Review of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) by Alyson C — 17 Jun 2010

There's plenty to like about the original installment of "The Day the Earth Stood Still." And I suspect that it was quite the big deal at the time of its release. But there were enough faults in it to temper my overall evaluation.

Michael Rennie is captivating as Klaatu, the alien on a mission to warn the planet Earth from continuing their pursuit of rocket-delivered weaponry and the like. Rennie is marvelous. None of the supporting performances are noteworthy, except perhaps for Sam Jaffe, cast as Professor Barnhardt, the smartest man anyone seems to know. The action is even-paced, and the plot is thick and juicy by any standard.

Like most science fiction films of that era, you'll need to overlook some quirky and illogical items. I won't list them all, but I will ask you how the military might guard a spaceship through the wee hours of the night. Hopefully a couple of inattentive privates will be deemed insufficient. Regardless of when this film was created, this blunder and many others are still inexcusable. But they will cause mere winces. The film is still quite enjoyable.

My last peeve is the ending. After 90 minutes of well constructed dialog and well placed action, we get a 2 minute sermon to close the movie. It was almost sleepy time for me. I'm not sure how, but I wish they had done better.