The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Currently in theaters is the remake of the 1951 science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. In recognition of that I have decided to watch the original. The film opens with a spaceship landing on a baseball field in Washington, D.C. An alien that looks like a human and a robot come out. The human-like alien speaks English and comes in peace. Throughout the entire film he attempts to deliver a message warning of grave danger to earth, but encounters difficulty as the people of earth are terrified. Overall, the film moved along quite slowly and the payoff at the end wasn't all that great.

The acting here is nothing to write home about. Michael Rennie plays the main character and came off as sort of bland. As he was portraying someone from another planet, I suppose this is reasonable. The supporting cast was passable, but not deserving of any major recognition.

Thematically, this film was probably more relevant during the Cold War. The film tries to be as realistic as possible given the subject matter such that viewers could interpret the aliens as the Soviets. The film delivers an anti-war message, but I have trouble accepting any profound meaning from a film of this type. The film is considered a science fiction classic, but I was disappointed. While the film did make use of some decent special effects, they were not particularly impressive even for 1951. I was expecting this film to me more groundbreaking in the effects department, but it wasn't.

65/100
D

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