The Day The Earth Stood Still

''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier and Lock Martin. The screenplay was written by Edmund H. North, based on the 1940 science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates. The film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.Gianos 1998 p. 23. Set in the Cold War during the early stages of the nuclear arms race, the storyline involves a humanoid alien visitor who comes to Earth, accompanied by a powerful robot, to deliver an important message that will affect the entire human race. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

After a flying saucer lands in the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States Army quickly surrounds it with soldiers and tanks. A humanoid in a spacesuit emerges, announcing that he comes "in peace and with good will". Opening a small metallic device, he is shot and wounded by a nervous soldier. A large robot emerges from the saucer and quickly disintegrates the soldiers' weapons, including tanks. The alien orders the robot, Gort, to desist. He explains that the now-broken device was a gift for the President of the United States "to study life on the other planets". The alien, Klaatu, is taken to Walter Reed Army Hospital. After surgery, he uses a salve to quickly heal his wound. The Army is unable to open or blast its way into the saucer. Gort stands outside, silent and unmoving.

The President's secretary, Mr. Harley, visits Klaatu, who relates that his message must be delivered to all world leaders simultaneously. Harley says this is impossible in the current world situation. When Klaatu proposes spending time among ordinary humans to better understand their "unreasoning suspicions and attitudes", Harley rejects the proposal, and Klaatu remains locked in his hospital room.

Escaping, Klaatu acquires a suit and a valise from Walter Reed Hospital; the laundry ticket on the jacket sleeve says "Maj. Carpenter", and the initials on the valise are L.M.C. He rents a room at a boarding house, saying that his name is Carpenter. Among the residents are a young widow, Helen Benson, and her son, Bobby. Helen's boyfriend, Tom Stevens, becomes jealous of the stranger.

Bobby takes Klaatu on a tour of the city, including the Lincoln Memorial and a visit to his father's grave in Arlington National Cemetery; Klaatu learns that most of the dead are soldiers killed in wars. When Klaatu asks Bobby, "Who is the greatest living person?", Bobby suggests Professor Barnhardt. Visiting the scientist's home, they find him away. Peering through a window, Klaatu sees Barnhardt's blackboard is covered with equations (an attempt to solve the three-body problem). To “leave a calling card”, Klaatu opens the locked window and corrects the equation, giving his contact information to the housekeeper.

That evening, a government agent escorts Klaatu to Barnhardt. Klaatu tells Barnhardt the people of other planets are concerned about Earth's aggressiveness now that humanity has developed rudimentary atomic power. If his message is ignored, Earth could be "eliminated". Barnhardt agrees to gather scientists from around the world at the saucer; he suggests Klaatu provide a demonstration of his power beforehand. Unaware Bobby is following, Klaatu returns to his spaceship. Bobby watches as Gort knocks out two soldiers so Klaatu can reenter the saucer. Running home, Bobby tells Helen, who does not believe him, but Tom is suspicious. The next day, starting at 12 noon East Coast time, all electrical equipment on Earth ceases to function for 30 minutes, except for essential services such as hospitals and aircraft in flight.

Learning that Bobby followed him the previous night, Klaatu visits Helen at work, reveals his mission, and asks that she not betray him. Helen asks Tom to keep Klaatu's secret, but he refuses to listen, already in the process of alerting the military. Hoping that Barnhardt can hide Klaatu until that evening, Helen and Klaatu rush there in a taxi. Klaatu instructs Helen that if anything should happen to him, she must say to Gort "Klaatu barada nikto." The Army tracks them in their taxi. Klaatu is shot and killed; his body is moved to a police station cell. Rushing to the saucer, Helen recites the phrase to Gort. Gort then carries her into the saucer. Gort retrieves Klaatu's body and revives him inside the saucer, though Klaatu tells Helen his revival is only temporary.

Departing the spaceship with Klaatu and Gort, Helen joins Dr. Barnhart among the gathered scientists. Klaatu tells the scientists that an interplanetary organization has created a police force of invincible robots like Gort. "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us". Klaatu concludes, "Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration." Klaatu and Gort then depart in the saucer.

