The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) – Blu-Ray Review

The Day Earth Stood Still

My first blu-ray review is a classic science fiction film that I already own as a SD release. The Day the Earth Stood Still is based on a short story by a guy called Harry Bates, I’ll be honest and say that I have never heard of him before but if the movie is a true representation of his novel then I would imagine that his books are pretty good.

When the film was made in the early 1950’s the cold war was getting rather chilly, the USA and USSR were facing each other, each with a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons. Mistrust was everywhere with the American propaganda machine running full pelt and warning every American citizen about the dangers and expansion of communism. In the film making world there was actually a black list which affected a number of actors because of their political beliefs, indeed Sam Jaffe who plays Prof. Jacob Barnhardt was very nearly not in this film due to this. On top of this fear of communism America had just got itself involved in another war, this time in Korea and there were some people, film makers included that, felt that the various governments needed to calm down a bit otherwise we would be looking at World War 3 and Armageddon, and this is really the whole basis behind the story of the film.

Klaatu (Michael Rennie) has travelled 250,000.000 miles with his 8ft robotic policeman Gort (Lock Martin) to warn all the world leaders that if they continue on the track of developing atomic energy that the planet will be destroyed, and that the human race basically need to live in peace and be a little more tolerant of each other. He Lands in America (as that is the only place where UFOs land) and comes out of his craft to address the people and the military units that have surrounded his spaceship. Of course the Americans being as they are shoot him when he tries to give a gift to a soldier and he is taken to hospital.

images not taken from the blu-ray release

Once there it is apparent that the squabbling among the world leaders will prevent him from addressing all nations and so he goes out among the people of Washington to find out exactly what the human species is all about, he lodges at a family home where he meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray) and gets to learn firsthand about 1950’s America whilst the military are frantically searching for him.

For those that like tons of action in their films, this is not for you. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a story told very much in a documentary style with the main part of the film showing Klaatu integrating himself into the general populace to find out how the ordinary people act, and what makes them tick. Here he finds out about their prejudiced ways, their fears and what drives them, and I think that it is this storyline that makes the film so good, it is as relevant today as it was then only Terrorists rather than Russia will be the ones to detonate a bomb, indeed this film has been remade recently with Keanu Reeves taking the role of Klaatu although the danger being global warming and the governments of the world seemingly doing little to prevent anything from occurring. Although from everything I’ve read that remake is not that good.

Another reason that I think that there was little action in the film was the fact that Robert Wise was the director, and the other films that I’ve seen of his (Star Trek – The Motion Picture and Run Silent, Run Deep) have been big on story and whilst not devoid of action I felt that the action always comes second place to the story itself, which is a good thing.

images not taken from the blu-ray release

One thing that I have found with movies from this era is that some of the acting can be a bit heavy on the dramatics especially from the actresses who seem to squeal and hold their hands to their faces at the first sign of danger, with the men telling them to pull it together with a still upper lip, but I suppose it is a reflection of those times and everyone seems very stoic, and repressed with nobody really letting their hair down, I mean they even eat breakfast in a suit and tie.

Special mention has to be given to Michael Rennie who plays Klaatu. He is absolutely perfect for the role being very tall and thin, his features lend themselves well for the part and he imparts his lines in such a indifferent way that you could well imagine him being a visitor from another planet. Another person worthy of mention is Billy Gray as the young boy Bobby. Kids, especially in film from this era, can seem wooden when they act or say anything and yet he seems to take to his role like a duck to water for the most part, it was quite refreshing to see.

Gort who I imagine was pretty scary at the time is obviously a guy in a rubber suit and pretty laughable for that, but he looks sufficiently scary for 1950’s cinema goers and I know that I would be pretty worried if he stepped out of any spaceship I happened to be standing in front of.

Other characters play their roles sufficiently even if they are a little one dimensional in place but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the film has a good, if simple, story that is told well and will leave people thinking well after the credits have gone.

images not taken from the blu-ray release

Picture:
I compared this blu-ray image to the SD image that I have and it is a night and day difference, blacks are dark and deep and whites are fresh with all the greys in-between looking very good indeed, there is a little bit of grain noticeable but nothing that ruined the viewing for me. One thing that surprised me thought was that the image was in 4:3 format and I couldn’t find a widescreen version (my SD release is widescreen), it may have been there but I couldn’t find it.

