It's the midpoint of the twentieth century. The war in the Pacific
had ended a few years earlier in the heat of nuclear fire, leaving us
in the chill of the cold war: the prospect of mutually assured
destruction; children being taught to duck and cover; Senator Joseph
McCarthy's relentless pursuit of communists, imagined or otherwise...
tension and fear. Hollywood would produce many anti-nuclear films -
Failsafe, Seven Days in May, Dr. Strangelove - but the earliest and
clearest spoken was disguised as science fiction; released in 1951,
it's The Day The Earth Stood Still.
The film opens with
reports and images of a remarkable flying craft circumnavigating the
world traveling at the astonishing speed, in 1951, of four thousand
miles per hour. Director Robert Wise (who would return to the genre
years later with the first Star Trek film) cleverly intercuts
newscasts featuring notable broadcasters of the day - such as Elmer
Davis, H.V. Kaltenborn, Drew Pearson, and Gabriel Heatter - with
footage of what we instantly recognize as a flying saucer. The craft
lands in Washington, DC, and the military reacts with tanks and
artillery. It apparently doesn't occur to them that any race capable
of constructing an interplanetary or interstellar spacecraft most
likely could have annihilated the capital with ease had they wished
to; the nuclear paranoia of the time prevails. When the alien Klaatu
(Michael Rennie whose unusual bone structure was a casting
masterstroke) emerges from the craft, he receives a less than cordial
welcome; he's shot. This prompts the appearance and retribution of
Gort (Lock Martin), an eight-foot tall robot with an integrated weapon
capable of vaporizing a tank.
Klaatu is taken to the hospital,
apparently with Gort's blessing, where he meets with Mr. Harley (Frank
Conroy), who is described as the President's Secretary in the film and
the Secretary of State in the commentary. Klaatu explains that his
people have learned the Earth's languages by monitoring radio
transmissions, and that he's traveled over two hundred and fifty
million miles (another astonishing number in 1951) to address the
world's political leaders. (Wonderfully naive, the film suggests that
reputable scientists agree that Klaatu must have come from Mars or
Venus, since they are habitable.) Klaatu asks that the world leaders
be assembled for an address; the future of the Earth is at stake.
Harley explains that world tensions and national rivalries make such a
meeting unlikely. Klaatu is appalled, but decides that it might be
prudent to move among the Earth's people to discover for himself why
such tensions and fears exist. He escapes from his guarded hospital
room and finds his way to a boarding house where Helen Benson
(Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray) rent rooms.
Klaatu spends some time with the boy, allowing his mother to go on
a picnic with beau Tom Stevens (Hugh Marlowe). Klaatu finds Bobby's
lack of guile and sincerity helpful, and ultimately asks him a simple
question. Who is the smartest man he knows? That's easy, Professor
Jacob Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe as an Einstein surrogate). Klaatu leaves a
unique calling card in the absent professor's study, one that ensures
an audience. He will convince the famous theoretician to assemble the
best minds in the world for his address; science may have its
rivalries, but it's a more cooperative family than international
politics. Barnhardt convinces Klaatu to arrange for a dramatic
demonstration that avoids doing harm. The alien delivers, but it has
two effects; it certainly attracts the world's attention, but it
provokes a harsh response from the American military. Klaatu is to be
hunted down and destroyed.
The cast is uniformly excellent. In
a plot that could have come across as just so much more science
fiction melodrama, the filmmakers and players offer such a low-key and
realistic approach that the unlikely story seems quite plausible. The
Day The Earth Stood Still represents a Genie's lamp rubbed. At a time
when no foreseeable relief from mankind's violence in an atomic age
seems possible, the wish fulfillment of surrendering autonomy to
obtain security was very appealing. Frankly, I suspect that such a
trade remains appealing today, a half century later. Klaatu's message
remains true: the world's violence, inhumanity, and barbarism simply
won't do. 
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The
film's original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 is presented in full screen.