Cast

* Michael Rennie as Klaatu
* Patricia Neal as Helen Benson
* Hugh Marlowe as Tom Stevens
* Sam Jaffe as Professor Jacob Barnhardt
* Billy Gray as Bobby Benson
* Frances Bavier as Mrs. Barley
* Lock Martin as Gort

Top broadcast journalists of their time, Elmer Davis, H.V. Kaltenborn, Drew Pearson, and Gabriel Heatter, had cameo roles. Spencer Tracy and Claude Rains originally were considered for the part of Klaatu."Making the Earth Stand Still LaserDisc (Fox Video; 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment): Julian Blaustein, Robert Wise, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray."
''IMDb'', 1995. Retrieved: 1 February 2015.

Metaphors

In a 1995 interview, producer Julian Blaustein explained that Joseph Breen, the film censor installed by the Motion Picture Association of America at the Twentieth Century Fox studios, balked at the portrayal of Klaatu's resurrection and limitless power. At the behest of the MPAA, a line was written into the script; when Helen asks Klaatu whether Gort has unlimited power over life and death, Klaatu explains that Gort has only revived him temporarily: "that power is reserved to the Almighty Spirit."Shermer 2001, pp. 74–75. Of the elements that he added to Klaatu's character, screenwriter Edmund North said, "It was my private little joke. I never discussed this angle with Blaustein or Wise because I didn't want it expressed. I had originally hoped that the Christ comparison would be subliminal."Matthews 2007, p. 54.

That the question even came up in an interview is proof enough that such comparisons did not remain subliminal, but they are subtle enough so that it is not immediately obvious to all viewers that those elements were intended to compare Klaatu to Jesus Christ.Holloway and Beck 2005, p. 135. When Klaatu escapes from the hospital, he steals the clothing of a Maj. Carpenter. This as an allusion to carpentry as the profession the New Testament says Jesus learned from Joseph, his adoptive father. His previous actions are misunderstood, and he eventually is killed by military authority. At the end of the film, Klaatu, having been restored to life, ascends into the (night) sky. Other parallels include his coming to Earth with a message for all mankind, his befriending of a child, possessing wisdom and specialized scientific knowledge beyond those of any human being, and people being given a sign of his power. At the start of the film, one of the British radar technicians, upon observing the speed of Klaatu's spaceship, is heard to exclaim, "Holy Christmas"!

Production

Development

Producer Julian Blaustein originally set out to make a film under the working titles of ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'' which illustrated the fear and suspicion that characterized the early Cold War and Atomic Age. He reviewed more than two hundred science fiction short stories and novels in search of a storyline that could be used because this film genre was well suited for a metaphorical discussion of such grave issues. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck gave the go-ahead for this project, and Blaustein hired Edmund North to write the screenplay based on elements from Harry Bates's 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master". The revised final screenplay was completed on February 21, 1951. Science fiction writer Raymond F. Jones worked as an uncredited adviser.

Pre-production

The set was designed by Thomas Little and Claude Carpenter. They collaborated with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright for the design of the spacecraft. Paul Laffoley has suggested that the futuristic interior was inspired by Wright's Johnson Wax Headquarters, completed in 1936. Laffoley quotes Wright and his attempt in designing the exterior: "...to imitate an experimental substance that I have heard about which acts like living tissue. If cut, the rift would appear to heal like a wound, leaving a continuous surface with no scar."

Filming

Principal outdoor photography was shot on the 20th Century Fox sound stages and on its studio back lot (now located in Century City, California), with a second unit shooting background and other scenes in Washington, D.C., and at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland. The shooting schedule was from April 9 to May 23, 1951, and the primary actors never traveled to Washington to make the film. Director Robert Wise indicated in the DVD commentary that the United States Department of Defense refused participation in the film based on a reading of the script. The military equipment shown, however, came from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment then stationed at Fort Meade which supplied the vehicles, equipment, and soldiers for the segments depicting Army operations. One of the film's tanks bears the "Brave Rifles" insignia of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

The robot Gort was played by Lock Martin, who worked as an usher at Grauman's Chinese Theatre and stood seven feet and seven inches tall. Not accustomed to a confining, heat-inducing costume, he worked carefully while wearing the two oversized, laced up, foamed neoprene suits for the illusion of a seamless metallic Gort. Wise decided Martin's on-screen shooting time would be limited to half-hour intervals, so Martin, with his generally weak constitution, would face no more than minor discomfort. These segments, in turn, were then edited together into the film's final print.Warren 1982, p. 621.