Sound:
I used a DTS sound track which makes remarkably good use of the surrounds, the sound of traffic and fire engines coming through well, when the spaceship landed the bass was nice and rich, filling the room. It was a real joy to behold. The main theme tune too that’s is played on the Theremin (examples of which are in the extras) was superb, with that creepy sound giving real atmosphere and menace whenever played. There is nothing really taxing for the speakers and most of the dialogue in centre speaker based but the balance of the soundtrack was spot on for my setup.

Other Notes:
I wrote an article recently called “beware the BD” where I stated that I was not convinced about the quality of blu-ray based on a demo disc I saw, whilst I still think that the SD image was degraded in that example, I have to say that the image on this BD was much superior to that on my SD.

images not taken from the blu-ray release

Extras:
Commentary by Robert Wise & Nicholas Meyer:
A fairly quiet, an interview based commentary where Meyer has sat down with Wise to talk generally about the film. I am sure that if I was really patient then I could sit down and listen to it all the way through, although I do think it would be an effort.

Commentary by film and music historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman:
A louder, livelier discussion on the movie with additional snippets that look into the politics of the time too, again I would need to be very patient to sit through this for its entire length. They seem to concentrate a lot on the score of the film

Isolated score track 5.1 DTS:
This removes all dialogue from the film so that you can see it whilst listening to the audio track, I didn’t watch the whole film this way but did listen to a few extended scenes with it, quite a novel way to view a film and actually a good way to really concentrate on the movie to review it.

The world of Theremin:
There are three separate extras in this section. The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin (6 mins): This is a documentary about the instrument that plays the weird pulsating tune that is present throughout the film. I love these old Sci-Fi movies with the spooky soundtracks that is so familiar to Sci-Fi movies of this era and more recently Mars Attacks.

The Day the Earth Stood Still main title live performance by Peter Pringle (2 mins):
This is actually quite interesting; Peter plays the actual opening sequence on the very theremin instrument that was used in the original film. I love it I think it is an awesome sound.

Interactive Theremin: Create your own score:
As it says really, although I couldn’t get it to work properly.

Gort command interactive game:
A basic game where you have to use Gort to destroy aggressors, limited appeal.

Making of day the earth stood still: (25 mins)
Film historians and archival interviews with people like Robert Wise (Director) talk about the social influences of the film, its style and the general coming together of the movie.

Decoding Klaatu Barada Nikto: Science Fiction Metaphor: (16 mins)
This documentary looks into the world at the time of the films making in 1950, about mistrust and the possibility of World War 3.

A brief history of flying saucers: (34 mins)
Complete with a few clips of The Day the Earth Stood Still, this documentary is about various UFO experiences from Roswell onwards, it is an interesting watch and a nice addition to the extras.

The astounding harry bates: (11 mins)
A short tribute for the author whose book The Day the Earth Stood Still was based on.

Edmund North: The man who made The Day the Earth Stood Still: (14 mins)
Another tribute, this time concentrating on Edmund North, the films screenwriter.

Race to Oblivion: A Documentary short written by Edmund North: (26 mins)
A look into the arms race and the cold war which was building up to breakneck speed around this period in time.

Farewell to the master: a reading by Jamieson K. Price of the original Harry Bates short story: (97 mins)
Essentially an audio book split up into 3 chapters, wasn’t not something I had time to listen to when reviewing but would be of interest to some.

Fox Movietonews (1951): (6 mins)
Essentially an American propaganda short.

Teaser Trailer & Theatrical Trailer:
Trailers for the film

Galleries:
A whole bunch of still images set behind a number of different headings

Websites:
A list of 2 websites, pointless extra

Overall:
A very good, classic Sci-Fi film that should be in every genre fans collection, I’ve read that on the original SD release there is a 80 min making of that has not been but on this Blu-ray release so I would recommend this BD as an addition to the collection rather than a replacement.

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Extras:
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