To coincide with the new Keanu Reeves-headlined remake, Fox unleashes the original 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' on Blu-ray with a Gort full of special features. One of the most seminal science-fiction pics ever made, the original still holds up as a brilliant parable of the times.
Certainly a product of its time, this film was released in 1954 when the cold war was in full swing and the threat of a nuclear war was a very real possibility. Paranoia had swept the country - i.e. one famous example being the 'House Un-American Activities Committee' (HUAC) which launched an investigation in 1947 to weed out supposed communist influence on Hollywood.
Based on a short story, 'Farewell to the Master' by Harry Bates, director Robert Wise and screenwriter Edmund North teamed up to present an extremely simple story that's timelessly accessible. An obvious parable for the times, I'm sure the heavy-handed but necessary themes of the film were not lost on 54' theater patrons, as it took an alien to hold up a mirror to the human races self-hating ways.
That alien is Klaatu (Michael Rennie), a tall human-looking man who emerges from his saucer on the lawn of the national mall in Washington D.C. to the watchful eye of tons of nervous onlookers.
Approaching the people and military with an obvious gesture of peace, he retrieves a hand-held device and holds it out only to get shot by a paranoid soldier where the military quickly gets disarmed by Klaatu's nine-foot robot Gort who disintegrates the weapons with a laser beam from his eyes.
Taken to a military hospital for recovery and questioning, Klaatu escapes and wants to find the answers he's looking for out amongst the normal people when the nations decline to cooperate and hear what he has to say as a whole (he refuses to address only one nation).
Taking the alias of 'Mr. Carpenter', he stumbles upon a boarding house where he meets single mother Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her young son Bobby (Billy Gray) and develops a friendship with the family and discovers that maybe there's something about humanity worth saving after all.
The film is so effective for many reasons not the least of which is Robert Wise's approach to the story. Despite outlandish sci-fi elements, Wise presents it all through a window of realism which gives the film a sense of immediacy and connection that otherwise wouldn't have been there - a sort of precursor to Spielberg's real-world approach to 'War of the Worlds' versus, say, the cartoonish developments of 'Independence Day'.
In that respect, it's more documentary-inclined than the epic devastation of other sci-fi pics of that era like 'Earth vs. the Flying Saucers' and the original 'War of the Worlds'.
And although content to be more character study than a constant barrage of f/x, the special effects still hold up as classic examples of the genre with the 9-foot Gort being one of the first examples of a threatening robot (the humanoid design of which no doubt inspired countless other similar takes including maybe 'Iron Man'?)
Despite a message that could have easily ended up more dour, the film ends on a more optimistic note that might throw off more cynical contemporary viewers but the final scenes are perfect for the film that preceded it - Klaatu departs Earth still hopeful for the human race, but the possibility is still there that humanity may not be able to save themselves.
A great example of a 1.33:1 and B&W presentation that benefits greatly from a 1080p transfer, this film looks better than it ever has with a crisp, clean print and great detail. The film is 54-years old and other than some slight specks here and there and a little grain, this is one great-looking transfer.
From the fibers in Klaatu's jacket to the humorous folds in Gort's 'metal' body, there's more to notice here than ever before. A new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is provided and does a great job carefully mixing the quaint sound f/x and dialogue. The original mono track is provided for purists.
Extensive special features start off with a long preview of the remake that's almost eight minutes long that plays immediately when inserting the BD. Also remake related is a code for a free ticket to the see the remake.
Two Audio Commentaries are featured, the first with director Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer, director of 'Star Trek II', who act as more interviewee and interviewer. Fascinating to have a film of this age feature a commentary with the director, there's a lot of great info here although it may be more formal than you like.
The other commentary is by film and music historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman and tackles the film in a number of intriguing ways offering up all sorts of anecdotes.
Next up is a Blu-ray exclusive, the 'Gort Command!' game, a BD-J interactive experience that requires users to hit arrows on the remote to target and shoot soldiers and police officers. Like the BD-J interactive game on 'Planet of the Apes', this is surprisingly fun in a limited sort of way.
'The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin' is a five minute featurette on the instrument that added a lot to the musical store. 'The Day the Earth Stood Still Main Title Live Performance by Peter Pringle' is exactly how it sounds. Another Blu-ray exclusive is 'Interactive Theremin: Create Your Own Score', a very cool feature that allows you to 'play' the Theremin by selecting from some notes to create a 30-second piece of music to play over a scene from the film.
'The Making of The Day the Earth Stood Still' is a 24-minute historical perspective on the film, 'Decoding 'Klaatu Barada Nikto': Science Fiction as Metaphor' is a look at the era the time the film was made and examines how film fit into the nuclear arms race. 'A Brief History of Flying Saucers' is a fun half-hour doc on flying saucer sightings with 'experts' waxing on archival footage and stills.
'The Astounding Harry Bates' is a short look at the author of the original short story, 'Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still' looks at the screenwriter with some thoughts from his daughter. 'Race to Oblivion: A Documentary Short Written & Produced by Edmund North' is a half-hour original short with children singing about peace with interspersed footage of war.
'Farewell to the Master' is a very cool feature where Jamieson K Price reads the original Bates story against a saucer still in the background. This runs an hour and a half but Price's voice is perfect for the material and a great way to discover the original story. 'Fox Movietonenews' are short clips of the era. To finish things up is a still gallery, and a teaser and theatrical trailer.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Special Edition) is an extremely impressive package with hours of informative special features, two cool Blu-ray exclusive interactive 'games', a great video and audio presentation and one of the best sci-fi films of all time. This is a no-brainer for almost everybody so as Bruce Campbell famously mimed: 'Klaatu Barada Nikto'!!
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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