In a commentary track on DVD, interviewed by fellow director Nicholas Meyer, Wise said he wanted the film to appear as realistic and believable as possible, to push the core message against armed conflict in the real world. The original title is "The Day the World Stops". Blaustein said his aim was to promote a "strong United Nations".

Herrmann's score

The music score was composed by Bernard Herrmann in August 1951, and is the first film score he composed after moving from New York to Hollywood. Herrmann chose unusual instrumentation for the film: violin, cello, and bass (all three electric), two theremin electronic instruments (played by Dr. Samuel Hoffman and Paul Shure), two Hammond organs, Fox studio's Wurlitzer organ, three vibraphones, two glockenspiels, marimba, tam-tam, two bass drums, three sets of timpani, two pianos, celesta, two harps, one horn, three trumpets, three trombones, and four tubas. Herrmann's advances in film scoring included Unison organs, tubas, piano, and bass drum, staggered tritone movement, and glissando in theremins, as well as exploitation of the dissonance between D and E-flat and experimentation with unusual overdubbing and tape-reversal techniques. In using the theremin, Herrmann made an early foray into electronic music, one year before Karlheinz Stockhausen and three years before Edgard Varèse.

Music and soundtrack

20th Century Fox later reused the Bernard Herrmann title theme in the original pilot episode of Irwin Allen's 1965 TV series ''Lost in Space''; the music was also used extensively in Allen's ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' TV series in various episodes. Danny Elfman noted ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''s score inspired his interest in film composing, and made him a fan of Herrmann.

Critical reception

''Variety'' praised the documentary style: "the yarn is told interestingly enough and imbued with sufficient science-fiction lures and suspense so that only seldom does its moralistic wordiness get in the way... Cast, although secondary to the story, works well". ''Harrison's Reports'' wrote: "Very good! It is by far the best of the science-fiction pictures yet produced. It holds one's interest undiminished from start to finish and, although the theme is admittedly fantastic, one is made to feel as if he is seeing a real-life occurrence because of the expert handling of the subject matter and the extremely fine special effects work." The ''Los Angeles Times'' praised the film's seriousness, though it also found "certain subversive elements". Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' dismissed the film as "tepid entertainment" and described Gort as "oddly unmenacing".

''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was moderately successful when released, accruing in distributors' U.S. and Canadian rentals, making it the year's 52nd biggest earner.Gebert 1996, p. 156. "Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the box office gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales.

''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' earned more plaudits in other countries: the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave the filmmakers a special Golden Globe Award for "promoting international understanding". Bernard Herrmann's score also received a nomination at the Golden Globes. The French magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma'' was impressed, its contributor Pierre Kast called it "almost literally stunning" and praised its "moral relativism". Hoberman, J.br>"The Cold War sci-fi parable that fell to earth."
''The New York Times'', October 31, 2008.

Legacy

''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress's National Film Registry. In 2001, it was ranked number 82 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding films. It placed number 67 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers, a list of America's most inspiring films. In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its AFI's 10 Top 10the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genresafter polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was acknowledged as the fifth best film in the science fiction genre. In 2004, the film was selected by ''The New York Times'' as one of "The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made".

Ringo Starr brought the imagery of the film back into popular culture by using a modified scene of the ship and Klaatu for the cover of his 1974 album ''Goodnight Vienna''. Lou Cannon and Colin Powell believed the film inspired Ronald Reagan to discuss uniting against an alien invasion when meeting Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. Two years later, Reagan told the United Nations, "I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world." The film is playing in the opening scene of the first episode of '' Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'' when Captain Pike refers to it as a "classic". American rock musician Willie Nile released an album entitled ''The Day The Earth Stood Still'' in 2021. The album's title track was inspired by the deserted streets of New York City during the Covid-19 pandemic, and contains the "Klaatu Barada Nikto" phrase in its chorus.

