# Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951)



## Dave (Mar 5, 2001)

Day the Earth Stood Still. (1951)

Directed by Robert Wise.

Written by Edmund H. North.

Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billey Gray.
Originally, Spencer Tracey was to play the role Michael Rennie is best known for.

Probably, best recognised today for Gort the robot. The inspiration for the 1977 Queen 'News of the World' Album cover.

"Gort. Klaatu nikto baradda" or some such nonsense is what the boy has to remember.



> _from Halliwell's Film Guide_
> A flying saucer arrives in Washington and its alien occupant Klaatu, aided by robot Gort, demonstrates his intellectual and physical power, warns the world what will happen if wars continue, and departs.
> 
> Cold war wish-fulfilment fantasy. Impressive rather than exciting. very capably put over with the minimum of trick work and maximum of sober conviction.
> ...



Many times copied in later science fiction. (the demonstration with the scientist on the blackboard for instance- see the TV series 'Galactica 1980' ).


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## rde (Nov 12, 2001)

That's a pretty cold assessment for what is a great movie. (It was the woman, not the boy, btw; and she had to say "Gort. Klaatu Barada Nikto". This phrase has subsequently popped up in a bunch of films, noteably Evil Dead III and Toys).
Michael Rennie plays a Christ-like figure ("Mr. Carpenter"); the analogies aren't subtle. But it's truly a great movie.


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## DarkCity545 (Dec 9, 2001)

bravo, bravo rde


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## Dave (Mar 17, 2004)

I edited my post because the "pretty cold assessment" was straight out of Halliwell's Film Guide, and looking back on it I don't agree either as it is a film I have on video. I've found Halliwell's to be negative about any Science Fiction. And it is the woman that learns the phrase.


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## Tabitha (Mar 17, 2004)

I think this is one of my all time favourite scifi movies.  I love the SF of the 50s that had a social agenda behind it, and this is a perfect example of the genre.

Haven't seen it for a while though, but I think it is pretty cheap on DVD, so I might have to pick up a copy.


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## Metryq (Apr 7, 2011)

I'll admit to liking many aspects of the 1951 _The Day The Earth Stood Still_. (I haven't seen the "remake" with Keanu Reeves, as the trailer persuaded me _not_ to see it.) The anti-war message is all very well, but there is something sinister lurking in the holier-than-thou Klaatu's message. And I have yet to see anyone else mention it.

In his curtain speech, Klaatu tells the crowd that the peoples of the other planets have created a "race" of robots to keep the peace. He even spells it out proudly: "absolute power over us" and "this power cannot be revoked." Apparently these extra-terrestrials are all so civilized and peaceful that they must be coerced under threat of total annihilation. That's nothing to crow about. 

In the _Star Trek_ episode "The Day of the Dove" Spock remarked to McCoy, "Those who hate and fight must stop themselves, Doctor, otherwise it is not stopped." Morality cannot be legislated, as Prohibition (in the US and elsewhere) has demonstrated. Yet crusaders continue to labor under the illusion that control is possible, and the crusaders are not trying to stop only war. 

Perhaps I'm way off base with _The Lord of the Rings_, but it seems to me that evil and ill will towards others is externalized in the ring. The people aren't bad. It is only the ring that drives them to evil deeds. That way lies moral relativism. 

At least _Star Wars_ (the Luke Skywalker trilogy) got it right. Evil is something within that must be fought. The "Dark Side" of the Force is merely the "rewards" afforded by selfish thinking and actions, not the cause of it.

_Self_-discipline is the only kind that exists. A mature person can rise above his urges and passions.


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## Interference (Apr 7, 2011)

I'd love to now how Dave feels about it being ten years since he started this thread?


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## Metryq (Apr 7, 2011)

Probably not too bad, as the movie was released _60_ years ago.


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## Foxbat (Apr 7, 2011)

Metryq said:


> I'll admit to liking many aspects of the 1951 _The Day The Earth Stood Still_. (I haven't seen the "remake" with Keanu Reeves, as the trailer persuaded me _not_ to see it.) The anti-war message is all very well, but there is something sinister lurking in the holier-than-thou Klaatu's message. And I have yet to see anyone else mention it.


