The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't seen this before... maybe I am actually not a very good sci-fi fan. But hey, at least I'm watching this one and not the remake, right? More importantly, it contributes to my goal of seeing all the movies referenced in "Science Fiction/Double Feature" (the opening tune of The Rocky Horror Picture Show). The Day the Earth Stood Still is a cautionary tale about Klaatu (Michael Rennie), an alien who lands in Washington, DC, and his attempts to unite all of earth's nations for an important discussion regarding humans' experiments with nuclear weapons.

Of course, he's immediately seen as a threat and held by the US military, and when he entreats the President's secretary to get his message out to other world leaders, he's told it'd be impossible to get everyone together due to various international feuds. Klaatu escapes his "protective custody" and takes a room at a boarding house to see how humans live, befriending a young boy named Bobby (Billy Gray) and his widowed mother Helen (Patricia Neal). As the police and military search for him, he decides to talk to a prominent local scientist (Sam Jaffe) and his peers with the hope that the scientific community will be more willing to listen to his proposal of peace. Also there's a robot named Gort, and at one point the bulk of the world's electricity and motorized machines stop working (hence the title! oooooooh).

This is a pretty cool movie. It looks great, with minimal crazy special effects and a sense of realism. And pretty cool robot design, even if the suit made the guy inside it have spasms or whatever, and even if Gort didn't actually get to do too much. I really enjoyed Michael Rennie as Klaatu, as he carried himself with a dignity and eeriness befitting an all-powerful alien being. The plot isn't thrilling or action-packed, but more interested in showing the human side of science-fiction, focusing on relationships and character. Setting the film in DC results in a lot of symbolic imagery and questions of what America stands for.

I found the story a little too preachy; I understood the importance of the message, but it could have been addressed more subtly. That and the sometimes slow-moving plot kept me from unabashedly loving the film, but I still really enjoyed it and of course appreciate its significance in the science-fiction genre. And I don't understand why it had to be remade.

4/5

PS Is it ironic or just depressing that Sam Jaffe was blacklisted right after playing a pacifist scientist in a film calling for universal peace and acceptance of one's neighbors?