“Klaatu barada nikto”
Sometimes you have to give a begrudging thanks to remakes as they tend to get studios to release the originals (which are usually much better than the films they remake). Fox ponies up some new special features for this re-release of Robert Wise’s excellent sci-fi morality tale since the Keanu Reeves starring remake is coming to your multiplex.
A spaceship lands in Washington D.C. and the city stands in rapt attention. A spaceman named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) emerges from the saucer and says that he “comes in peace.” However, when he pulls out a strange looking device a nervous soldier shoots the alien. This causes his giant robot, Gort, to spring to life and disintegrate all of the weapons, but not the soldiers carrying them.
Klaatu is taken to Walter Reed Hospital. He wants to address the world but political bickering keeps him from doing it and the government would rather keep him under lock and key. He escapes and assumes the pseudonym “Mr. Carpenter” to live amongst the regular citizenry. He makes friends with Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray).
Billy takes “Mr. Carpenter” to see Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe) when Carpenter asks Bobby to name the greatest person in the world today after an inspirational tour of the capital. Barnhardt is not home but Klaatu solves a complicated mathematical problem that Barnhardt has been working on and leaves his address with the housekeeper.
When Klaatu finally does get to talk with the Professor his message is a surprising one – that the aliens are concerned over mankind’s development of atomic power and if it’s not used wisely that the aliens will have no choice but to eliminate Earth.
Robert Wise directs this cautionary tale of a superior race landing on our planet and demanding that we stop our warlike ways or they’ll annihilate us. Ironic isn’t it? The film does offer a peaceful coda that we can put down our arms and leave together in peace, love, and happiness – providing that a intergalactic being threaten to wipe up out.
Klaatu is an interstellar Jesus offering a message of peace – one that he is killed for. He’s risen from the dead by his giant robot Gort; a figure that many of the kids in the 1950s certainly went to see the movie for. I wonder if they “got” the biblical comparisons and heavy disarmament storyline.
I would imagine that most didn’t, but there’s plenty of sci-fi action and wonderments to keep those that didn’t occupied. It always makes me giggle a little bit when we have to thank a release or new special edition on the release of a Hollywood remake.
I can’t imagine that this new version hopes to dethrone Robert Wise’s thinking version of this story. After all the remake of Wise’s version of the Haunting was so much better – not!
I guess we can only see what Keanu has to offer, but I imagine that it will be “dumbed down” when we compare the two. Until it opens in theaters Wise’s masterful film clearly stands at the top of the sci-fi heap with Gort guarding its standing.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is presented in fullscreen. A previous release under the “Studio Classics” banner had some nice special features and this new release only adds more to the mix. However, some elements are edited down – more on that later. Disc one contains a 7 minute preview for the remake starring Keanu Reeves. There’s also a commentary with the late, great director Robert Wise and director/author Nicholas Meyer. This commentary appeared on the previous release.
A new commentary has historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg, and Nick Redman discussing the film. Next the film’s iconic score by master composer Bernard Herrmann is offered on its own track. The 23 minute “Making of the Day the Earth Stood Still” details the production, but the previous release offered a 80 minute, more detailed look at this and is not ported over to this new release.
Holders of the previous DVD release will want to hold onto it for that documentary alone. The 5 minute “Mysterious, Melodious Theremin” looks at the otherworldly musical instrument used heavily in the score and there’s also a 2 minute live performance of the main title to show us it in action.
You also get a 41 minute reading of Harry Bates’ “Farewell to the Master” which inspired the film, a 6 minute Fox Movietone news segment that mentions the film (also from the other release), 1 minute teaser trailer, and the 2 minute theatrical trailer (also found on the previous release). Disc two contains the 16 minute “Decoding Klaatu Barada Nikto” that looks at the themes of the film. The 34 minute “A Brief History of Flying Saucers” looks at the phenomenon.
The 11 minute “The Astounding Harry Bates” profiles the author of the story the film was inspired by and there’s a 14 minute look at the screenwriter, Edmund North, who adapted it. The 26 minute “Race to Oblivion” is a short documentary that Bates wrote urging nuclear disarmament, hosted by Burt Lancaster. There are also galleries (mostly on the other release) and an interactive press book.
The Day the Earth Stood Still shows a master at work and Robert Wise’s steady hand on the director’s camera. It features a thoughtful storyline and some fine performances. Fox adds some more great special features to this new edition, but the missing long-play documentary is sorely missed.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Two-Disc Special Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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