 
Firstly: I like this film.
About the sinister undertones...I'd agree with that assesment. 
It seems to say 
_We have the power and are worthy of it....you are not._

Kind of reminds me of the stance in our very own Non-Proliferation Treaty for Nuclear Weapons by those that have them. So, perhaps it's just a reflection of our own hypocricy.


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## Dave (Apr 7, 2011)

Interference said:


> I'd love to now how Dave feels about it being ten years since he started this thread?


Hmm! It's probably 10 years since I last watched it. But I think this film holds up well with time, mainly because it does have a 'message'. That, and the fact that our reliance on technology has only made us even more vulnerable to being without it.


Metryq said:


> In his curtain speech, Klaatu tells the crowd that the peoples of the other planets have created a "race" of robots to keep the peace. He even spells it out proudly: "absolute power over us" and "this power cannot be revoked." Apparently these extra-terrestrials are all so civilized and peaceful that they must be coerced under threat of total annihilation. That's nothing to crow about.





Foxbat said:


> Kind of reminds me of the stance in our very own Non-Proliferation Treaty for Nuclear Weapons by those that have them. So, perhaps it's just a reflection of our own hypocrisy.



I'd say that is true, and it is a rather superior attitude isn't it?

I've not seen the remake, but I don't like that they changed the 'message'. No he comes because we are destroying our environment rather than because we are ready to embark on off-world military expeditions.


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## Metryq (Apr 7, 2011)

Foxbat said:


> Kind of reminds me of the stance in our very own Non-Proliferation Treaty for Nuclear Weapons by those that have them. So, perhaps it's just a reflection of our own hypocricy.



Excellent point. However, this—



> _We have the power and are worthy of it....you are not._



—is not what I meant. Worthy has nothing to do with it. Gene Roddenberry tried to spin-off a new series from the _Trek_ episode "Assignment Earth." A series with a similar theme, _The Questor Tapes_, also never made it off the pad. Both stories posited an extraterrestrial agent secretly inserted into human society in order to "guide" humanity past the rough spots and survive to maturity. 

Is a civilization that must be babysat worth the effort? Will they ever mature that way? The "green guys" in _The Greatest American Hero_ were also tinkering with Earth's trouble spots—but it was a "hands off" kind of tinkering. They presented Ralph and Bill (philosophical enemies) with a technological advantage, but it was entirely up to them how to apply it.

The above "worthy" statement is more like the Three Galaxies "court" in Robert Heinlein's _Have Spacesuit, Will Travel_. It was not a court of justice, it was a kangaroo court to snuff out potentially dangerous civilizations before they grew powerful enough to threaten the cabal of "advanced" peoples.

But that was not my point, either.

In _The Day The Earth Stood Still_ the peoples of the other planets were not subjugated by a dictator or an invader. They _willfully_ gave up their rights and freedoms—a socialist's wet dream—as well as everyone else's. Earth didn't have a choice.

Granted, Klaatu's speech said that the robots were only to prevent war, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Dr. Forbin in _Colossus_ was also attempting to make war impossible. (In the books Colossus did things far more sadistic than seen in the movie _Colossus: The Forbin Project_.) People must be able to manage their own affairs, or they are no better than machines. War is not a good thing, but being able to _choose_ not to war is the ultimate freedom.


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## clovis-man (Apr 8, 2011)

When this film was made, we were at the height of cold war paranoia. Some of the "fix it at any cost" approach has to be attributed to that. Compare the story line to the 1941 Harry Bates story from which it was made:

Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates - Part 1

Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates - Part 2


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## Metryq (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks, Clovis-Man. I've read it. (But not just recently.) If I recall, Gnut never said anything about the relationship between "himself" and his dead companion—until the very end. "You misunderstand. I am the master." 

It's the shocker, twist ending. We've no idea what the relationship was, nor how it came to be. The only ties between the short story (or novella) and the movie are:

A humanoid steps out of a ship, and is shot dead.
A giant robot follows, and
Revives the dead humanoid. (Or in the case of the short, fails after trying several times.)


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## clovis-man (Apr 8, 2011)

Oops. Left out the link to part 3:

Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates - Part 3


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## Foxbat (Apr 8, 2011)

Metryq said:


> Excellent point. However, this—
> 
> 
> 
> —is not what I meant. Worthy has nothing to do with it.


 
Probably not my best ever choice of words


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