- Original theatrical poster - image courtesy of ImpAwards
Stanley Kubrick was none too private about his intent on making the first science fiction movie geared for adults when he envisioned 2001: A Space Odyssey. As impossible as it would be to speak too highly of that film, Kubrick was nevertheless too quick to overlook the stellar 1951 masterpiece The Day the Earth Stood Still, a work grounded in genre tropes familiar to children’s eyes but one whose mind and heart are of supreme wisdom and grave consequence. It’s as humane and sobering a work as any of its kind. Few classics are more deserving of their status.
The story here is so well known that the familiarity often overshadows the stark relief of the points it seeks to make. Government agents watching the skies are sent into a tizzy when a UFO enters the atmosphere, patrolling that skies before landing in Washington, D.C. to a rapidly amassing crowd and military presence.
A being emerges from the ship, proclaiming peace, but is quickly fired upon by a trigger-happy grunt when it produces a wand-like object as an intended gift to the people of Earth. And so the fear of the world threatens to devour itself once again.
The visitor’s name is Klaatu (Michael Rennie), and he’s here to speak to the world on a matter of nothing less than life and death. An attempt to assemble representatives of the world’s countries is quickly dashed by infantile stalemating, the “petty squabbles” for which Klaatu has very little patience.
Generously hoping to better understand the people whose fate rests in his hands, he escapes his military hospital dungeon, courting knee-jerk fear and frantic media insinuations (yes kids, media was idiotic and hysterical long before the likes of Glenn Beck were around) but in the process meeting a young boy (Billy Gray) and his widowed mother (Patricia Neal), two diamonds in the rough of a shrill populace that practically screams out for divine intervention.
Director Robert Wise presents his film not as typical, exploitative science fiction, but as a minimalist drama, with a particular emphasis on character in the efficient framing and blocking, which puts a premium on the incredibly expressive faces of his performers. A gentlemen if there ever was one, Klaatu adopts the pseudonym Carpenter and quickly blends in.
Parallels to Christ are often drawn during discussions of the film, which boasts a definite spiritual (if not outright religious) tone. Certainly the main character brings to mind many great declarers of peace society saw fit to execute, while his robot guardian, Gort, suggests an angel of death, making even The Terminator look meek by comparison.
At first, only a scientist proves a worthy confidant of Klaatu’s real identity, helping to assemble a meeting of leaders from around the world to receive the urgent message. Somewhere between cynicism and realism, the two determine that a demonstration must be made before the assembly, as action—often violent in nature—is about the only thing that gets the attention of a society too caught up within itself.
As evidenced by his final speech, Klaatu’s people are only smarter than us in their ability to recognize their own limitations, but the non-violent example of his limitless power that Klaatu provides is a stroke of pure genius. Nonviolence notwithstanding, it’s a gesture that brings down the military fist with even greater force, further highlighting Klaatu's urgent call for disarmament.
At a time when American military dominance was unquestioned and many were drunk on the atomic power being used not unlike kids flinging toys around a sandbox, The Day the Earth Stood Still was a bold warning of what might lay ahead. Its influence on the genre, particularly evident in the films of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, cannot be overstated, and its most memorable line (three alien words I won’t repeat here, for the sake of those not in the know) still chills today.
A film of justified fear and reassuring hope, it straddles the dual perspectives of the humanitarian and the misanthrope, and one recalls the words of another wise man: “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.”
The Day the Earth Stood Still. Dir. Robert Wise. Perf. Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Frances Bavier, Lock Martin, Frank Conroy. 20th Century Fox, 1951. Running Time: 92 min.
