Review of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) by Malhar H — 07 Feb 2009

RATING (0 to ****): ****.

The film that would from 1951 and onward be inevitably compared to any alien movie with a message ("E.T.", "The Abyss" and "The Iron Giant" to name a few), Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is not just a great sci-fi. It's one of the best movies ever made and, while it might not carry the same visual brilliance, it deserves to be mentioned alongside "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane".

From beginning to end, the screenplay by Edmund D. North (adapted from Harry Bates' short story) is a celebration of intelligence. Humanoid alien Klaatu (played wonderfully by Michael Rennie) early on tells a military official, "I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it." And as a stark reminder that we still haven't gotten the message, we just received an updated remake.

Generally speaking, the film is timeless, except it was made for a more innocent audience. Back then, Klaatu, disguised as a man named Carpenter, could rent a room, and be trusted with the child of a single mother. When he exchanges a couple of his planet's perfect-cut diamonds for two of his American dollars, the boy's comments about "Mr. Carpenter" possibly being a gangster or diamond smuggler are quickly relegated to joke status by his mother; 50 years later, we'd be inclined to take such implications seriously as cases keep popping up with the "Mr. Carpenters" of the world not being friendly aliens but malicious earthlings.

As well, a visit to the Lincoln Memorial, where Klaatu reads the quote inscribed there and comments, "That's the kind of man I would like to talk to," has undoubtedly gained a very cynical context today with everyone's dirty secrets being revealed. Just to compare how our society has changed, I am very curious to see the remake, as much as it saddens me that modern moviegoers will confuse the titles.

The engrossing plot involves Klaatu making his own observations on Earth with an ambiguous threat that he will not fully describe to any given government official unless every nation's official is present to hear what he has to say. He relates to aforementioned young boy, Bobby, the only one who's excited by the idea of there being aliens on Earth while everyone else is sure they will be destroyed (Klaatu makes no secret they're half right).

Wanting to find "the smartest man in the city", Bobby leads him to a professor who's been struggling for weeks on a complex math equation; after an arranged meeting, Klaatu warns the professor of his intentions, which he's understanding of, but offers the intellectual challenge of devising a warning for Earth that doesn't involve destruction (since as they're both painfully aware of, violence seems to be the only thing we understand).

You may have heard of this film being sci-fi with something to say. What might have been overlooked is, after the fun and good-natured first hour, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" has some great scenes of suspense and we like Klaatu so much that it even elicits some surprising power.

A cinema classic that runs at a brisk 92 minutes, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" should be on anyone's list of movies to see before they die. Forget everything you heard about this being a great message movie; this is a great movie, period.

MPAA: Not Rated (but would be PG for some violence).

Runtime: 1 hour, 32 minutes (fills up entire runtime).