I am starting a new series of classic film reviews. There is a pattern to which films are reviewed and their order, but I am not going to reveal that pattern until someone outs it.

The Day The Earth Stood Still is one of my favorite SF films. Directed by the incomparable Robert Wise it is the story of alien Klaatu, his very tall robot Gort, and the mysterious message he brings for the entire world. Of course upon arrival Klaatu is shot by the army, though giving credit where credit is due, they didn’t come out blazing and it was more a product of poor training than murderous intent.

Soon Klaatu takes to his heels, gives the army the slip, and investigates humanity directly.

In the end he presents his message, and this is a message movie thought it is a good one because you can enjoy the film without having accept it’s soapbox.

One of the interesting behind the scenes stories i have heard about this production is that Spencer Tracy got his hands on the script and lobbied very hard to be cast as Klaatu. Robert Wise hated the idea, feeling that the part needed to be played by an actor that the American public was unfamiliar with and he ended up casting Michael Rennie a tall English actor with a regal manner. Wise made the right call. These days it is hard to envision anyone else in that part.

The recent remake was, in my opinion, crap. Substituting an environmental message for an nuclear war one simply failed on multiple levels.