Released only six years after the end of World War II, The Day the Earth Stood Still is widely considered one of the best science fiction films ever made. Director Robert Wise’s 1951 plea for world peace still resonates after all these years. Producer Julian Blaustein set out to make a film that illustrated the fear and suspicion that characterized the start of the Cold War and the dawn of the atomic age. After reviewing over 200 science fiction short stories and novels in search of an idea, he settled on a short story by Harry Bates titled, “Farewell to the Master.”
Screenwriter Edmund H. North (Patton), fashioned a human drama that Wise managed to film as realistically as humanly possible. Now almost sixty years later, the story continues to pack a punch, especially as not a lot has changed regarding the tensions in the world, with terrorism replacing Cold Wars and missiles replacing bombs.
In the film a spacecraft lands in Washington, D.C., on a mission of peace. Predictably, the military surround it immediately, and when its lone living occupant, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), emerges, he is shot on sight. Klaatu recovers and it’s not long before we learn he’s come 250,000,000 miles to offer Earth an ultimatum. Clean up your act, he tells us, or face total annihilation. Klaatu is part of an intergalactic police force that makes sure aggressive planets like Earth, which have recently discovered the destructive potential of atomic power, don’t disrupt other, more tranquil planets in the universe. And to back up his mandate, Klaatu has brought with him a gigantic robot named Gort (Lock Martin) that has the power to destroy all mankind.
Klaatu wants to meet with representatives of every nation on Earth, but, proves difficult since the world leaders are too busy fighting over petty issues to meet and discuss anything seriously. Before meeting with anyone, Klaatu decides to get out among Earth’s population and find out firsthand why they’re such a suspicious and unreasonable group of people. He escapes a holding area the military has put him in and takes up residence in a local boardinghouse, where he meets some of the planet’s common people. In a veiled reference to the pacifist Christ, he calls himself “Mr. Carpenter,” an allusion furthered later in the movie when he comes back from the dead.
Living at the boardinghouse is Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her young son, Bobby (Billy Gray). Also in the cast are Hugh Marlowe (All About Eve) as Tom Stevens, Helen’s boyfriend, who embodies all of the worst traits of Mankind–ego, pettiness, selfishness, fearfulness; Francis Bavier (The Andy Griffith Show) as Mrs. Bailey, another resident at the boardinghouse; and Sam Jaffe (Gunga Din) as Professor Barnhardt, an Einstein-like scientist whose aid Klaatu seeks out. (Jaffe is made up to look like Einstein, so the comparison is unavoidable.)
Barnhardt is stunned when Klaatu declares that, if his message is rejected, “Planet Earth will be eliminated”. The professor pleads for Klaatu to first provide a small demonstration of his power as a warning. The film gets its title when Klaatu proves his strength by neutralizing all electric power throughout the world for thirty minutes. The question still remains, will Earth take heed or be subjected to Klaatu’s ultimate threat?
Despite the passage of so much time, The Day the Earth Stood Still remains in a class by itself. The message of world peace is universal, no matter the time or place. Director Robert Wise and screenwriter Edmund H. North developed a story that worked for the Cold War atmosphere the film was made under, but could easily be an allegory for modern times.
Fox’s 2002 release of The Day the Earth Stood Still came with a full-frame transfer that was — and still is — surprisingly good for the time. Sharpness, grayscale range, digital noise, and print damage all were handled nicely. Hopefully it impressed those considering this purchase, because the transfer is, by and large, almost identical to the older edition. Since then, there have been some techniques utilized to capture a wider range of black-and-white shading in negatives, which can be scantly seen and minor corrections here and there throughout the image. Digital noise also appears a bit smoother, rendering minor background details with sharper lines and more solidified shades, as does the reduced level of edge enhancement. However, all of the damaged points in the print — as scattered as they might be — still crop up in this release. It’s still a dandy transfer in itself, but upgrading this package based on the mildly tweaked visuals isn’t much of a justification here. It’s better, but only a little bit.
The audio is the original English Dolby Mono track. The real stunner in this track is the magnificent usage of music and scoring for the film done by Bernard Herrmann. Accentuated by the liberal usage of the enchantingly chill-inducing theremin, It epitomizes the classic ’50s era sound design of science fiction films, and packs a strong retro punch in its aural clarity here. The music is a character all its own, which communicates to us in the audio track just as clearly as Gort looks to our eyes. Also, an English 5.1 Dolby Digital track is included, which is surprisingly full. The 5.1 track has ample separation and rich clarity that makes the decision pretty arbitrary. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish, as are language tracks in both Spanish and French Mono.
