't catch a break. He tries to give a peace present to nearby soldiers, who respond by shooting him. He tries to tell the President's rep to arrange a meeting between all world leaders, but the leaders won't agree to such a meeting unless it's on their home turf. Then he tries to move among the citizens to learn their ways and gets sold down the river by a macho guy who wants to impress his girlfriend (Patricia Neal), who ends up siding with Klaatu. 

    What the movie is really about is fear of strangers. It was, after all, made at the beginning of the Korean War conflict and during HUAC hearings, both of which were intended to root out "reds" or "pinks" (i.e., people who don't think like us). And whenever Klaatu tries to speak of his belief in non-aggression, he gets shot down, figuratively or literally. The movie's message is more timely than ever: Why are we so afraid of peace, anyway? 

    Michael Rennie was a British actor, unknown in the U.S. at the time of filming. He was chosen so that, instead of seeing a famous movie star come out of a spaceship, you'd see a believable alien. Rennie, Neal, and everyone else in this fine movie pull off the acid test: Sci-fi motifs and dialogue that could have been laughable in other hands (watch PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE if you're ever looking for a hoot) are completely plausible here. 

    Kudos are also due to Leo Tover's glistening cinematography and Bernard Herrmann's eerie score, both of which contribute considerably to the movie's heightened atmosphere. Don't go see this one alone, or in a paranoid state. - SB

Science Fiction     The Secret Vortex

REMAKE

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)