STARRING: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe,
Billy Gray, Frances Bavier, Lock Martin, Drew Pearson, Frank Conroy, Fay
Roope, Edith Evanson, Robert Osterloh
1951, 92 Minutes, Directed by: Robert Wise
Description:A spacecraft lands in
Washington, D.C., carrying a humanoid messenger from another world
(Michael Rennie) imparting a warning to the people of Earth to cease their
violent behavior. But panic ensues as the messenger lands and is shot by a
nervous soldier. His large robot companion destroys the Capitol as the
messenger escapes the confines of the hospital. He moves in with a family
as a boarder and blends into society to observe the full range of the
human experience.
—
Amazon.com
Based on Harry Bates' story "Farewell to the
Master" and directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story, The
Sound of Music, Star Trek Trek - the Motion
Picture), The Day The Earth Stood Still is about an alien
representative and his giant robot sidekick named Gort, who lands in Washington
with an important message for mankind.
Unfortunately
the humans respond, well, in a very human way and shoots him as soon he
sets his foot on the ground and that is where the story kicks off.
Ignore
all the old lurid posters you might have seen of a giant menacing robot
abducting a woman while battling it out with soldiers. Sure, the film has those
scenes in it, but not in the pulpy context the posters might suggest.
The Day The Earth Stood Still, unlike many of its contemporaries,
is quite an understated and intelligent affair which chooses not to
indulge in any Red Scare tactics other films of the era (such as
Invasion of the Body Snatchers) dabbled in.
Issues such as the threat of nuclear war and the Cold War may inform its
plotline, but its message is one of reconciliation instead of blind panic.
Description: A spacecraft lands in
Washington, D.C., carrying a humanoid messenger from another world
(Michael Rennie) imparting a warning to the people of Earth to cease their
violent behavior. But panic ensues as the messenger lands and is shot by a
nervous soldier. His large robot companion destroys the Capitol as the
messenger escapes the confines of the hospital. He moves in with a family
as a boarder and blends into society to observe the full range of the
human experience.
—
