The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Note des utilisateurs:

8.1/10   

Réalisateur:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Edmund H. North (screenplay)
Harry Bates (story)

Release Date:

28 septembre 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drame | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Accroche:

A robot and a man . . . hold the world spellbound with new and startling powers from another planet!

Plot:

An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Robot | Spacecraft | Washington D.C. | Tank

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

Whether you like the message or not, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a compelling Science Fiction film

Ensemble

Michael Rennie	...	Klaatu
Patricia Neal	...	Helen Benson
Hugh Marlowe	...	Tom Stevens
Sam Jaffe	...	Prof. Jacob Barnhardt
Billy Gray	...	Bobby Benson
Frances Bavier	...	Mrs. Barley
Lock Martin	...	Gort

Autre(s) titre(s):

Le jour où la terre s'arrêta (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]

Durée:

92 min | Germany:85 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais | Français | Hindi

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Son:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Classification:

Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:T | USA:Approved (PCA #15271) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1969) | Canada:G (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2004) | Brazil:Livre | Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

RKO Encino Ranch - Balboa Boulevard & Burbank Boulevard, Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Anecdotes:

The film was shot on the 20th Century-Fox back lot, which is now an upscale office complex known as Century City.

Goofs:

Plot holes: It is an almost universal custom for a boarder to pay in advance before to being given a room. "Mr. Carpenter" (Klaatu), as we quickly learn, has of course no money - yet gets the room (and board) anyway.

Guillemet:

[first lines]
American Radar Operator: Holy Mackerel! Call headquarters. Get the lieutenant.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: Alien Abductions (#1.3)" (2003)

Whether you like the message or not, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a compelling Science Fiction film

Aliens have been visiting the Earth in one form or another by way of Hollywood almost non stop over the years. Sometimes they are cute friendly little creatures like E.T. while at other times they have been evil hideous creatures who descend upon Earth to conquer us with their technical superiority and so that directors like Roland Emmerich can try to wow us with a special effects extravaganza as he did in Independence Day. Then there are aliens like Klaatu, who walk like us, talk like us, have bodies likes us, and visit us in the form of Michael Rennie with the sole purpose of letting us know that if mankind doesn't get its act together soon, we all may be in for a world of hurt.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is unlike any science fiction film made in the fifties or possibly any decade for that matter. It was a movie that didn't rely on flesh eating creatures or huge alien monsters, yet manages to captivate us every step of the way. Directed by Robert Wise, the film wastes no time in getting to the point with an intense opening sequence that is simply spellbinding. There's an unidentified flying object circling the globe at a mere 4,000 miles an hour. As one famous announcer after another from all over the globe hits the airwaves with the news and the UFO is tracked by radar, we finally see the flying saucer as it glides over Washington D.C. and lands gently in a baseball field. The inhabitant of the spaceship doesn't emerge immediately, as Wise chooses to build our suspense and apprehension just as the spectators and soldiers surrounding the craft must feel. In one of the great science fiction sequences ever, the seemingly seamless spacecraft opens, and down the walkway emerges Klaatu (Michael Rennie), hidden by a silver space suit so that we are unaware as everyone else is of his true physical nature. Klaatu pulls a strange looking device from inside his suit, a soldier thinking that the object is some sort of alien weapon, fires at Klaatu wounding him. It is then that we learn the physical makeup of Klaatu, and it is also then that the robot Gort emerges from the spaceship, immediately firing a laser beam destroying the weapons and artillery surrounding the craft. After Klaatu, with a few mumble jumble alien type phrases, calms Gort down, and Klaatu is taken into custody by the military.

Eventually the film does calm down somewhat as Klaatu, by taking on the identity of Mr. Carpenter, finds his way out into the general population with the purpose of finding out what makes us Neanderthal like Earthlings tick. He is aided immeasurably by the widowed Helen Benson (Patricia Neal), her son Bobby (Billy Gray) and a well known scientist, Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe). Michael Rennie is the perfect Klaatu. He stands by bemused as everyone seems to have a theory as to what his appearance really is and why he has paid us a visit including such odd ideas as that he has taken a short trip over from the Soviet Union. Although he tries to understand man's penchant for war and destruction, it is a concept without rationality to Klaatu, and one can't help but compare him in some ways to Mr. Spock. Unlike Spock however, Klaatu is not beyond showing impatience and frustration with us. While he tries to find a way to deliver his message to not one country, but all countries, the single minded purpose of the U.S. military to capture or kill someone they don't understand may seem clichéd, yet one can't help believe that in all likelihood that is how it would play out were such an event to occur. Either that or the congress would institute a couple of space visitor commissions to study the situation, and report the result of their findings based upon Klaatu's political persuasion.

It would have been easy for the film to bog down during Klaatu's wanderings around D.C., but Wise keeps things moving, making such things as a visit to Arlington Cemetery touching and moving, and a visit to a Professor's home intriguing and humorous at the same time. One can thank whoever decided to cast Billy Gray as Bobby, who does such a first-class job as Klaatu's tour guide that it not only adds immeasurably to the film, it would make one look Bobby up to be their own guide should they feel the need to tour the capital. Neal gives a truly wonderful performance as Bobby's mother. She is drawn to Mr. Carpenter but yet is wary of his strange ways to the point where she begins to question Bobby's friendship with him. Her complete opposite is her boyfriend, Tom (Hugh Marlowe) who sees his relationship with Helen as more of an opportunity than anything remotely having to do with true feelings. It doesn't take us long to figure out that Helen is drawn to Tom because of his ability to provide a home for her and Bobby, than any real emotional involvement, all of which comes into play at a very crucial moment of the film.

Then there is that message Klaatu has to deliver. It has always been the subject of much debate over the years, and will probably continue to be so for many years to come as long as there are message boards smothering the internet to continue the debate. I have my own thoughts about it, but can only say that agree or disagree, it is more or less the same message that many nations have more or less given to one country after another on our own planet. So does this make Klaatu and his kind as bad as us or is their method entirely different with an insistence on a peaceful existence? Which ever side you fall on, the debate will continue through the ages and when any film accomplishes something of that nature I have no choice but to give it my grade which for The Day the Earth Stood Still is an A.