From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 26 09:16:40 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!Zeke.Update.UU.SE!columba.udac.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!01-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!swidir.switch.ch!news.grnet.gr!btnet-feed2!btnet!newsfeed.internetmci.com!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!nntp.crl.com!news.pbi.net!cbgw3.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: rhodes_steve@tandem.com (Steve Rhodes) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 18 Nov 1996 19:12:16 GMT Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Lines: 125 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <56qceg$1is@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: rhodes_steve@tandem.com (Steve Rhodes) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06348 Keywords: author=Rhodes Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5741 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1110 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** Repertorial theaters have just about vanished from the American landscape. There are a few left in some of the bigger cities and near some college campuses, but today's movie going public generally is stuck choosing between the latest massive action thriller or the latest ode to dumbness. Viewing an old film on the big screen is an option for fewer and fewer people. I am fortunate to live in an area where the demise of these old picture palaces is not yet complete. Besides the Stanford theater in Palo Alto, there are also places in Berkeley and San Francisco. Nearer to home is the lovely old Towne Theatre in San Jose. It is an art house and sometimes repertorial theater. Right now they are having their second science fiction festival. It lasts for three weeks, and they are showing several films per weeks. I had the pleasure of seeing THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) for, I think, the first time in the theater. Since I was five at the time it was released, I can not say for sure. Like most sci-fi films of that era it is certainly hokey and full of special effects so awful that are more amusing than believable. Untypical of early sci-fi, this one is serious and deals with issues like nuclear annihilation, and it even dabbles in politics. Perhaps most surprising is that the movie has a well known cast and crew, including a twice Oscar winning director, Robert Wise (THE SOUND OF MUSIC and WEST SIDE STORY). Like INDEPENDENCE DAY, it starts with a flying saucer over the nation's capital. Unlike INDEPENDENCE DAY, however, these aliens are on a non-violent mission. They are from a nearby planet, and they have been watching earth and all of our petty squabbles for sometime now. With the advent of our nuclear era, they are worried that we will develop nuclear spaceships and come and threaten their peaceful existence. In short, they think we're a bunch of warmongers, and if we don't cut it out, they'll blow earth to smithereens. They are ready to kill to preserve their non-violent lifestyle. Actually, as they present it, it has a much more childlike and believably simplistic logic. As the flying saucer lands on the lawn across from the capital, listen for the sound of that quirky musical instrument, the Theremin. Consider that motivation to rent the engrossing documentary film THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY (1993) about its invention and its fascinating inventor, Professor Theremin. After the uninvited guests arrive on our planet, people all over the world huddle around their radios wanting to know what they look like. Famous radio announcer Drew Pearson, playing himself, supplies the play-by-play events for the country, "Every eye, every weapon is trained on that ship. Just a minute Ladies and Gentlemen, I think something is happening..." Surprise, they look like an English speaking human (Michael Rennie as Klaatu) and his tinfoil giant robot (Lock Martin as Gort). The robot is every bit as immutable and massive as a Colonel Sanders statue. Klaatu assures the earthlings, "We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill." Nevertheless, a nervous soldier shots him, which causes trusty Gort to disintegrate all of their weapons. In the hospital, Klaatu tells the president's representative, Mr. Harley (Frank Conroy), "I won't resort to threats, Mr. Harley. I merely tell you the future of your planet is at stake." God, I love science fiction. You get such wonderfully overblown dialog. There aren't mere problems. Oh no, the fate of at least a planet and sometimes an entire galaxy is at stake. Compared to this, the issues that confront are leaders today are trivial. But like our current world leaders, the ones in the movie have trouble even with simple decisions like where to meet. The future of our civilization hangs in the balance while the heads of governments dicker on whose country should host a conference with the space invader. As Klaatu puts it, "I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it." Sounds like he lives on my kind of planet. Eventually, he goes incognito to stay in a rooming house where Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray) are living. He wants to learn the ways of these inhabitants of planet Earth. At the breakfast table the discussion centers on the aliens, with one guy demanding, "why don't the people in the government do something?" But his friend admonishes him, "They're not people. They're Democrats." The way you have to suspend disbelief in some of the early sci-fi films is actually one of their charms. Take just three examples and contrast the answers to similar questions in INDEPENDENCE DAY. How many guards would you put on night duty to guard this saucer that has a killer robot in front of it and is two hundred yards from the White House? Two. How many citizens think it is interesting enough to stay up late to observe it? Zero. When the army quarantines the entire capital, what percentage of the forces are dispatched when an unknown insurance salesman calls and says he saw the alien at his girlfriend's house? Every single soldier. From beginning to end, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is a lot of fun, and for its time, the production is well constructed and acted. A worthy ancestor of STAR WARS and INDEPENDENCE DAY. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL runs just 1:32. It is filmed by Leo Tover in a handsome black and white. It is unrated, but is pure G. There is no sex, nudity, violence, or bad language. If the show had been on earlier in the evening, I would have taken my son as it is fine for kids of any age. Given the seriousness of part of the material and some of the slower pacing, kids will probably need to be seven or so to enjoy it. There was a nine year old in our audience who certainly seemed to enjoy it. I recommend THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL to you and give it ***. ______________________________________________________________________ **** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable. REVIEW WRITTEN ON: November 14, 1996 Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Mar 5 17:07:51 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: lnp3@panix.com (Louis Proyect) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 3 Mar 2000 06:17:40 GMT Organization: Columbia University Lines: 87 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <89nle4$f2jc$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer17.