From: mleeper@optonline.net   
      
   Trivia question: what day of the week is "The Day the Earth Stood   
   Still"?  Answer later in the article.   
      
   THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is a sentimental favorite among   
   Fifties science fiction films.  It is certainly good but not nearly   
   as good as its reputation would make it.  What you have is a story   
   of militant pacifists from outer space who come to Earth to say "be   
   nice and don't fight or our robots are going to kick some ass."   
   This has never been my idea of an inspiring message.  And the mere   
   fact that it isn't the aliens themselves but their robotic police   
   does not make the message one iota more palatable, at least not for   
   me.  I think that the concept that aliens were going to come down   
   and keep peace-or at least limit warfare-like some sort of super-   
   parents is less than appealing.   
      
   The film begins with a subjective sequence showing an approach to   
   Earth from space.  Once again we see that the 1950s' fascination   
   with flying saucers is used in a film, in fact more than some of   
   the films that just had references.  Here the flying saucer which   
   we saw the first sequence actually lands in a park in Washington   
   D.C.  The military immediately surrounds the craft.  From the   
   saucer comes a mysterious alien, Klaatu, who is almost immediately   
   shot due to paranoia on the part of the military guards sent to   
   meet him.  The saucer again opens and out comes a nine-foot-tall   
   robot who destroys all the weapons aimed at the saucer, then turns   
   himself into a statue.  Klaatu is taken to a hospital but heals   
   himself faster than Earth medicine could.  He requests an audience   
   with all world leaders and is refused.  He escapes from his   
   hospital to find out for himself what humans who are not   
   politicians are all about.   
      
   At a science fiction convention I attended, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD   
   STILL was used as an example of a science fiction film that is not   
   also a horror film.  That seems to be the general perception by   
   most fans, yet I think looking at the film there definitely is an   
   element of horror in the film.  I see this in two aspects.  First   
   is the way Klaatu is handled in the early parts of the film.  Often   
   his face is hidden or we see him from behind or in shadow.  This   
   combined with Bernard Herrmann's menacing music is clearly intended   
   to make Klaatu seem threatening.  And certainly the robot Gort is   
   intended to be frightening.  He kills when he has to and stands   
   implacably the rest of the time.  On subsequent viewings one   
   realizes that Gort kills only two soldiers in the course of the   
   film and then only because they are threatening him with rifles.   
      
   Patricia Neal is in love at the beginning of the film and discovers   
   she doesn't really like her intended during the course of the film.   
   One of the things she does not like is his assumption that he   
   should be a dominating male.  In some ways this film is years ahead   
   of its time.  The other major lead and certainly the only Earth-   
   person of much real interest value in the film is Sam Jaffe as   
   Prof. Barnhardt, a thinly disguised imitation of Albert Einstein.   
   Jaffe was a great character actor who seemed equally at home   
   playing German scientists or Gunga Din.  The generation who was   
   growing up seeing The DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL may who have come   
   to think of him as Dr. Zorba on the TV show "Ben Casey".   
      
   There are a number of nice touches in the film.  Several well-known   
   news commentators of the period agreed to appear as themselves   
   adding an air of authenticity.  Names like Elmer Davis are not   
   familiar now, but were certainly so at the time of the release of   
   the film.  We also get a feel for the contemporary Cold War   
   paranoia.  Helen Benson jumps to the conclusion that Carpenter is a   
   spy.  Also the Christ symbolism is a bit blatant.  Klaatu, who   
   takes on the name Carpenter (initials J.C.), is hated in spite of   
   his message of peace.  He is killed but returns from the dead to   
   meet with people and then to ascend into the heavens.  Imaginative   
   visual touches include Gort's strange death-ray lens and a rather   
   interesting set for the internals of the saucer.  It has been   
   suggested that, as in the short story "Farewell to the Master" (on   
   which the story is based), the robot is really the boss and not the   
   human.  I see no internal information that is conclusive either   
   way, but the film is marginally more interesting if Klaatu is   
   actually running interference for the true master Gort.   
      
   Trivia answer: And what day of the week was "The Day the Earth   
   Stood Still"?  It was a Tuesday.  Bobby did not have school the day   
   he went to Prof. Barnhardt's house but did have school the next day   
   so presumably that was a Sunday.  That night Klaatu returns to the   
   house and tells the professor that the demonstration will be two   
   days hence.   
      
   Some impressive scenes with Gort and the score by Herrmann give   
   this film most of what is good about it.  I give it a high +1 on   
   the -4 to +4 scale.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)