The effort demonstrated in the supplements to restore this classic
science fiction film is clear. This is an excellent transfer with fine
shadow detail and exceptional small object detail. Textures and fine-
grained facets are more visible here than on any previous home video
format. I've seen this film many times on other media, but so
revealing is this presentation that: the spacecraft seams the military
claims it cannot find are clearly visible; Gort's zipper and the wires
supporting the carried Patricia Neal are easy to see (1:20:15); I
never before noticed the air holes under Gort's chin that permitted
Lock Martin to breathe (1:19:00); and I saw for the first time Gort's
clear visor that permitted Martin to navigate through the interior
saucer set (1:21:28). The print has been processed to clean up flaws
that could not have been removed in the film's restoration and appears
remarkably clean. On the downside, halos are occasionally visible and
the grayscale gamma seems slightly unnatural for film, vaguely
reminiscent of the appearance of a Kinescope. Regardless, this is a
terrific presentation.
Audio: How Does The Disc
Sound?
Robert Wise voiced a rather interesting opinion
concerning surround effects in his conversation with Meyer during the
commentary; Wise doesn't believe in them. "Nothing should take
your attention away from that screen." So he must have felt very
comfortable with the monaural sound he produced for this film. There
are two English tracks on this disc, one in monaural and the other in
stereo. Sound effects and dialog are the same on each; only Bernard
Herrmann's eerie score is given the stereo treatment. Dialog is
surprisingly good, with little distracting distortion. Sound effects
fare a bit worse, suffering from the dynamic range and frequency
response limitations of a half-century ago. Bernard Herrmann's
imaginative score for brass, percussion, harp, piano, celeste, organ,
and an electronic instrument called a theremin is wonderful but
suffers the most sonically. For those who may be interested, a modern
re-recording conducted by Joel McNeely was recently released on Varese
Sarabande (302 066 314 2). 
The alternate languages are in
French and Spanish. Subtitles are available in Spanish and English,
for which Closed Captions are also provided.
Supplements:
What Goodies Are There?
Fox Home Entertainment has assembled a
delightful array of extras for this fan favorite. They are spread over
two sides of the disc. On side one, an episode of Movie Tone
News (6:19) from 1951 is featured that includes an article about
the film. The film's original theatrical trailer (2:08) is
included. And the by now familiar THX Optimizer may be found to
optimize your display for this particular disc. 
The best
supplement on the disc is also on this side; it's the screen-
specific audio commentary by Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer. Meyer
acts as interviewer, lobbing questions for Wise to field. This is a
delightful blend of screen-specific revelations concerning the making
of the movie and a conversation between two filmmakers who share their
approaches to directing. Meyer's experience inspires exceptionally
germane questions. This commentary, like the featurette on the second
side, is a holdover from the previous laser disc release. With a
couple of exceptions, I'm pleased to report that the commentary does
not duplicate the information found in the featurette. I found it
consistently fascinating and informative. Very well done.
On
the second side of the DVD we find more supplements. An extensive
featurette called Making the Earth Stand Still was made in
1995, shortly before producer Julian Blaustein died. IMDB reports that
the documentary was originally about seventy minutes long, so I'm
speculating that in this version, a fifteenth chapter, entitled
"The Collectors" (beginning at 1:10:54), was added to extend
the featurette to 1:20:37. In addition to Blaustein, we hear from
Robert Wise, Billy Gray, and Patricia Neal. This is a very fine
documentary that traces the film's origin from Harry Bates' story,
"Farewell to the Master," through the shooting, to the test
screenings, to its elevation as a cult favorite. Many fascinating
behind-the-scenes factoids are shared. For example, I was unaware of a
potential religious interpretation associated with the resurrection of
a carpenter.
The film had been restored for the laserdisc 1993
release, and again in 1995, but DVD's more revealing nature apparently
motivated another effort. Two fine-grained master positives were
created from an answer print struck from the film's original
negatives. The Restoration Comparison demonstrates the
differences between the '93 and '95 efforts, and the differences
before and after Video Restoration of the 2002 effort. That last video
step removed any residual visible damage and reel change marks. The
result is splendid.
The Stills Gallery offers an
extensive array of many dozens of pictures, drawings, photographs, and
reproductions for: Production; Scene and Set photos; American and
British Pressbooks; and Posters, Lobby Cards, Spaceship Model, and
Gort. The full shooting script may also be found in this
section. Lastly, two trailers are included for One Million Years B.C.
and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The feature is organized into
fifteen chapters.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when
you pop the disc in your PC?
No ROM extras have been
included.
Parting Thoughts
This is a splendid
presentation of a wonderful film; it's underlying morality remains
relevant today. Despite the overt science fiction premise, most of the
film is an examination of the irrationality of human society. The disc
offers extensive supplements of substance rather than fluff. This DVD
is highly recommended.
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