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 952064260 494188 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #23367 Keywords: author=proyect X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer17.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:22458 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2620 Last night I watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on video. It was the first time I had seen it since its original theater appearance in 1951. It is one of the first films of the period to question the cold war even if on an allegorical basis, just as another science fiction flick "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was designed to increase anti-Communist hysteria. A flying saucer lands in Washington, DC and discharges its two passengers, the humanoid Klaatu, played to a tee by Yorkshireman Michael Dennie who bears a striking resemblance to David Bowie, and his assistant Gort, an 8 foot robot with super-powers. Klaatu has come to the planet Earth to deliver a message to the assembled leaders of all governments. He belongs to an interplanetary confederation that has outlawed warfare and become aware of the earthlings' recent experiments with guided missiles carrying nuclear warheads. They fear that eventually these types of weapons might be introduced into outer space. So an ultimatum is to be delivered. Unless these experiments are called to a halt, the confederation will send a fleet of robots to destroy the planet Earth. Klaatu can not even get to first base with the truculent and irrational earthlings. The Russian government will only attend a conference if it is based in Moscow, while the British are opposed to setting foot in Communist territory. Meanwhile, many Washingtonians believe that Klaatu is a Communist spy, while others simply want to eliminate him as a threat to the status quo. In order to find out more about the mores of the planet, Klaatu disappears into the streets of Washington and finds a furnished room in a house where Patricia Neal and her young son live. Klaatu takes the two into his confidence and they find themselves in solidarity with his mission. In the climax of the film, Neal rescues the planet from immanent destruction by giving "Don't shoot" instructions to the robot: "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!" Klaatu also makes an effort to set up a meeting with the world's greatest scientist, Dr. Berhardt, who is played by Sam Jaffe, and other leading scientists. Bernhardt. Bernhardt is an obvious stand-in for Albert Einstein, who had come out repeatedly against atomic testing and for socialism during those insane years. Although director Robert Wise is better known for his "West Side Story" and other mainstream Hollywood flicks, there is some strong circumstantial evidence of leftist sympathies. He was chosen by Harry Belafonte to direct "Odds Against Tomorrow", a noir masterpiece that was written by blacklistee Abraham Polonsky and which challenged some of the major racial stereotypes of the 1950s. In the climactic scene Klaatu is killed by a fear-mongering government agency, then resurrected by his robot charge Gort. Astonished by the power of this foreign technology, Patricia Neal asks him whether control over life and death is possible. Klaatu assures her that such powers belong only to the "Almighty Spirit" and that his life extension is good only "for a limited period," the duration of which "no one can tell." In Edmund North's original script, Gort resurrects Klaatu without limitation. But the movie industry's censors told the producers: "Only God can do that." North's other best-known writing credit was the screenplay for Francis Ford Coppola's "Patton," about which he stated, ''I hope those who've seen the picture will agree with me that it is not only a war picture, but a peace picture as well.'' The film's producer Julian Blaustein also produced "Broken Arrow," based on the Elliott Arnold novel "Blood Brother," Blaustein demonstrated great enlightenment for that time in Hollywood by working hard to portray Native Americans fairly. He employed 375 Apaches to perform in the film, build authentic wickiups and other props, play native instruments and teach the movie-makers traditional dances. "We have treated them as people, not savages," Blaustein told The Times in 1950. "We have tried to show that the only real 'heavies' are ignorance, misunderstanding and intolerance." It is very likely that Robert Wise, Edmund North and Julian Blaustein were all touched to one degree or another by the great outpouring of radical politics and culture of the 1930s and 40s. Their story is being told by Paul Buhle and others. It is worth emulating as we move toward a new radicalization provoked by the capitalist contradictions of the new millenium. --Louis Proyect Marxist discussion is at: www.marxmail.org From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jul 8 07:06:47 2003 Path: news.island.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!uninett.no!feed.news.nacamar.de!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-04!sn-xit-06!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Bob Bloom Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 19:31:38 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 34787 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1135894 X-RT-TitleID: 1005371 X-RT-SourceID: 872 X-RT-AuthorID: 1363 Summary: r.a.m.r. #34787 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 58 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:6613 rec.arts.sf.reviews:546 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) (Fox Home Entertainment). Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Sam Jaffe, Hugh Marlowe and Lock Martin. Directed by Robert Wise. By Bob Bloom bbloom@journalandcourier.com This 1951 classic is one of the seminal science fiction features in cinema history. It was one of the first to show an alien in a benevolent, friendly light as well as one of the first to combine an anti-war message within its science fiction motif. Fox Studio Classic has created a DVD that does the film proud. Beside, a digitally remastered picture, plus an enhanced THX soundtrack, the DVD features a most interesting 70-minute documentary, “Making the Earth Stand Still,” in which director Robert Wise, producer Julian Blaustein and actors Patricia Neal and Billy Gray provide insight into the creation of this masterpiece. The documentary takes you from the inception of the project to the first sneak screening, and includes discussions about the impact of Bernard Herrmann’s score, how the title came about and the problems of encountered by Lock Martin, the 7-foot doorman hired to play the robot, Gort. The film's commentary track by Wise and author-filmmaker Nicholas Meyer also adds to your appreciation of the film. Meyer discusses the Messiah-like parallels of the Klaatu character, while Wise denies any Christ-like references were intentional. Wise also expresses his dissatisfaction with the character played by Hugh Marlowe and with Marlowe's performance. Meyer then throws in the observation that Marlowe was also the weak link in the classic All About Eve. Overall, this is a great DVD that science fiction fans should add to their collection. The Day to the Earth Stood Still is a worthy addition to the Fox Studio Classic series. You can learn more on the Web at www.foxstudioclassics.com Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies. Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom ========== X-RAMR-ID: 34787 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1135894 X-RT-TitleID: 1005371 X-RT-SourceID: 872 X-RT-AuthorID: 1363