This edition has plenty of special features:
Disc One
Sneak Peek at the 2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still:
Starting off the disc is an expanded trailer-like peek into the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly.
Commentary with Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer:
Starting immediately out of the gate with textual information, this is a highly informational and exceedingly dense commentary. It’s not overly scene-specific as far as the flow goes, only reminding us here and there that they’re actually going along with the film, but all the information that Wise regurgitates with Meyer moderating is astounding. It’s more like listening to an interview instead of a commentary, but it’s fascinating none the less.
New Commentary with Host of Film and Music Historians:
Part of the big focus for this new special edition is concentrating on the music from the film, which gets intense focus here from John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg, and Nick Redman. They blend together music-specific material — tones used in the score, specific instruments, etc — with generic film-based impressions that they share, which offers a nice change of pace from straight musically-geared material.
Isolated Score Track:
As mentioned in the commentary, there’s not an overwhelming amount of music present in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Because of this, there are very lengthy gaps of silence in this isolated track. However, when the musical elements kick into gear, it’s hard not to get swept up in the entrancing nature of their eeriness and moody flutters. Moods match so well in this score, from the tracks present around the cemetery to the full-throttle tension pieces near the end of the film.
Making of The Day the Earth Stood Still:
This featurette covers conceptualization and actor impressions regarding the film. There is the standard footage/interview/still shot material, but it also incorporates some archival recorded interviews.
The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin (5:39):
Peter Pringle gives us the low-down on the Theremin, the signature musical instrument used to make that eerie high-pitched noise in ’50s science fiction flicks. The best part of this featurette is the fact that the Theremin that Pringle is playing is the actual one used to compose the tracks for The Day the Earth Stood Still.
The Day the Earth Stood Still Live Performance (2:17):
Peter Pringle then goes on to play the two-minute introduction piece that starts out The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Farewell to the Master (41:27 + 29:32 + 25:59):
Harry Bates’ short story as it originally appeared in publication is narrated by Jamieson K. Price in dramatic fashion.
Also included are a MovieTonewsNews Reel (6:51) , a Teaser Trailer, a Theatrical Trailer, and a Trailer for the 2008 Remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Disc Two
Decoding “Klaatu Barada Nikto” (16:11):
Probably the most memorable words from the film, this featurette deciphers the symbolism and meaning behind the words uttered from Klaatu in the film. Instantly, it kicks into a USA/Soviet discussion, as it starts to analyze the themes present regarding aggression and war in our world.
A Brief History of Flying Saucers (34:00):
Exactly as it says, this featurette hammers through the history of UFOs, the reports, and the types of people who report reported both false and true events. A slew of historians and scientists dive relatively deep into some of these occurrences, which feeds some of the curiosity sparked during the film to research some of the real events that have taken place. One interesting tidbit comes in a research project conducted at Harvard regarding hypnosis and the sensation/memory of alien abduction.
The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still (14:43):
Edmund North, typically an anti-war film writer responsible for Patton as well, becomes the focus in this featurette. It slides through his history all the way to his younger years, chronicling his achievements and unique style via interview time with friends, colleagues, and family
The Astounding Harry Bates (11:02):
Considering that a lot isn’t really known about Harry Bates, the interviewees find plenty to discuss in this featurette of the author of The Day the Earth Stood Still’s short story inspiration.
Race to Oblivion:
Rounding out the featurettes, North’s anti-war piece Race to Oblivion is included here. The quality’s pretty rough, but you’ll get the idea.
Interactive Pressbook:
Here, we’ve got a series of posters, newspaper clippings, and advertisements that can all be accessed by way of clicking with the remote to interact with each element. Textual information and photographs pop up at each click, which makes for a VERY lengthy, dense amount of reading regarding the film. It’s a stellar design and extremely thorough.
Galleries:
Also included are a host of galleries, most of which come from the previous Studio Classics release. Here’s a list of the categories: Advertising Gallery, Behind-the-Scenes Gallery, Portrait Gallery, Production Gallery, Spaceship Construction Blueprints, and Shooting Script.
