1951
Directed By Robert Wise
Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal and Hugh Marlowe
Based on the short story Farewell to the Master, The
Day the Earth Stood still is a 1951 anti-war film directed by Robert
Wise. The film opens with a flying saucer landing at a baseball park in
Washington DC. After landing a humanoid exits the craft and announces he has
come in peace. The humanoid begins to approach a crowd that has formed and opens
a small tube but before he can finish opening the tube he is quickly gunned
down by an antsy soldier. Gort, a large robotic like being comes out of the
saucer and begins to shoot ray beams from his face mask at all the soldiers
weapons. In a matter of moments having neutralized all the weapons Gort is
ordered to stop shooting by the humanoid.
They came in peace, bearing gifts and we shot them. The film
clearly has an agenda and unlike Invasion of the Body Snatchers there
is nothing subtle about its approach. The message is clearly laid out by our visitor
and in turn the film wears its heart on its pacifist leaning sleeve. With lines
like: “no war? That’s a good idea”, you would be hard pressed to miss the point
of this film. While the film isn’t subtle it’s also not preachy. I never found myself thinking “alright I get it”
and that is a difficult balance to strike.
I've been going back and watching science fiction and horror
films from the 50s and 60s lately and one thing has become abundantly clear, a
great number of film makers who worked in genre pictures made intelligent films
for adults that had scares and action but they also had heart and mind,
something that is sadly missing from most modern horror and scifi. The Day the Earth Stood Still earns
its status as a classic rightfully. The film has a message but it goes down
smooth and that message is timeless, something worth repeating.
Sadly, the remake of this film seemed to completely miss the
point. Don’t bother watching it, please just go back and watch the original. I
can see the remake was made with a competent cast and crew but they just didn’t
crack the script, it felt flat and lifeless. Sure it had pretty special effects
and plenty of loud noises but it was boring. The remake is great example of
sound and fury signifying nothing. Thank
you Billy Shakes.
When I was watching this a friend came in and asked me if I
was watching Leave it to Beaver. Yes this is a 60 year old black and white film
that has been remade into a forgettable film starring Neo but if you are
struggling to find something to watch on Netflix and you're thinking about re watching
that last season of Supernatural give this one a shot. You won’t regret it.