''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' is now considered one of the best films released in 1951. ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' is in Arthur C. Clarke's list of the 12 best science fiction films of all time. The film holds a 97% rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The consensus states, "Socially minded yet entertaining, ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' imparts its moral of peace and understanding without didacticism." Tony Magistrale describes the film as one of the best examples of early techno-horror.Tony Magistrale, ''Abject Terrors: Surveying the Modern and Postmodern Horror Film'', 200
p. 82
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Adaptations

The film was dramatized as a radio play on January 4, 1954, for the ''Lux Radio Theatre''; Michael Rennie reprised his lead role as Klaatu with actress Jean Peters as Helen Benson. This production was later re-broadcast on the ''Hollywood Radio Theater'', the re-titled ''Lux Radio Theatre'', which aired on the Armed Forces Radio Service."Notes: 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: February 1, 2015.

The 2008 remake ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was directed by Scott Derrickson and stars Keanu Reeves as Klaatu. Rather than leaving to humans the chance to collaborate, the remake rests on Klaatu's decision whether to let humanity be destroyed or saved.

Klaatu barada nikto

Since the release of the film, the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" has appeared repeatedly in fiction and in popular culture. The Robot Hall of Fame described it as "one of the most famous commands in science fiction", and Frederick S. Clarke of ''Cinefantastique'' called it in 1970 "the most famous phrase ever spoken by an extraterrestrial".

Patricia Neal had a problem speaking the phrase, though she was proud of the film overall. "I do think it's the best science fiction film ever made, although I admit that I sometimes had a difficult time keeping a straight face. Michael would patiently watch me bite my lips to avoid giggling and ask, with true British reserve, 'Is that the way you intend to play it?'"

Edmund H. North, who wrote ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'', also created the alien language used in the film, including the iconic phrase "Klaatu barada nikto." The official spelling for the phrase comes directly from the script and provides insight as to its proper pronunciation. No translation was given in the film. Philosophy professor Aeon J. Skoble speculates the famous phrase is a "safe-word" which is part of a fail-safe feature used during diplomatic missions such as the one Klaatu and Gort make to Earth. With the use of the safe-word, Gort's deadly force can be deactivated in the event the robot is mistakenly triggered into a defensive posture. Skoble observes that the theme has evolved into a "staple of science fiction that the machines charged with protecting us from ourselves will misuse or abuse their power."

''Fantastic Films'' explored the meaning of "Klaatu barada nikto" in a 1978 article titled "The Language of Klaatu". The article, written by Tauna Le Marbe, who is listed as its "alien linguistics editor", attempts to translate all the alien words Klaatu used throughout the film.Le Marbe, Tauna
"The Language of Klaatu."
''Fantastic Films'', Issue 1, April 1978. In the article, the literal translation for Klaatu barada nikto was "Stop Barbarism (I have) death, bind" and the free translation was "I die, repair me, do not retaliate."

The documentary ''Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor'' examined the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" with some of the people involved in the production of ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''. Robert Wise, the director of the film, conveyed an account of Edmund North telling him, "Well, it's just something I kind of cooked up. I thought it sounded good." Billy Gray, who played Bobby Benson in the film, said he believed the message was coming from Klaatu and that "Barada Nikto must mean... save Earth."

Florence Blaustein, widow of the producer Julian Blaustein, said North had to pass a street called ''Baroda'' every day going to work and indicated "I think that's how that was born." The film historian Steven Jay Rubin recalled an interview he had with North when he asked the question, "What is the direct translation of Klaatu Barada Nikto, and Edmund North said to me 'There's hope for Earth, if the scientists can be reached'.""DVD: Decoding "Klaatu Barada Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor, time = 0:14:55."
''Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment'', December 2, 2008. When director Robert Wise was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, he ended his acceptance speech with it, which in that circumstance meant "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

See also

* 1951 in film
* Culture during the Cold War
* List of films featuring extraterrestrials